Perseverating and Precipitation
Dec. 22nd, 2022 05:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cafenowhereIt 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!
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!
