999 bottles of beer on the wall…999 bottles of beer

I’m about to go hunting for the daily/monthly word count plugin I’ve got on another site, for lo and verily, I want to actually start keeping track of my writing again.  But that’s not what the title of this post is about.

I’m writing a new(ish) plugin that lets me track what I’ve done with writing – but I’ve also got something else I want to keep track of, something that’s going onto a new blog, but for now, I just wanted a record of it *somewhere*.  I have 137 books to read.  137 books I’ve either bought or been given – not including the new ones that are going to be coming in for review.  And I want to read the lion’s share of them before the end of December.

Sanity optional – aka, I’m not reading enough

One of the major things I’m discovering right now is I’m just not reading enough.  Or, at least, I’m not reading enough that’s not on my laptop, snatched between chores.  I’m also not reading enough, as in, for myself.  The best I’m doing right now, is listening to audio books while I sleep.  Which isn’t good, because the alarm goes off and my brain is ignoring the voice narrating at me, so it also filters out/incorporates the alarm into my dream.  And while there’s a lot of overlap (I’m reading my way through Valerie Douglas‘ stuff at present, partially because she’s a friend, but mostly because I like it), it’s getting to the point where I’m genuinely missing just taking time out to read during the day/evening.

This week is going to be a bit busy, but I’m thinking I might be lucky and get some reading in when I’m at the graduation celebrations.  I’m going to be there on my own after all, for several hours and though I know *some* people there, I’m not entirely certain I know enough people to have conversations with anyone.  On the other hand, but the time I get into my gown and find my seat I might not….

And I guess that’s partly it.  It’s been a really long road to here – one which isn’t fully documented *anywhere* any more, and I’m bone weary.  Writing isn’t something I can abandon, but at the same time there just isn’t enough time in the day to get everything to the point I need it to be, before I’m done.  I’m not sure what to do, in the long-term.  But I think some of the time I was going to spend on Nano this month, I’m going to have to put towards planning and settling the stuff that I want to keep, and getting rid of the projects that are good ideas, I just don’t have the time for.  Priorities are going to have to shift again too, but I’ll look at that later this week.

For now, I’ve got a huge week ahead – graduation, book launch (I hope!), birthday party, Nano!

Momentum

We move through our lives at a constant pace.  We can accelerate or decelerate ourselves with a limited amount of success, but the speed we do things at, at our base rate at least, is probably something we’ll never change.  Some of us rush headlong into everything and batter through life as fast as we can, hungry for as many new experiences as we can pick up, and tired at the end of each day because we’ve packed in so much.

Others go as slow as possible, savoring every step, and realising, deep down, that they can’t do everything they might want to.

My problem is I want to savor everything, but I want it all.  I have too many hobbies, and too little time on my books for new stuff.  I book far too much into my life, mostly because I can.  My laptop became both my freedom and my curse, because now, there’s a whole world of reading and writing out there, and I get nothing done.
Facebook is a horrible blessing.  I can meet and hang out with so many wonderful people, and keep an eye on my friends, and there are some really cool games on there, but, lets face it, I’ve got a nasty habit of refreshing my page again and again, and then wondering, at 2pm, where my day went.

Worst of all, I’m a person that moves through life with a momentum that pulls others along behind me.  And lately, I kinda feel like I’m out in the middle of a great big ocean, with no chance of finding the new land I was aiming for.  But it feels like I’m stranding other people now and I don’t like that feeling.

Momentum is working out where you’re going and I think that’s the biggest thing for me right now.  I need to work out which map I’m working from – someone else’s or my own.  If I’m working from someone else’s, where can I adapt it so it’s all mine – or if I’m going to dive on in headlong and do it all myself, I need to work out where I want to go – there are *so many* choices right now.

What I do know is tomorrow begins my ninth Nanowrimo.  I’m really looking forward to it.  It gives me another month to work out and plan the roller coaster that is about to be my life.  One way or another, things will start resolving and working out the way I want to.

Plans are coming soon, though.  I’m happy to report there *is* a plan, but it’s difficult to see whether it’s the right choice right now.  So I’m going to have a bit of fun with my writing for a bit, and see where that takes me.  It’s too easy for me to lose sight of what I wanted to do when I started out online – which was writing.  I’ve gone all over the web since, looking for something that’s ‘all me’ but what I am, underneath it all, is a writer.

 Momentum

Free download – project cover sheet

2500490111 124f2a7060 m Free download   project cover sheet
Image by mattymatt via Flickr

I’ve got these deadlines in my calendar for writing short stories, based on the duotrope theme calendar.  But my main problem is I have to do three or four of em in a month, or at least attempt an idea at them – I could postpone submitting till March and roll up to it slowly, but it’s easier, in most cases, for me simply to jump in both feet.

So I designed a deceptively simple cover sheet for my projects – it’s got space to track the idea, or outline, the title, the link, notes, and each draft status.  You can print it or simply open it and update it once a month, and is also a handy dandy cover sheet for any contracts you may need to later file.

You can download, modify and mess with the file from deadline planning – let me know if you get any use out of it?

 Free download   project cover sheet

Niche Language – Introduction

Niche language is one of those things that can encompass just about every area of written and verbal communication, so I thought I’d choose a key set of areas to look and run with them.  Our key areas here are ‘niche language’, ‘unique language and tags’, and ‘sociolinguistics’. Sociolinguistics is the hardest of the three More >