Perseverating and Precipitation

[cafenowhere]

It snowed about four inches over last night and this morning. At about 4pm I went outside to shovel the porch and sidewalks. In a "never tell me the odds" moment, I flung myself outside without checking the temperature. In the first ten minutes, I thought I might have a heart attack--thanks, Covid!--but I persevered at a measured pace and got the job done. Not well, mind you, just done. JJ came out to clear the driveway and urged me to go back inside, but I hung around the garage, out of the wind, and watched him work in case *he* had a heart attack. He had to take a break inside because he couldn't feel his fingers or nose. After we were done, I checked the temperature and it was -11F. Add in the wind chill and it was -35F. I'm glad I didn't know while I was outside, or I never would've made it.

Yesterday and today I worked on a poem recommendation for my Patreon. Yesterday I was really dissatisfied with it and frowny-faced because it was over 1000 words, whereas I usually aim for 500-750 words. Today I pared down my purview and sharpened my analysis. It's still over 1000 words, but now I feel like my recommendation does the poem justice. It's not going to appear until January 6, because I'm taking a two-week break over the holidays.

I also worked on the novel today. I keep picking at a particular flashback scene that isn't cohering as I'd like. It really irks me to be having so much trouble with it, because it's all old material (from a trunked novel), just refashioned. At least I added about 500 words of new dialogue before I returned to the flashback scene. My new planner has plenty of room for notes each day, so instead of simply recording the word count, I've been including a note about what I did. Like, I unraveled a plot knot or I revised the flashback, etc. This helps me realize how much I've accomplished even if the word count doesn't change much. Before, I was a little paranoid that I was entering a new writer's block if I didn't make a certain number of words per day. Now I have some evidence to the contrary.

Tomorrow we're supposed to be under blizzard conditions. Not much new accumulation, just a lot of wind blowing the snow around and frigid temperatures. We might get up to 0F!


 

Comments

[gwynnega]

As much as I wish it would snow in Los Angeles, I can't even comprehend the kind of weather you describe. Yikes!

It makes a lot of sense to record in more detail what you've accomplished, writing-wise. Word count isn't everything, especially when there are tricky elements to work out.

[cafenowhere]

When I first arrived from Texas, we had a terrible winter. The university shut down because of the cold (-60F with wind chill, something crazy like that), and as you can imagine, that almost never happens. There are too many moving parts to bring it all to a halt. Well after that trial by fire (heh), nothing phases us much. We stay home when it's really bad, but otherwise you bundle up and life goes on.

[queenoftheskies]

OMG, that's COLD. Is that normal for your area for this time of year? Or more severe this year?

Good for you for taking a break. That's what the holidays should be for.

I like your idea of journaling what you wrote in a planner. What a wonderful idea.

[cafenowhere]

I'd guess we get about three of these arctic blasts per winter, but more often they happen in February.

I had a hard time committing to taking a break over the holidays. I've really trained myself to come up with something each week for Patreon, and I felt guilty about NOT doing it. So I'm still doing the writing, just not publishing it. I figure this will give me some inventory so when I'm sick or traveling, I can still post.

Are you taking a break from writing over the holidays or will you use the extra time to get in extra words?