Hello, hello! For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been having some issues with pain brought about by adjusting my seat cushion. Needless to say, it’s been interfering with my writing. For three days, it was so bad that I didn’t do anything productive. Since then, I’ve been able to focus on doing most of the stuff I needed to do. But I wanted to take today to talk about pain and when to suck it up vs. when to take a break because of it.
I try. Sometimes, I fail.
When you’re cripple, pain is pretty much a guarantee. Every doctor I visit inevitably asks if I’m in any pain, and my go-to response is “no more than usual.” It’s a given that my neck/left shoulder always hurt, along with my back and hips. It’s more a matter of how bad I’m hurting. Low-level (about a three) aches that randomly spike to about a seven on a scale of one to ten are my norm. Those are the pains I’m used to, and yes, you eventually get used to hurting. They’re the pains that I can ignore and go about my day with.
But what about the days those random spikes linger? What about the days when the pain is so different (not necessarily bad, just unusual) that it distracts me from the things I need to focus on? Honestly, most of the time, I pop some Aspirin and goof around until it kicks in, then get back to work. As long as everything eventually returns to normal, I don’t worry about it too much. Granted, sometimes I waste a lot of time trying to figure out why I’m feeling the way I do, but that could just be another form of procrastination for me.
Occasionally, there are days when the pain is higher than normal and doesn’t go away even with Aspirin. If I can figure out why I’m in pain, I try to figure out how to stop it, which can be a trial and error bit that lasts a couple of days (like with my seat). I know I’ll never be able to focus on those days. When I have pain like that, I usually move around a lot and have to sit in positions that make working at the computer impossible. Not to mention, pain makes it really hard to focus. My mind gets all jittery. Those are the days that I say screw writing and everything else I need to do. And that’s okay. We all deserve a little time off when we’re in pain.
Stare blankly at the wall until the pain goes away.
So, if you’re not already aware of what kind of pain is normal for you, try to learn. It makes the decision to push through or take a break much easier. What do you do when you’re hurting? Do you pop a couple of pills and wait for them to kick in? Do you do yoga or tai chi or some other exercise in the hopes of working the pain out? Perhaps you meditate. Whatever your method of dealing with aches and unusual pains, feel free to share your tips and tricks here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! Apparently, May decided to arrive when I wasn’t looking. I don’t really have anything worth talking about this week (feel free to send me suggestions for topics), so I’ve decided to make my goals for the month public again. Motivation has been really hard to find lately. I have no idea why. But, hopefully this will help!
Because Snoopy and Woodstock!
Here are my May goals, in no particular order:
1. Submit stuff 8 times (2 every Monday). This is the one goal that I haven’t failed at yet this year. I’ve gotten a bunch of rejections. One of my stories has been shortlisted, so I’ve got my fingers crossed for that one. And I have a bunch still floating in the slush pile limbo. Hopefully, I can keep up the submissions this month!
2. Write 1 flash piece OR short story. I’m super behind on this one. So far this year, I’ve only written one short story and revised a couple of flash pieces. I was hoping to have at least three new pieces to shop around by this point, but I don’t. Soon, though. I hope.
3. Read 2 books. I’m currently reading an ARC of The Oddling Prince by Nancy Springer to review this month. The book club I’m in will be reading The Wicked Deep by Shea Earnshaw, so I’ll probably also read that. If I have time, I also want to read the third book in the Howl’s Moving Castle trilogy, but I don’t know if I will or not.
It looks pretty interesting!
4. Make time for people. My recluse skills have been on point lately. I avoid chatting on Facebook. I only text one person regularly. Can’t remember the last time I talked to someone on the phone. And I really shouldn’t be that way. I should randomly message people and try to make new friends. The problem is, I’m comfortable not bothering people. That’s a hard habit to break. I’m trying, though. I sent a few messages out yesterday. I’ll try to send out a few each week. We’ll see how it goes.
5. Finish revising short story. I’m still working on fleshing out and revising the short story I wrote a couple of months ago. It’s a bit more sci-fi than I’m comfortable writing, but I’m enjoying it. I actually took a character from a novel I haven’t finished and threw her in a new world as a younger version of herself. I think this world might be the key to all the problems that made me quit that novel. But that’ll have to wait until I finish everything else I want to do this year. For now, the short story comes first.
6. Submit story to critique group. It’s been a while since I’ve submitted anything to my critique group, so hopefully some of them will be up to checking the story out when I finish revising it.
7. Begin revisions on LR. I decided to go back to the second novel attempt and work on revising it first. I miss my dragons and shifters and everyone else in that book. It’ll be nice to get back to them.
Hello, hello! It finally happened. On Saturday, I wrote THE END on the shitty first draft of novel attempt number three! Yay!!! I celebrated by doing nothing productive whatsoever on Sunday. Monday, I slowly dipped my toe into the revision pool by revising a micro fiction piece before sending it and another piece out into slush land. Which brings us to today (because I’m writing this on Tuesday). Now, the real revision struggle begins. Sure, I have a short story that needs to be doubled in length and smoothed out. That’s my immediate focus. But then, I have to decide which novel attempt to revise, two or three. And that’s what I plan on rambling about today.
I try.
Option 1: revise novel attempt two (LR from here on out). In my head, I know this would be the smart choice. For one thing, it would give me a break from the one I just finished, which is always encouraged so that when it comes time to trim the fat away, you won’t be blindly attached to it. I’ve had more than enough time away from LR to be able to make the hard cuts. I’m still super excited about LR, so that’s a plus. And I really do miss being around those characters.
The downside of revising LR first: while I love it, I’m not really sure it has much potential in the way of attracting agents. Are dragons even “in” anymore? Or are they passé? I know I shouldn’t worry about stuff like that, and I should work on whatever my heart tells me to, but it’s something I think about. I’ll have to do some research on the trends right now/where the trends seem to be headed. Plus, I’m concerned that if I get caught up in LR’s world, I’ll lose steam in the other one.
Don’t worry, Toothless. You’ll always be cool.
Option 2: revise novel attempt three (DS from here on out). Some of the advantages include that the plot is fresh in my mind and I still remember what all my little revision notes mean. From that perspective, it makes sense to dive right back into DS. It’s also a genre that’s always in high demand, but with a supernatural twist. So, I feel like it has a better chance of catching an agent’s eye. Plus, I’m completely in love with these characters and their stories.
The problem with starting with DS is that I wouldn’t have much time away from it, so I would probably still be super attached to all the fluff that needs to be chopped out. I have trouble decluttering my room because of sentimental values, decluttering a story isn’t any easier. It would also mean more time away from LR, which has been randomly popping into my head the last couple of months. Plus, I’m not entirely sure if the supernatural elements will be attractive in this particular genre or if it’ll be confusing and off-putting.
I’m being indecisive and procrastinating all at once.
I guess I’ll read through both of them and see which one pulls me toward it more. Until then, I have a short story to focus on. What about you? How do you decide which projects to revise and when? What’s your method of making these kinds of choices? As always, please feel free to leave your comments or thoughts here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! How is everyone’s April going so far? Are you keeping up with all of your goals? I actually want to talk about how I’ve been doing with that whole “write every day” thing that I mentioned trying back in March. It’s been working! Every day in March (including Sundays and those days when I really didn’t want to), I wrote at least 50 words. Sometimes, I even made it up to 1,000 words. When April arrived, I upped it to at least 100 words a day. So far, I’ve kept at it! And I’ve learned some things from my experience thus far, which is what I’m going to ramble about right now.
Well, a computer.
Thing the first: Sunday will never be a good writing day for me. Right now, Sunday is set aside for things that take up most of the day, so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep up with even 50 words. I did. Even 100 words has proven to be doable. But I don’t think I’ll ever do more than that on Sundays. It’s actually kind of annoying writing on those days. I miss my day off.
Thing the second: I still write better at night. I’ve tried for a long time to adjust to writing in the late afternoon/early evening with mixed results. Sometimes, words flow easily and I finish my 1,000 words before I even realize it. A lot of times, writing the words is like pulling teeth. But, I’ve found that when I open a story around 11ish at night to write my words on those days I’m too lazy to do it in the afternoon, the words always flow. Granted, I’m usually only aiming for 100-150 at that point, so it might just be that I’m not pressuring myself with a difficult goal. It’s just something I noticed. But I’ve always been a night owl, so this is no surprise.
Pretty much.
Thing the last: writing every day is not a stress reliever for me. A lot of people I know say that they feel so much better after they write their words for the day. It’s like a catharsis for them to get words on the page (even if it’s just 50 words). I am not one of these people. I usually feel the same or worse after I write, unless I hit one of those rare days where the words tumble out onto the page almost by themselves. Most of the time, I’m just happy that I can play games or read or watch anime or whatever without feeling guilty. At least until I realize that it’s too late to do any of that stuff, then I’m just annoyed that I don’t have a day off to do any of it.
When you finish writing and realize you don’t have time for anime.
In other words, my experiment with writing every day is going well. I’m about halfway through the last chapter of my current novel attempt (hoping to finish by the end of the week). When I switch to revision mode, I’m not sure if I’ll keep up with writing every single day, but I’m glad I’ve done it. I admit that setting low goals for each day is a helpful way of getting back into the sway of writing. Do you have any experience with something like this? As always, feel free to share your thoughts and comments here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! I want to take a second to say thank you to DerekHoffman one more time for his guestpost last week! I’m in the process of lining up more guests in the future, so if you’re interested in something like that, feel free to e-mail me (shawna.n.borman@gmail.com) or get in touch via my social media pages.
And now, on to this week. Happy spring! I had zero ideas what to blog about this week, so Dad suggested I do a post of random thoughts I’ve been having lately. Therefore, if you don’t like this post, blame him. Anyway, here are five things that have been on my mind recently.
They’re so cute and fuzzy!!! Yes, cute and fuzzy makes me abuse the exclamation mark.
1. I’ve been wondering why it always seems harder to write words the closer I get to the end of a story. I still haven’t finished the shitty first draft of my current novel attempt (I know, I know… judge me all you want), even though I’m only a few thousand words away from typing THE END. Revision ideas keep popping into my head, but I make a note and then ignore them, like a good little writer. It’s like my brain doesn’t want me to finish. But I will prevail! I’ll reach THE END, then I’ll get stuck in the editing process and complain about that for a while. Am I the only one with this problem?
2. Recently, I finished reading a book and told myself I wasn’t going to start another one until I finished the one I put down without finishing for various reasons (none of which have to do with the book itself). The next day, I wore my Howl’s Moving Castle t-shirt and realized I hadn’t read the book yet, so I started reading that instead. I feel like a very fickle reader. Shame on me.
I should probably buy some new shirts.
3. Honestly, I’ve been thinking a lot about my Stonecoast friends. I was feeling really isolated, especially since it’s pretty much writing con season (ICFA, AWP, StokerCon, etc.). But then I realized my Stonecoast people are magical psychic unicorns, because within a few days of my thoughts, I received a Facebook message saying someone was thinking of me and a surprise package in the mail from someone else. Also, I know I’m not the best at keeping in touch with people, but I really do appreciate them.
4. I want to start drawing again. It’s something I’ve randomly thought about for a while now, but I’ve been too lazy to see if my tablet thingamajig even works any more. It’s super old. Maybe I’ll just buy a new one so I don’t have excuses. (P.S. This drawing desire will fade soon, so don’t expect anything new from it.)
It’s the only realistic picture I’ve drawn that I really liked, even though I totally screwed up the perspective of the flooring in the background. I mostly just like to color.
5. Multiplication tables. When I have trouble getting to sleep, I’ve started doing multiplication in my head. I start at one and go up to thirteen, then two to thirteen, and so on until I reach thirteen times thirteen or until I fall asleep. It’s actually been pretty helpful with the sleep bit, but I’m still slow at math.
There you have it. Five bits of random thoughts. Feel free to share some of your own thoughts here or on my social media pages!
Hello, hello! Welcome to my first quarterly (March/June/September/December) guest post. For the inaugural edition, please welcome my friend and fellow Stonecoast alum, Derek Hoffman!
How Transmedia Storytelling Can Kickstart Your Stagnant Writing Project
By Derek B. Hoffman
You have a story. Yes, that one. It’s the one you know you’re supposed to write, but you can’t seem to crack it (or regain inspiration to continue) and you cringe each time a friend asks how it’s going.
Yet it still calls to you. Whatever else you try to fill your time with, creative or otherwise, it’s the thing that won’t let go and won’t move forward. So what do you do?
Think sideways.
Think outside of the screen, the pen, the shuffled stack of drafts you’ve shoved in a half-crushed Amazon box. Think transmedia.
I know, what does that really mean? To put it simply, it is a way of telling a story across multiple media. But it’s more than that, it’s also using multiple types of media purposefully because “each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story” (from “Transmedia Storytelling 101” by Henry Jenkins). You can find the wiki here, a couple great resources here and here, and a slew of academic articles here and here. It’s a lot to take in, but what it boils down to is a call to think in 4D about the story you need to tell.
If you aren’t familiar with the book, you can scroll through Amazon’s “Look Inside” option to get an idea of what’s inside.
Transmedia storytelling uses technology and media to broaden the story and engage a greater audience. In House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, the main book is a series of nested narratives that tell a story about a story, about an event. As a family unpacks in their new house, they discover it contains a mysteriously expanding labyrinth that holds more than a few secrets of its own. The narratives mimic the labyrinth, with text twisting and winding through the pages. Footnotes are peppered throughout, giving it a more academic and researched feel, though only 25% of the references are legitimate.
To give the story credibility, Danielewski published a website before the book release. The Internet was still capitalized back then, and the website played to the interests of an audience seeking hidden truths, long before the doubts of Fake News and strategic disinformation. There were also rumors Danielewski helped the manuscript go viral by dropping it at tattoo parlors and bars as a loose collection of papers tied with a string. The musician Poe (Danielewski’s sister) released an album of songs alongside the novel. Suddenly, readers could actually hear the echoes down the five and a half minute hallway.
More simply and more recently, transmedia storytelling can be seen in the 2017 show Thirteen Reasons Why, about a set of cassette tapes left by a girl who committed suicide. Jay Asher published the book in 2007 with hints to lead readers to, you guessed it, a set of audio tapes he had posted on a website.
Well, maybe the reason your book isn’t writing itself is that it is more than just a book. Are there:
different entry points into your story?
multiple audiences you want to engage?
different perspectives, voices, or subplots that lend themselves to audio, video, blog, or website?
supplemental facts, graphics, maps, or historical details that could add dimension
Let go of the pencil and pick up the keyboard, microphone, brush, or camera to give your story new life.
What next?
Set yourself up for success
First, take a moment to set achievable goals. Unless you have an amazing amount of free time, and/or resources, be real with yourself and your story.
Spend a weekend breaking down your story to see what areas could benefit (or not) from a transmedia approach and our thinking sideways experiment.
Then think about your creative resources (e.g. your own talents, friends and family, and local schools and artists).
Take account of how much time and money you may be willing to put toward this endeavor (consider crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter as well).
Lastly, remember to think about any ethical impacts your project may have during execution. Don’t worry, I’ll talk more about this in a couple sections.
Get uncomfortable
It’s time to break your story. What’s left inside when you peel back everything else? What is it that made you want to write it in the first place? A character’s tale that had to be told? An image that haunts you? An intimate, whispered conversation? A political or religious allegory? Or are you determined to buck every trope in a given genre? Whatever it is, find it (or remember it).
Anatomy of a breakdown
Since everyone’s results from this will vary, I’ll throw down first.
A girl stands in the shallows off the rocky coast of Maine. Her long nightgown is soaked up to the frilled collar. She walks forward into the ocean, grim and at peace.
Seventy years later, a reporter on hiatus because of a major screwup at her job visits her friend in Maine. Out of her morning newspaper drops a microfiche news story about the girl’s disappearance.
That’s all I had, but it bugged me for a year and a half while I attended my graduate program (in Maine). Every time I watched waves crash against the rocks under a foggy sky, I saw the girl. Six months left in my MFA. It was time to get this going. I thought about:
What was in the news story for the girl on the microfiche?
What did the reporter’s online newspaper look like? What stories had she written before?
Did the girl have a diary? What was her story? Why did she likely kill herself?
Maybe the girl had letters from a secret love???
Did the reporter have a personal blog?
Alright, that’s a good start for different ways to approach or enhance the story. What else? Since I was in this program with other creatives, could I directly engage them? During the winter, we stayed at a cool, old inn. A ghost story, perhaps?
Maybe “accidental” audio or video of the girl from the reporter’s cellphone/camera.
Find out the history of the inn. Would it fit with the girl’s story?
An evidence bag from the old missing person’s case left at the front desk or someone’s room?
Whoa. Hold on, now we are moving into ARG territory. ARG? Alternate Reality Gaming. It can totally be done. Check out some cool stuff from Lance Weiler here, but there are some major ethical considerations in going down this path:
What if someone believes your story is real? What kind of emotional/psychological impact could it have? Could they miss work or school? Could they report findings to the police? I know this sounds extreme, but you need to consider all of this.
Is there a way for people to opt-in/opt-out?
If you are performing research while executing your story (e.g. by using analytics on websites) are you obtaining permission? Is there a notice on the site that clearly states what is being collected?
Again, the above isn’t to scare you out of incorporating some really cool ARG into your transmedia project, but you need to be conscious of its potential effects and the rights of those involved behind and in front of the story.
Speaking of those behind the story…
Creative Role Call
Now you have an idea of what can be done. How do you do it? Well, there are several options depending on your social and financial resources.
You can form a creative collaboration with one or more trusted creative friends. These should be people whose work you know is solid, even if they aren’t professionals. You don’t want to have to manage people’s egos or confidence. Depending on what the work is, if it will be profitable, what kind of friendship you have, and more will determine how you might be able to compensate your team. Personally, even though I have some friends working with me on a transmedia project, and some have offered their services for free, or at a great discount, I want to pay them what their work deserves. It’s not that I have the financial resources, but I don’t want my creative friends to get burned or short-changed just because they are my friends. How will I pay them? We’ll get to that in a moment.
You can go it alone. If you have the skills to perform/create in multiple media, good for you! Make sure you have the time, and that it is worth the “life cost.” And whatever you plan for time, double it.
You can find creative resources online and locally. Do you need photos? Check Unsplash. It’s a great resource for free, hi-res photos that can be used however you like. They don’t even require attribution (though I highly recommend it). There is Fiverr for freelance design, translation, video, and more. Check out Artstation for inspiration and some freelance conceptual, environmental, and 3D artists. If you want to build a website for your project, check out Squarespace, Hugo, and WordPress/Themeforest. Also, contact your local community colleges and universities to see if they have a way for you to post what you’re looking for to students who might want some more real world project experience (and please pay them).
If there are self-publishing components to your project, check out Lulu and Blurb.
Now that you are finalizing your project plan and team, how are you going to pay for it all?
Show me the money
Short of your own financial resources, or those of a publishing/media company, you need to crowdfund. And for this type of project, the only option really suitable to the task is Kickstarter. If you have to go this route, you need to look at their tips for creating a successful campaign, and you need to do some math to make sure that your project funding goal includes fees for using Kickstarter, shipping, production, taxes, etc. It’s not just about paying your creatives. And whether you use a crowdfunding site or not, you need to prep your mind for selling your project. Whether it is to people who have cash they are looking to invest in a cool enough story, or people you want to pick up your book, think of how to pitch it, how to package it, and how to sell it. This is the story that won’t let go. Now’s the time to push it out there. You got this.
Which brings us to the why…
So what?
Maybe you’ve read though this anxiously waiting for the secret to reveal itself on how to move forward with your project. Maybe you found it, but more than likely you are half-pumped, half-scared, half-apathetic, but fully convinced I can’t do math. No, this is about thinking sideways to move forward. It doesn’t matter if you create the most amazing project plan and gather the most talented team of artists, if you can’t finish the story, you’ve got nothing.
You are a writer. Transmedia, whatever you may think of its use to you and your project, is just a tool. One you can put in your rusty, blue, metal box with the squeaky hinges. Put it beside the Passive Voice Detector and whichever Manual of Style you despise the least. But put it in there.
Transmedia can refine how you pitch and define your story by forcing you to communicate with a creative team, and the world at large. It is a storytelling tool as much as it is a marketing tool. And this alternative thinking allows you to more easily evolve your narrative regardless of whether you continue down the transmedia path or simply use bits and pieces of the methodology from your toolkit.
Now, get back to writing.
—
Derek B. Hoffman is a writer, designer, technologist, husband to a scientific wonder woman, and dad to two awesome boys. He can be found online at https://derekbhoffman.com and is happy to respond to your transmedia-project-induced cries for help at https://veracitybydesign.com.
Howdy, howdy! Apparently, March arrived when I wasn’t looking. The problem with that is, it forces me to make a confession. I still haven’t finished the shitty first draft of my current novel attempt. There’s no real excuse for it. Sure, I could blame the killer headaches my allergies decided to unload on me. I could blame the general blahs I’ve been feeling for the past few months. But the truth is, I didn’t even push it with my writing on the days when I felt normal. I’d start writing and let myself get distracted by stupid things. I just haven’t been able to find the right rhythm for this particular novel. I’ve struggled with this one all along. So, I decided to do something I said I would never do.
I decided to write every single day (which is totally not as impressive as it sounds when done my way).
It’s one of those golden writing rules that writers say they live by in order to sound like they’re doing a ton of work every day, but in reality, most are lucky if they write a few days a week. Then, they throw a word count on top of it that makes it even more daunting. Like 1,000+ words a day is some easy task they can pull off in ten minutes. It’s not. In fact, writing 1,000+ words in a day can be exhausting. And it’s why I swore I would never be one of those people who even attempts it when I already know I’ll fail.
That being said, when my usual writing techniques failed me (repeatedly), I decided it was time to give this whole every day thing a go. BUT! I promised I wasn’t going to kill myself with 1,000+ words a day. Even 500+ words was too high for me to consider. So, I made my daily goal ridiculously low, with the caveat that four days a week I would shoot for my usual 1,000+ words. Otherwise, my goal is a measly 50+ words a day.
I’m going. I’m going. Chill.
It might seem stupid, but I can knock 50+ words out in ten minutes before I get ready for bed. And I’ve actually averaged about 100 words a day. I’m still struggling with my 1,000+ words days, but even those are getting a little easier. People will say that I’m building a habit and that’s why it’s getting easier, but for me, that’s not exactly true. I’m very much achievement oriented, so when I fail to meet my goals, I get stressed and upset. Setting super easy goals helps me build my self-esteem back up, which motivates me to tackle harder goals. And so far, it seems to be working.
Close enough.
I suppose it’s important to try new techniques when old ones stop working. Hopefully, I’ll finally finish that draft this month. What about you? Do you have any projects that might benefit from setting super low goals? What do you do when your standard techniques stop working? As always, feel free to share your thoughts and comments here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! I was cleaning out the notes on my phone yesterday, when I came across something from one of my workshops at Stonecoast. This particular group was led by the lovely TheodoraGoss. Just about every day, she would send us off with questions to think about and we’d discuss our answers the following day after we finished our critiques. One day, she asked us to list seven things we believe. There were no guidelines beyond this, so things went in a lot of different directions from what I remember. Anyway, I thought I would share my old list and make a new one.
It’s just a pretty picture.
The old (2014) version, in no particular order:
1. I believe music keeps me sane while inspiring me.
2. I believe growing up and acting your age are scams created by people who are jealous of the young at heart.
3. I believe in priorities: food, sleep, and eye candy.
4. I believe life is too short to be serious all the time.
5. I believe family is more than blood. It’s the people who love you and keep you around because of your flaws.
6. I believe coffee and booze were created to be mixed together.
7. I believe the angels punted my soul into the wrong body at birth. I should’ve been Japanese.
I just found this, so I thought I’d put it here and save it for later.
As you can see, I wasn’t very good at the whole introspection thing back then. Spoiler alert: I’m still not. I still completely believe in all of those things, especially the boozy coffee one. But I thought I would give it another go now that I’ve graduated and have no one to ask me these weird questions anymore.
Here’s the new (2018) version, also in no particular order:
1. I believe there is more than one way to be a professional writer. As long as you get words on the page and out into the world, it doesn’t matter if you write every day or not. Find your own rhythm.
2. I believe binge watching anime (or whatever makes you happy) is good for the soul and cleanses the mind. Not every day, but once every couple of months, just to give yourself a break from reality.
3. I believe puppy kisses have magical powers to perk people up.
4. I believe it’s important to surround yourself with people who have different viewpoints/backgrounds than you. Along with the understanding that we don’t always have to agree, but that we can have civil discussions if we put in a little effort.
5. I believe in a thing called love! Please tell me I’m not the only one who remembers that song.
6. I believe it’s perfectly reasonable to buy a book just because the cover is pretty.
7. I believe in myself. This is not something that even crossed my mind when I was originally asked to list things I believed. Despite all the rejection and failure, I’m finally at a place where I can say that I believe in me. I will succeed. Eventually. At something.
Yeah. That song by that guy.
There you go. Seven things I believed back then and seven more from now. What are seven things you believe? Feel free to leave your list here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! Welcome to February. Today, I want to share my goals for the month, but I also want to talk about allergies. Down here in Texas, the trees are getting ready for spring by spewing pollen everywhere. Depending on which way the wind’s blowing and which trees are shaking off their dust, this can create a miserable environment for people with allergies. People like me. Which, in turn, makes completing goals hard. So, along with my goals, I’ll talk about how I work them around the worst of my allergy days.
Pretty picture.
So, here are my goals:
1. Finish DS1’s shitty first draft. Writing in general is super hard when your head feels like it’s going to explode and your mucus can’t decide if it wants to hole up in your sinuses or pour all over your face (spoiler: it decides to do both). Sure, you can take a bunch of allergy meds and hope they don’t knock you out before you get your words done, but we both know that won’t work. Instead, I try to make sure I work as much as possible on the days I feel okay, so that I don’t feel too guilty for slacking on the days I feel like crap. That’s really all we can do to get the writing goals done during allergy season.
2. Submit stuff 8 times (2 every Monday). This is the kind of thing I do regardless of whether allergies are kicking my ass or not. My cover letter is already written and my manuscript is properly formatted. All I have to do is double check submission guidelines, make any formatting tweaks, and send stuff out. It doesn’t take much energy or time, so if I’m feeling really bad, I can put it off until the initial medication drowsiness has faded.
Just add some snot and drool and it’s close enough.
3. Write 1 flash piece OR short story. For those days you feel good enough to write but don’t have the brain function to focus on your novel. I don’t know about the rest of you, but sometimes I just need something quick to distract me from all the plot lines I have to keep straight in the novels. Especially when my brain already feels fuzzy from allergies.
4. Read 2 books. I tend to save reading for the days when I just can’t bring myself to write, but feel like I should be doing something productive. If it gets too hard to focus, I can always switch to Netflix.
5. Make time for people/leaving the house. I’m always bad at this whether allergies are involved or not. But I do have a tendency to say yes to leaving the house (running errands with Dad) when I don’t feel up to writing. It makes me feel productive in a different way and I don’t have to worry about the allergies making my words come out weird.
It really is.
Those are my goals for February. I figure it’s easier to stick to a few just in case my allergies get evil. What are some of your goals this month? How do you work around your allergies? Or do you prefer to push through them?
Hello, hello! The past few weeks, I’ve been really diligent about submitting to at least two magazines or anthologies each Monday. This means that I’ve been going through Duotrope, Ralan’ssite, and random calls for submissions. In my searches, I came across a really neat anthology that I will likely submit to if I can come up with a story that falls in the realm of Sci-Fi, but something about their call rubs me the wrong way. They’re looking for people who “identify as disabled.” I had to read their call three times before I realized it was that exact phrase that made me twitch every time. Something about it just irks me.
If I could tilt my head, this would’ve been my reaction.
The anthology is being put together by people with disabilities and will be comprised of stories/essays/poems/etc. by people with disabilities, so I want to be clear that I think it’s a wonderful thing and I look forward to reading it. The thing that makes me pause and overthink everything is the concept of choosing whether or not to identify as disabled. It’s something I never really thought about before, because my crippleness is so apparent that not having it as part of my identity was never an option. In my experience, people are either disabled or they aren’t. They don’t really get a choice.
Sure, some disabilities are less severe than others. Some are even invisible. But a disability is a disability regardless of whether outsiders can tell it’s there or not. If you’re disabled in a way that isn’t apparent to others and you choose to keep it to yourself, that’s your prerogative, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re disabled. If you don’t have a physical or mental deficit/difference, even if you want one (which apparently is a thing, though I have no idea why anyone would want to be disabled), then you aren’t disabled. You could become disabled in the future, but you aren’t right now. Disabilities don’t care how you identify. They either happen to you or they don’t.
From Ctrl+Alt+Del. I still laugh when I come across this one.
I suppose my biggest issue with the idea of choosing whether or not to identify as disabled is that it implies disability is some kind of social construct that people can opt into or out of whenever they want. It’s not. Disabilities are diseases and abnormalities that people have to deal with every single day. It’s not a choice. It’s not politics. It’s the hand life decided to deal us.
But I also know there are a lot of people who struggle with the idea of whether or not they’re “disabled enough” to claim the title. That’s why the anthology uses the concept of identity in its call. They want to include as many people as possible and they want people with disabilities to know that they aren’t judging what counts as a disability. They want people to feel welcome to submit no matter the type of disability or severity. In my head, I know and understand this. I even think it’s a diplomatic way to handle a tough situation. It’s just something that made me stop and think.
I do this far too often.
I’m going to stop rambling now. Feel free to leave your thoughts or comments here or on my social media pages!
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