So on Monday evening, the sky decided to present us with this:
A rainbow to the east and a sunset to the west!
Rainbow over our house
Sunset from the back deck
I’ve been decidedly in bread machine mode with book two (The Marigold Miracle). I’ve been reviewing the draft—slowly—making notes, and then letting everything simmer or churn or do whatever it is my brain does when I’m not paying attention.
It’s nice to really embrace and refine my bread-machine way of writing. I already have some (what I hope are) nifty ideas for draft two. When I wrote the original draft, I knew that the initial scenes would not be the first scenes of the book. But, at the time, I simply needed a way into the story and those scenes worked for that.
It’s not flashy, but I’m pleased with this progress. I’ve also made a dent in all those Photoshop tutorials as well this week. And since the air quality here is awful and I’m stuck inside, that’s what I’m going to do next.
So this feels bigger than quitting my job. This week, I took the plunge and bought a brand-new desktop system.
Y’all, it took me forever to decide to do this. (Okay, more like five and a half months—but it felt like forever.) I’ve needed a new system for a while now. My all-in-one PC is fine for admin and hobbies, but not for Photoshop.
Even after researching new PCs and having my son help with some of the specs, I was still undecided. It took a while (again, forever), but I finally realized why.
What I actually needed was a Mac.
Cue additional thinking here.
While I use Vellum (Mac only) to create ebook and print files, I could get along fine with a PC setup. I could always rent a Mac in Cloud and do it that way. But it isn’t exactly a streamlined process. And since I’m going all in, I might as well go all in.
So this week, I bought a Mac Studio. Y’all, it’s a beast. 64 GB of RAM. I also have a 27-inch monitor. It didn’t like talking to my Logitech keyboard at first, but it all worked out after some time and (much) swearing.
Since the heat dome means that I can’t garden this weekend (except to water), I’ve been setting up my new system and also clearing out and reorganizing my desk.
Because here’s the other thing: part of it is psychological as well. My desk still looks like the setup I had for when I was working remotely. I couldn’t write there—at all. I do my drafting at the kitchen table, and really, that’s not an ergonomic solution.
So, here’s hoping! I’m going to finish up clearing out my desk today. I have a stack of Photoshop tutorials just waiting for me. I’m excited to get started.
Brief update today, as I’ve seemed to have picked up a slight summer cold.
Admin day worked well this past week. I ended up scoring another Chirp deal, and I’m pleased about that.
I (nearly) finished the revision of the bonus novella (which has a name: The Capstone Conundrum). I have one or two notions that I want to add, but then I’m moving on to The Pansy Paradox.
Because … I’m thinking I can publish both The Pansy Paradox and The Capstone Conundrum this October. Fingers crossed.
And, of course, a duckling check-in. Look how they’ve grown!
This week, I tried something a little bit different. I decided to take an admin day during the week, one where I didn’t write, but used that morning focus time for writing and publishing-related tasks instead.
Usually, I’d tackle one or two of those after my writing session. But you know what? After my writing session (about 3 – 4 hours of deep work), my brain is done. I don’t want to sit at the computer and do more stuff. It’s enough to clear out my email, comment on a blog post or two, and then head outside.
So, I thought, why not try an admin day during the week, use that focus time to knock out several publishing and personal admin tasks. Not only will I get things done (that need doing), but I can bring fresh energy to the tasks.
Additionally, if I schedule the day mid-week, I can also let my subconscious do some story simmering as well.
I think this might work. At any rate, I’m going to experiment with one admin day per week this month and evaluate the results once July arrives.
In other news? Well, ducklings!
Mama duck and all her ducklings, in a pond along the park/nature trail
I’ve been experimenting with time management and how I want my days to look like now that I can set my own schedule.
One thing is becoming clear:
There’s wisdom in taking weekends and time off.
Back in January and February, I was writing seven days a week. I was so darn excited to have the time and head space (especially the head space) to write. Book two was simply waiting for the cognitive overload from my corporate job to clear out so I could write.
Then, I needed a break. I know this about myself. I’m what Becca Syme calls a bread machine writer. In her article Why Isn’t This Easier, she writes about bread machines (the writers, not the appliance):
Your brain is wired like a bread machine, so the easier books to work on are the ones where you’ve had more time to put all the ingredients inside the machine and let it sit for a long time. But when you become a professional writer (even if you’re not writing full-time), you don’t get to spend years thinking about a book, unless you’re GRRM. So, when you take away part of the way your brain functions creatively best, it becomes more and more difficult to complete the process.
I need time to think, both long term—hey, I’ve been musing on The Pansy Paradox and the series for a decade, y’all—and short term.
So, maybe it’s an afternoon when I head to the garden center and look at all the plants (I know, I know; I’m running out of space.) Maybe it’s a trip to Half-Price Books to restock the Little Free Library.
In any case, I’m taking a conscious look at my schedule. I’m questioning why I do things when I do them and considering whether there’s a better way for me to do what I want and need to do.
Today? The siren song of the garden center is calling my name. (Can you hear it? I can definitely hear it.) Yesterday was the Guthrie Theater and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.
All in all, not a bad weekend. (And would you look at the Mississippi. We got a lot of rain last week.)
There’s still snow on the ground, but the roads are clear and dry enough for walking. And most importantly? No patches of ice. And while there’s a wintery mix in our future for Saturday, this week looks amazing for walking. I’m planning on doing a lot.
Also? Daylight Saving Time. I used to hate losing that extra hour of sleep, but now I’m so grateful to have more sunshine later in the day that I don’t mind so much.
In writing, I worked on those debriefing transcripts I mentioned last week. It’s almost like I’m a fly on the wall, listening in. (I mean, assuming flies care about eavesdropping and not simply their next meal.) There are plot points I need to address. But I also want these conversations to unfold naturally, depending on who’s doing the debriefing.
In other news, I have embarked on spring cleaning. Wish me luck.
I went on another art adventure this week, this time to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It’s been ages since I’ve been, and I really need to go again later in the year. I want to revisit the Otto Dix War Portfolio before it leaves in August.
For some reason, this painting by Eugene-Louis Boudin caught my eye, so I went in for a closer look. It’s called Vacationers on the Beach at Trouville. It is also the first painting purchased by the MIA after it opened in 1915.
This Van Gogh. That’s all. This Van Gogh.
Also, apparently, the MIA thought I was in the market for a new writing desk because they kept offering up a variety of options:
In writing-related news (without a fancy new desk), I’ve been working on that second plotline for The Marigold Miracle. Some of the scenes are actually debriefing transcripts, so they’re dialogue-heavy with some sound effects. They’ve been challenging and fun to write.
So, we have a cold front coming this week, a brutal one. I always hope February will be kinder, maybe because it’s sitting next to March, which is (almost) spring. Okay, here in Minnesota, March is absolutely not spring. Still, I expect February to be more compassionate.
Sadly, my expectations are often dashed.
Luckily, I do not need to leave the house until next Saturday. I have all meals planned, plenty of coffee and tea, a new series to binge (Paradise on Hulu—two episodes in, and I’m enjoying it), and plenty to read.
In writing progress, I’ve made it all the way through the manuscript (y’all, it’s 103,000 words) with Pansy’s plotline. Now, I plan to do a first-cut revision and weave in the second plotline, which deals with the character of Marigold in The Marigold Miracle. So, at least I have writing to distract me from the cold as well.
If you’re dealing with any kind (or not-so-kind) weather this week, take care!
This week, an errand took me across town. And since I was across town, I decided to visit The Museum of Russian Art. It was a great way to get out of the house, offline, and into the world. The visit was the perfect antidote for a week of fire-hose news blasts.
The crowds were light enough that you could take your time at each work of art, but there were enough people that it felt companionable.
Plus, if you’ve never seen a display of 1,000 nesting dolls, I highly recommend it (my iPhone 8 doesn’t do any of the art justice). In writing, I’m heading into the last part of book 2 (The Marigold Miracle). I won’t be officially done when I reach the end because I have a second plotline that I need to weave into the story. Parts are there, but it needs to be more robust. Still, getting (closer) to the end is pretty exciting.
Last week, Anno asked what I was working on and whether it was the series about Pansy (she of the sentient umbrella).
And yes, yes, it is. I’m writing the entire series. Or rather, I believe it’s the entire series, three books with a companion novella. I’m writing the whole series first before publishing any of it.
I’m doing this for a couple of reasons. First, I simply want the joy of writing it without any external expectations. If I publish the first book and it’s nothing but crickets and tumbleweeds, that can make the subsequent books more difficult to write.
If the first lands and finds its readership? Well, that could make the subsequent books even harder to write.
Right now, I’m in my writing bubble and having an immense amount of fun, and I don’t want to give that up.
Second, I think the series will be better for it. I’ve already refined the world-building by writing book two. I’m keeping notes of what I want to change in book one. Small things, a sentence here or there, backstory that needs a slight rephrasing. I could probably get away with not doing this, but I really enjoy doing this sort of work. To borrow a word I used a few blog posts ago, it feels like a luxury.
Last but not least, I believe that, in the long run, it will take less time to publish the entire series. There was a three-year gap between Coffee and Ghosts books three and four. Part of that was circumstances (oh, hi, pandemic). Part of it was I had to figure out how to bring back (spoiler) the entity. The entity is Katy’s foil. The series doesn’t work without the entity sticking its nose into things—not that the entity has an actual nose.
I will start publishing once book three is drafted and I feel secure about the content. Not all at once, but readers will know the series is complete.
So, during this first month of full-time writing, I reached ~91,000 words in book two (yes, these are long fantasy books). I’ve written close to 20,000 words this month. Considering I’m still recovering from burnout, I feel that’s significant. It feels like a win.
Writing Wrongs 