"I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain..."

All I can say is, never say never... :(

I can say, though that May does look a bit better than April, which looks a damn sight better than March.

"Traffic was slow for the crash years/ There's no other show like it 'round here"

I promised weekly writing progress reports, and I've fallen through.  On several levels.  So, here it is.  No excuses, no explanations, other than to say that my personal life has taken quite a few hits and it hasn't stopped.

Prepare to be underwhelmed...

"I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain..."

I could also call this entry, like the last one, "a dollar short and a day late."   More like, two weeks late.

"That's the sound of the men working on the chain gang"

Leave it to me to lose writing days on the month with the fewest...

"Chain, chain, chaaaaaain..."

I didn't get much done last weekend.  It was pointed out to me that I do tend to overdo it a bit during the week, and that maybe it's worth taking a night off during the week.  I'm starting to agree--better to lose an evening or two rather than two whole fucking weekend days!  And I gotta tell you, as evidenced by the fact that I'm not going to be able to check off yesterday and probably not tomorrow, this week isn't looking so good, either.

Although I'm willing to cut myself a break tomorrow.  Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings are coming to town!

"I can STILL hear you saying you would NEVER break the chain"

As I said last time, I've had my head up a project, so this is a day late.  I think I've made up for being sick a couple of weeks ago.  Just gotta keep the chain going, right?  Or at least try to, what with the beginning of the semester at the dayjob.

I've promised that I'd actually go into what it takes for me to put an X through a day.  Well, here it is...

"That's the sound of the men working on the chain gang"

Well, thanks to my sick days, the writing chain was broken.  As you can see from last week's progress, I'm a couple of days behind.  I'm off to a good start this week, though.  I've made some major breakthroughs with my seekrit nonfiction project--in fact, that's going to be my main focus this week, and next week as well, more than likely.  I don't want to let the progress I've made with my fiction slide, but one deadline is a month before the other.

I have to say that I'm only recently getting over how ticked I am at missing two days of progress, sickness aside.  But all I can do is keep calm and carry on, right?

"I can STILL hear you saying you would NEVER break the chain"

I'm taking productivity advice from Jerry Seinfeld that came to me via Lifehacker, with a few changes.  What he does in order to write every day is to take a monthly wall calendar and mark a big red X on every day he writes. 

"After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

I'm doing the same thing, except I'll be using the calendar at the front of my Working Writer's Daily Planner from Small Beer Press (which can currently be had for $7.95).  I've decided to use my planner as a log, listing 3-4 tasks minimum for each day (which could be anything: a minimum word count, so many pages of MS edits, a particular research goal, submitting a story, whatever) and then marking off the day Seinfeld-style if and when I complete them.. 

And I think I'm going to keep posting this, every Monday, for the rest of the year.  Here's how I did last week.  Tune in next Monday, and we'll see if I did any better.

"You've changed the desktop theme, haven't you?"

I'm proud of myself! I only have one "before" picture. The rest is (semi-) finshed product.



Still lots to rearrange, sort, and maybe dump. I've got my eye out for a new desk. Something without a hutch and with lots of space on top. But I consider this major headway on something that's been bugging me for the better part of this year. I was finally inspired to do something after months at leering at the productivity pr0n that is the Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Flickr group.

Chapter XXXVI

Kinda like last year, I got some of the best presents a writer can get.

My favorite, I have to say, was the one I got for myself--the newest productivity tool. It's not tech. I finally got the Moleskine Planner cover I wanted from Renaissance Art, which is the most stylish hPDA case you could ever ask for!



Other presents included...

1
Two vintage Doctor Who novelisations: Earthshock by Ian Marter, published by Target and Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks, published by Pinnacle. The Pinnacle books were the ones with the cool introduction by Harlan Ellison.

2
Birthday love from family and friends via phone, email, snail-mail, messages in bottles, etc.

3
And as another present to myself, the opportunity to help the cause of highlighting the work of writers of color. Like me :)

Not a bad start, I daresay.