Thought-Drive

Monday is back again, and so is the summer heat. Last week this time it was pleasantly cool, albeit strangely. Personally, I wasn't complaining.Likewise, I was happy for the time off from work as well, though it hit me equally oddly.Two years ago in the month of June, following totaling my car in mid-May, I wrote a whole book in a month. I am not sure from where the energy came. All I know is that it is no longer with me. I called for writing doubling the pace for these two weeks. Normally I do three chapters a week, so roughly six to seven thousand words, leaving the rest for mental recuperation and work, so doubling that would be mean six chapters, and roughly thirteen thousand words. I realized later that this was basically the same pace I had going when my mind was in better shape. Before that though, I realized that I would be more than happy to have the excuse to slow down when I returned to the job for the summer semester. Just recently I finished edits on the three chap...

Yesterday, I had day one of my vacation and took a break... from blogging. Sunday was a bit hectic; I attended the second to last wedding on the horizon and spent the rest of the day seeing other friends before I sped home and commenced to the Sunday night editing I still haven't completely meshed with my weekly routine. Yesterday morning, with fresher eyes, I finished that up, along with more careful drafting of the chapters I squeezed into this past weekend. A bit sleepy and somewhat worn down, I put doing this off until today. It seems hardly the time or place to congratulate someone publicly (I also only have seven readers I'm aware of), but it was a very nice ceremony at a local park, followed by excellent barbecue and a prayer circle to ward off rain.So congrats to Daniel and Kandis. Today has been much more relaxing. I committed to doubling the writing pace, using this week to do three chapters, and this weekend to do the three that I'd be doing anyway, and applyin...

It was a long weekend, but also a good one. Writing got done, friends got seen, and I even had time to visit an antique store and blow through a dresser full of old postcards to gift something unique for the holiday. I also possibly had my last outsourcing experience at the theater where one of my friends works. It's something I do from time to time, initially as a volunteer and later earning actual compensation. I sort of fell into it, really, wanting to learn how it all worked. But it became very rewarding. I work so much with abstract things that I found the flip side of the coin a nice, occasional, change of pace. I even got a cool picture of myself grinding a steel balcony set piece to make it smooth and actor friendly. But before I had my last day there, I edited the chapters affected in tight spots between seeing old friends and working. Objectively speaking, I think the chapters came out fairly well. Sometimes a chapter is enjoyable to write; it has interesting plot point...

Another good weekend is wrapping up. Despite working on a Saturday, which was a strangely disorienting phenomenon, my planning early in the semester paid off and I still managed to get two chapters done on Friday, and the third yesterday. That marks twelve consecutive weeks of writing, sticking to a pace I set for myself. I feel like it's very important or at least is habit forming, because once getting things done is a routine most everything because a shade easier. I think a lot of people sit around at the end of the way wondering where all the time went mostly because they're used to thinking about doing things rather than doing them. Then again, I was proved wrong in a really huge way this weekend also, so I might not know what I'm talking about after all. And it didn't concern directions or the year something happened or even the price of a food item. It was writing-related. From looking at my posts here and there, listening to the comments I make and how I make ...