Category: Writing

  • Planning on Writing

    Things aren’t working out the way I had planned, which is the theme of 2020, right? I have been trying to take advantage of being unemployed and being a stay at home parent/homeschool teacher, by fitting in more writing, and looking for ways to take it more seriously, and possibly making this a career.

    What I have run into the past two months is that consistently getting one to two hours a day to write is not likely. I have found myself in more of a feast of famine situation; either no time, or an abundance of time. Now, when the abundance of does show up, it’s like sensory overload, and I don’t know where to begin. (I found myself in this situation yesterday, and I got nothing accomplished as I was trying to figure where I had left off on different projects.)

    Funny, but I have received this advice before, and I think I even wrote about it, but I still have not really digested it, to make it my own. A writer buddy who has two kids, told me that he tries to use every moment he is free to work. Riding the subway, early in the morning, late at night, nap time. He travels with a notebook, and when he sees that he is free, he just starts working.

    For me, there is a step missing, which is I have to prioritize and plan, which makes writing more like work than an art. I was able to do this in my professional theatre career, so why am I not translating this to writing? I’m a planner, and need to organize better. I think I need to project manage myself. Leaving myself to be caught by inspiration is not working. I need to set out what I am working on, goals are, and have an honest accounting of why I did or did not make my goal.

    Still learning here.

  • Oops… No Writing Yesterday

    I didn’t meet my goal yesterday, which was writing. I was able to journal, but I didn’t complete a blog, nor did I work on any fiction.

    But I spent a huge amount of time with my kid. We made chicken stock in the morning, and read books together in the afternoon. We were able to go to the playground, and draw pictures together while drinking hot chocolate. In the evening, we made dinner, and watched “Star Wars.” It was a very fulfilling day.

    Being locked at home al the time, I get in my head that I should be making huge strides, and racking up enormous word counts daily. And maybe I should if I want to have a career.

    But I don’t want to miss this time with my daughter. I mean, I’m teaching her to read. Helping her sound out words and become confident with her ability to learn. It really is a gift to be with her at this time, and to learn how learning works.

  • Thanksgiving

    2020 has been a shit filled dumpster on fire, floating down a river.

    And for my family, we have had a tough three years for that matter. Moves, job loss, pandemic, family tragedy, the 2020 election, but we are still here. We are still planning for tomorrow, still dreaming, still trying to make life better for our kid.

    My Grandma used to tell me, “You gotta have goals. Gotta have something to look forward to.” The wife and I have latched onto that idea; working toward something. Not that we think that everything will go back to normal, or that in three months everything will be better. We just know that we are working toward a better someday, and that’s about as realistic as we can get.

    And in that sense, there have been a few good things. I have spent so much great quality time with my daughter. I am watching her learn how to read, and write her first sentences, and see that spark of learning in her eye. That’s something real, and honest, and wonderful to experience. In this year, I have been able to rekindle my love of writing, and the creative process. Also in this year of insanity, I have watched my wife take on more than she thought she was capable of, and come out on the other end more confidant and successful. I am amazed by her. I feel that we still do make a great team, and I think I love her more than the day I told her I loved her on 14th street in front of Trader Joe’s way back in 2007.

    This was not a great year, but I still have my family who is healthy, my great friends who I miss and can’t wait to see again, and I still have my hope in things getting better.

    Happy Thanksgiving Everybody

  • New Ideas to Work On

    I am trying to stick to my plan and just get the work done that I have been journaling and thinking about. Making the time, and even having to say no to kid this afternoon, which I feel awful about. I needed to hold myself to the promise that I had made which was that I was going to work.

    And then all these new ideas popped into my head today, and I have spent the day doing research and trying to figure out when I can get to these ideas.

    The idea is to look into what became of historical locations that have disapeared. Espically around here in the Northeast, progress has bulldozed over building and landscapes in the name of progress, and where history was made, in most cases is a subdivision, or a parking lot. It is an idea that asks the question how we lost our history, and were people aware that history was being lost.

    Not sure when I will get to it, but I like the idea.

  • I Missed a Day of Writing

    So… When I started working on this blog back in July, I decided that I was going to do things differently. in the past, I wrote something when the mood hit me, which meant that this blog was rather infrequent, lots of ebbs and flows of inspiration. The choice I made in July was to write at least one blog a day during the week, with the exception of holidays. I was going to treat it more like a job, a job that I enjoyed, but it was a job that I had to accomplish each day of the week. Large or small, I had to write a blog.

    Yesterday, I missed it.

    There was a window for me to get it accomplished, but I kept letting myself get pulled sideways. We are trying to get Covid tested, and then there was making the Thanksgiving shopping list, and it was a nice day out, so I wanted to make sure the kid got lots of park time, and then I got sucked down a Twitter-hole of checking on Trump’s efforts in Michagain.

    In that same vein of thought, It has been close to a month since I have worked on any of my fiction. At first I chalked it up to the coming election, as that was and still is dominating a great deal of my mental space. But it has been three weeks, and I think it is time to admit that I have fallen off the writing wagon.

    It is a matter of self discipline. I am lacking it, and also staying focused. This isn’t meant as a pity party, but more a matter of recalibration. We are still a long way from normal, or even a normal schedule, but I have to find a way to work within this situation.