cafenowhere (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cafenowhere) wrote2022-12-02 04:21 pm
cafenowhere) wrote2022-12-02 04:21 pm
Week in Review
This has been a good week for me. I got to do a variety of work things, which keeps me on an even keel. I prepared two of the poems that I selected for Strange Horizons for publication on the 5th and 12th. I chose a poem for recommendation on my Patreon and wrote up my essay early, posting it around noon today. And I cracked the 10K word mark on my novel today. This last is not as impressive as it sounds; I had a good number of those words written years ago and I started adding words two weeks ago. But I'm still pleased with the progress.
Our family had a few dinners together, which is less common now than it was last year, when Ash was still in high school. These days he spends most evenings with his friends, so it feels like a treat when he is available to eat with us. J has done a lot of cooking this week, saving us from takeout. We eat way more takeout than we should, just like we used to eat out too much before the pandemic. In fact, tonight J is picking up Indian food.
In the evenings, I have been making slow progress on reading Fantastic Americana, a collection by Josh Rountree from Fairwood Press. Reading these stories is not a struggle, it's all good work that I've enjoyed. It's just that as my novel progresses, it takes up more and more of my mind and I can't concentrate on fiction. (I still read a lot of poetry for my Patreon.) On nights I haven't read, J and I have watched Wednesday on Netflix. It's kind of like a cross between Nancy Drew (girl sleuth) and Sherlock (probably autistic protag). I have some Concerns about the show and how it deals (and doesn't) with race, but I like Jenna Ortega in the role of Wednesday Addams. We've watched all but one episode and Wednesday hasn't smiled once. It's refreshing, in a way. Most shows go out of their way to make the heroine likable, but there's all kinds of stories to be told with an antiheroine.
I don't have any weekend plans, except to get to the post office to mail a package. What about you?
Our family had a few dinners together, which is less common now than it was last year, when Ash was still in high school. These days he spends most evenings with his friends, so it feels like a treat when he is available to eat with us. J has done a lot of cooking this week, saving us from takeout. We eat way more takeout than we should, just like we used to eat out too much before the pandemic. In fact, tonight J is picking up Indian food.
In the evenings, I have been making slow progress on reading Fantastic Americana, a collection by Josh Rountree from Fairwood Press. Reading these stories is not a struggle, it's all good work that I've enjoyed. It's just that as my novel progresses, it takes up more and more of my mind and I can't concentrate on fiction. (I still read a lot of poetry for my Patreon.) On nights I haven't read, J and I have watched Wednesday on Netflix. It's kind of like a cross between Nancy Drew (girl sleuth) and Sherlock (probably autistic protag). I have some Concerns about the show and how it deals (and doesn't) with race, but I like Jenna Ortega in the role of Wednesday Addams. We've watched all but one episode and Wednesday hasn't smiled once. It's refreshing, in a way. Most shows go out of their way to make the heroine likable, but there's all kinds of stories to be told with an antiheroine.
I don't have any weekend plans, except to get to the post office to mail a package. What about you?
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This afternoon I have to go out and deal with an annoying issue with my cell phone that can't be handled from home, but later I will work on my novel and continue reading Gabrielle Zevin's novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which I'm liking a lot.
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I hadn't heard of Zevin's novel, so I'm glad you mentioned it. I just entered the Goodreads giveaway for it.
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I loved the Zevin novel, even though I have never been a gamer!
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And congrats on your story taking up so much of your brain that you can't read as much, because that means you're tapped into your creativity, and that's **great** (hope I can get back there...)
These days he spends most evenings with his friends, so it feels like a treat when he is available to eat with us. --feeling for you on this one. Any time any of the kids are with us is a treat.
... And I hear what you say about take-out but at the thought of Indian food all I could think was: worth it for that deliciousness!
And congrats on your productivity w/regard to Strange Horizons & your Patreon, too. It does sound like a good week.
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Yeah, Indian food is one cuisine we haven't managed to reproduce at home with much success. The prepackaged stuff from the grocery doesn't come close, and I have the impression (perhaps incorrect) that the meals take a long time to prepare, with ingredients we usually don't keep on hand.
And congrats on your story taking up so much of your brain that you can't read as much, because that means you're tapped into your creativity, and that's **great** (hope I can get back there...)
You'll get back there, but I know that after a while, it feels forever distant. I wonder if our brains do that on purpose, make it feel like it's been forever since we were last engaged in story, so that we can come back to it fresh and grateful.
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--what a beautiful way of looking at it. That lifted my spirits, thanks ^_^
Re: Wednesday, my dad agreed to watch a whole episode w/me (ep. 2) and I see what you mean about the possibly problematic treatment of race. I wonder if they'll do something to rectify the dynamic or ....
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Congratulations on the novel progress. Do you have a deadline or a target date your aiming for?
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In this incarnation, Wednesday is in high school and a budding novelist. It's an entertaining show, but I wouldn't say it's must-see tv.
Congratulations on the novel progress. Do you have a deadline or a target date your aiming for?
Thank you. I'm not working on a deadline, nor do I have a target date. I'm going easy on myself because it's been such a long time since I've written fiction.