Tag Archives: Update

Plans, a Pandemic and Plain ol’ Pain

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2020 did not start off as I expected and this first post in many moons is not going to be about how my website is going to be used and how the future is going to be great.

Local cry for help

Firstly, a pandemic happened which threw a wrench into everything on a global scale.

Secondly, I started a new job as a recruiter that I truly enjoy which ate a bunch of time, however, a global pandemic happened and threw a wrench into that as well. I haven’t seen my amazing colleagues in person for months now and working from home is getting a bit stale. Plus the crisis is taking its toll.

Thirdly, my amazing plan to go back to the gym and fixing my back was going back on track, but, sadly, a global pandemic happened and threw a wrench blah blah blah, you get it.

I could go on about wanting to revitalize my website and start working on new projects, but everything just kinda fell apart for everyone and we’re only now seeing a potential endpoint (at least in Ireland) which unfortunately does not seem to be anywhere close what “normal” was. Maybe that will come about in September when the government’s plan has come to fruition.

Whatever happens, we should try to stay sane and happy. I took up miniature painting again, see the Instagram feed on the right, and finished off a bunch of stuff that was just lying around. I progressed on something that I had initially abandoned due to lack of time and mental energy, which spurred this post as well. Maybe now is the right time to decide what we want to put energy into, whom to keep closer contact with and find out how we want to live after the crisis. The crisis, however bad it is, might be the kick in the tush for some people to decide how they want to live their lives.

We will. Eventually.

I had an interesting conversation with my partner yesterday about it (sort of). We were enjoying a lovely constitutional in the inner city with nay anyone about, the middle of Dublin seeming almost empty when it occurred to me that life cannot go back to normal. My partner seems to think that we will eventually go back to “normal”. The screens in shops will go down, social distancing will go away, shops will reopen and it will be business as usual.

I don’t. For one, unless a vaccine or super effective treatment comes about very very soon, that won’t happen. Normal wont be normal and steps will be taken to make people be careful. On a more personal level, I don’t want normal to come back. My life feels better, I connect more (if remotely) with people I care about and I feel more focused on figuring out what I want in life. This unfortunate reprieve from the “normal” has made me focus on how abnormal my life felt previously.

So I don’t want “normal” to come back. I want to shape my new “normal” to be better, to be better balanced mentally, focus better at work and play better at home. Maybe that is the takeaway from the pandemic. That finding value and balance are much harder when everything is “normal” outside. Let’s use this painful moment to make things better. Even if just a little bit.

The other takeaway is that people don’t wash their hands enough, don’t know the difference between a bacteria and a virus, and don’t understand what exponential growth means.

Baby steps, world. Baby. Steps.

Book Project Update #6 – Working in Bursts

Book Project,

Working Title: Dave’s Hammer.

Current Word Count: 12091 words

Goal for next Monday: Another 3000 new words!

20131125_205838_Richtone(HDR)So… That worked pretty well. I actually managed to add the promised 3000 words to the book. Alas, I must disappoint you since I will refrain from sharing any finished work, simply because its not finished. Its the first version of the first draft. Getting from draft to an actual product is going to be interesting. The most likely outcome would be a quick giggle at my expense due to lack of proper (refined/finished) grammar and a confused narrative. Giggles my well-shaped posterior.

It was refreshing (and surprising) that I managed to actually get 3000 words on the page this week, five hundred of which were generated while waiting for my flight out of Stansted. While I have been in worse airports, Stansted is notoriously boring. After visiting the whiskey store and annoying the Super car Salesperson, who seems to think that “wanting to make all my friends jealous by winning a Super-car” was a prospect worth pursuing, there really is nothing to do. Unless you like shopping and eating crappy food. So its a good environment to focus on some writing and brainstorming.

So the conclusion this week: I do my best work in short controlled bursts.

And tagged on to that: Inspiration comes from the strangest of places. Like my wall pictured above. Oh, and London probably helped.

Until next week….

Oh…

And I changed the structure/format. The narrative is much more plastic now.

Cheers!

Book Project Update #2

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Working Title: Dave’s Hammer.

Current Word Count: 5443 (less than expected) + 845 world notes + 3 character sheets

Goal for next Monday: Complete overview of plot treads and 2000 new words.

20131014_084418Writing sharpens the mind. It makes you curious, hungry for knowledge and ideas, for plot twists and tropes. It makes you consume content like a ravenous beast, not to steal or plagiarize, but to get inspired and engage with new ideas. So writing time gets expanded to include reading time, which becomes reading and watching time, which becomes reading, watching and note taking time, which become writing time once again. Its a peculiar cycling and recycling of content that gets digested by your brainz and then distilled by pen and keyboard to the page. And so the story grows, gains character and matures. Like wine. Or, in my case, maybe more like cheese.

I decided to work more on world building and structuring the story itself. It wonderful to have 10 different and exciting set pieces with action, drama and potential, but no actual link. So structure it is.  So I’ve create the storyboard wall here at home. Hopefully that will become a lot more populated with post it’s, lists and look like some horrifying combination of a mine-laded mind map, a post-it note graveyard and a wall. At least somewhere behind it all.

So, to sum up: Added 800+ words, giving shape to characters (and named them), created world documentation and create a post-it note graveyard on a living room wall. Cheer, and a new update in a weeks time.