Current Project: October
Hah, I'm already a day late to update about my October Project of Doom Awesomeness Determined Productivity. Goal: get closure on as many malingering unfinished projects as possible in one month of concerted effort. This includes RL projects, big and small, and stories that have been WIPs for too long.
Writing goals for October:
AUGH, I have 4 WIPs! Not short-term ones, either. A meta-goal of this month's focus on getting closure is convincing myself that I haven't somehow forgotten how to finish a story. I wrote Like the Stars, Like Your Destiny in six weeks and thought that was long, but understandable since it was my first story. I don't even want to talk about how long the companion story has been in progress. I know because the idea for The Orion-on-Vulcan Method occurred to me while I was writing it. That was--last October, oh god what?!
The biggest thing I've learned about writing for myself this year is how important a deadline is--that without one I can get stuck on endless revision rather than forcing myself to move on. Lacking deadlines for any of my current WIPs (or having slipped them like crazy--one is for
illariy's birthday in May, blargh!), I need to make my own. CLOSURE, I WILL HAZ IT.
My hope is that by the time wrisomifu starts again in November, I'll have cleared the decks of at least some of these WIPs and can make writing something new my project for the month. I have a Sarek/Amanda story in my head that really wants to be written, and would be perfect for a defined one-month effort. I very, very much want to be ready to start that soon.
Non-writing project goals for October:
I have so many projects that are almost done, or would be done with just a minimal effort, IDEK. There are sweaters I finished knitting years ago and only need a few seams, little mending tasks and tiny ideas that only need a few hours of attention to become something tangible. Keeping track of them, to-do listing and then forgetting and then remembering again--it's burning psychic energy for no reason. Plus, I can't use the things. How dumb is it not to be able to wear a sweater for three years because it needs one button? WTF?
On the other hand, I have materials for project I no longer want to do, or never had a good idea for, and their continued presence in my space (and life) is distracting. Asking yourself "do I really want to do this? eh, maybe?" every few months, ugh. No means no, projects! I need to stop "maybe"-ing my way around.
So, goals: (a) finish projects worth finishing; (b) let go of projects I no longer want to do; (c) stop being so enamored of the potential of materials that I never commit to a use for them; (d) dispose of materials I genuinely have no use for. Now is the perfect time to start making things for the holidays, and Ravelry has already yielded some good ideas. Maybe I'll actually make a dent in the yarn supply this year!
This post is a bookmark for the start of this project for me. VERY EXCITING! To me at least. :D
Daily Goals for October:
1. Write every day, at least 10 minutes.
2. Track word count and other progress, post as status updates.
3. 1 hour per day devoted to resolving some malingering, ancient project
4. 1 hour per day devoted to future planning/brainstorming
Project Goals:
1. Finish at least 2 WIPs; hopefully all 4
2. By month-end, have 0 projects that have been in progress for longer than 1 year
3. Reduce quantity of materials on hand by 25% via use/disposal/selling/freecycling
4. Free brains to focus on new things!
Hmm, this post needs something appropriate to illustrate it. How about--the smoking lounge of the Hindenburg?
This post originated on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. Comment here or there.
Writing goals for October:
AUGH, I have 4 WIPs! Not short-term ones, either. A meta-goal of this month's focus on getting closure is convincing myself that I haven't somehow forgotten how to finish a story. I wrote Like the Stars, Like Your Destiny in six weeks and thought that was long, but understandable since it was my first story. I don't even want to talk about how long the companion story has been in progress. I know because the idea for The Orion-on-Vulcan Method occurred to me while I was writing it. That was--last October, oh god what?!
The biggest thing I've learned about writing for myself this year is how important a deadline is--that without one I can get stuck on endless revision rather than forcing myself to move on. Lacking deadlines for any of my current WIPs (or having slipped them like crazy--one is for
illariy's birthday in May, blargh!), I need to make my own. CLOSURE, I WILL HAZ IT.
My hope is that by the time wrisomifu starts again in November, I'll have cleared the decks of at least some of these WIPs and can make writing something new my project for the month. I have a Sarek/Amanda story in my head that really wants to be written, and would be perfect for a defined one-month effort. I very, very much want to be ready to start that soon.
Non-writing project goals for October:
I have so many projects that are almost done, or would be done with just a minimal effort, IDEK. There are sweaters I finished knitting years ago and only need a few seams, little mending tasks and tiny ideas that only need a few hours of attention to become something tangible. Keeping track of them, to-do listing and then forgetting and then remembering again--it's burning psychic energy for no reason. Plus, I can't use the things. How dumb is it not to be able to wear a sweater for three years because it needs one button? WTF?
On the other hand, I have materials for project I no longer want to do, or never had a good idea for, and their continued presence in my space (and life) is distracting. Asking yourself "do I really want to do this? eh, maybe?" every few months, ugh. No means no, projects! I need to stop "maybe"-ing my way around.
So, goals: (a) finish projects worth finishing; (b) let go of projects I no longer want to do; (c) stop being so enamored of the potential of materials that I never commit to a use for them; (d) dispose of materials I genuinely have no use for. Now is the perfect time to start making things for the holidays, and Ravelry has already yielded some good ideas. Maybe I'll actually make a dent in the yarn supply this year!
This post is a bookmark for the start of this project for me. VERY EXCITING! To me at least. :D
Daily Goals for October:
1. Write every day, at least 10 minutes.
2. Track word count and other progress, post as status updates.
3. 1 hour per day devoted to resolving some malingering, ancient project
4. 1 hour per day devoted to future planning/brainstorming
Project Goals:
1. Finish at least 2 WIPs; hopefully all 4
2. By month-end, have 0 projects that have been in progress for longer than 1 year
3. Reduce quantity of materials on hand by 25% via use/disposal/selling/freecycling
4. Free brains to focus on new things!
Hmm, this post needs something appropriate to illustrate it. How about--the smoking lounge of the Hindenburg?
This post originated on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. Comment here or there.