Grinding Levels
Lately, I feel as if I am grinding levels on many things--doing the same tasks over and over, building up my XP, but not really going anywhere spectacular. That's not meant to sound emo and depressive--I can't always be moving forward by leaps and bounds, but the grind does tend to make me irritable and hermit-like until I level up and emerge into my new player area with fresh, shiny skillsets and equipment (which almost always includes new shoes.)
Now that I've flogged my chosen metaphor to death, here's what's up:
I'm writing away on The Witch's Alphabet, the one thing that does not, in any form, feel like grinding. I reach for the right words and I find them, and if I don't, I back up and wait for them to come. There's no rushing, no pressure, no angst involved in this book, just the drive to push myself into better, tighter, more gleaming prose. I guess all of that writing over the summer on my two adult series did, indeed, contain a skill jump because while Witch is a difficult book (as they're supposed to be), it's not a impossible one...I know that if I just wait and think and really feel for the right words, the right structure and theme and plot, that it will come. I think this turned into my most ambitious project on the sly, and for once I don't feel like I'm grasping hopelessly at some writerly acrobatic trick that I can't yet achieve without falling on my arse. Neil Gaiman wrote about a story in Fragile Things that he waited nearly twenty years to write, since he didn't feel like his skills were sufficient without all of the practice on every story in between. I think that's an absolutely sound theory...you know when you're ready to write something, and when you're not. It doesn't mean you sit around, waiting for brilliance. It means you go away and find the right story for you right now, and write that. Levels, people. Keep slaying monsters. Keep building your experience, on and off the page.
I've been doing circuit training at the gym on the days I don't work with D. My goal is to be down another pants size in 2-4 months, which will probably require another adjustment to my diet (more protein, fewer bad fats, but on the bright side I can start eating eggs again.) I have this tendency to smother everything in cheese, and even though I'm a foodie snob and buy very good cheese, it's still not something that's beneficfial to weight loss. I figure after the holidays, I'll tighten another notch and cut out bad fat the way I cut out sugar at the beginning of this regime--cold turkey. I crave fats far more than I ever craved sugar, so I'm anticipating a difficult detox.
Handy Neighbor has been working diligently on the kitchen walls, mudding and taping seams. Yesterday we talked about plaster, which is imminent. Then it's just paint, and hanging the cabinets...and then it's done. Probably not before I leave for England, like I'd hoped, but very soon after...surely in time for Thanksgiving cooking to occur. I usually celebrate with Richelle and associates, but I'm toying with the notion of making a second spread just for myself, just because I will be able to, in a kitchen with more than two square feet of counterspace, where everything works and doesn't smell like old linoleum and dry rot. It is a beautiful vision of the future, to be sure.
---
And now, here are some links:
The Agony Booth, the closest thing to MST3k you can get for free on the internet. Check out their recaps of Road House or Batman & Robin for maximum lulz.
The Steampunk Home, which I squee'd over for obvious reasons. They're featuring the lovely and talented Holly Black's library at the moment.
Vegan Dad. I'm not vegan, and I tend to de-veganize the recipes that call for dairy or other animal products that aren't, yanno, meat. Still useful for plain vegetarians, and the stuff looks delicious.
I'm out of here...I have words to write, a contractor to wrangle, a human suit to work and lunch to fix.
Originally published at Caitlin Kittredge.
Now that I've flogged my chosen metaphor to death, here's what's up:
I'm writing away on The Witch's Alphabet, the one thing that does not, in any form, feel like grinding. I reach for the right words and I find them, and if I don't, I back up and wait for them to come. There's no rushing, no pressure, no angst involved in this book, just the drive to push myself into better, tighter, more gleaming prose. I guess all of that writing over the summer on my two adult series did, indeed, contain a skill jump because while Witch is a difficult book (as they're supposed to be), it's not a impossible one...I know that if I just wait and think and really feel for the right words, the right structure and theme and plot, that it will come. I think this turned into my most ambitious project on the sly, and for once I don't feel like I'm grasping hopelessly at some writerly acrobatic trick that I can't yet achieve without falling on my arse. Neil Gaiman wrote about a story in Fragile Things that he waited nearly twenty years to write, since he didn't feel like his skills were sufficient without all of the practice on every story in between. I think that's an absolutely sound theory...you know when you're ready to write something, and when you're not. It doesn't mean you sit around, waiting for brilliance. It means you go away and find the right story for you right now, and write that. Levels, people. Keep slaying monsters. Keep building your experience, on and off the page.
I've been doing circuit training at the gym on the days I don't work with D. My goal is to be down another pants size in 2-4 months, which will probably require another adjustment to my diet (more protein, fewer bad fats, but on the bright side I can start eating eggs again.) I have this tendency to smother everything in cheese, and even though I'm a foodie snob and buy very good cheese, it's still not something that's beneficfial to weight loss. I figure after the holidays, I'll tighten another notch and cut out bad fat the way I cut out sugar at the beginning of this regime--cold turkey. I crave fats far more than I ever craved sugar, so I'm anticipating a difficult detox.
Handy Neighbor has been working diligently on the kitchen walls, mudding and taping seams. Yesterday we talked about plaster, which is imminent. Then it's just paint, and hanging the cabinets...and then it's done. Probably not before I leave for England, like I'd hoped, but very soon after...surely in time for Thanksgiving cooking to occur. I usually celebrate with Richelle and associates, but I'm toying with the notion of making a second spread just for myself, just because I will be able to, in a kitchen with more than two square feet of counterspace, where everything works and doesn't smell like old linoleum and dry rot. It is a beautiful vision of the future, to be sure.
---
And now, here are some links:
The Agony Booth, the closest thing to MST3k you can get for free on the internet. Check out their recaps of Road House or Batman & Robin for maximum lulz.
The Steampunk Home, which I squee'd over for obvious reasons. They're featuring the lovely and talented Holly Black's library at the moment.
Vegan Dad. I'm not vegan, and I tend to de-veganize the recipes that call for dairy or other animal products that aren't, yanno, meat. Still useful for plain vegetarians, and the stuff looks delicious.
I'm out of here...I have words to write, a contractor to wrangle, a human suit to work and lunch to fix.
Originally published at Caitlin Kittredge.