I love autumn. It is my favorite part of the year, not just because my birthday falls in Autumn but because the temperature calls for coziness and denotes magic. Unfortunately, right now we seem to be holding on to the summer heat and I for one cannot wait for the temperature to drop again. I am sure I do my best writing in the fall.
Progress
I am trying to be kind to myself, which does not always come easily to me. I have let myself slow down on the revision front and work as I need to. And what has that produced? Poetry.
I have spent my early mornings in my sunroom writing poetry and I have to say it’s felt rather idyllic. It is everything I could think being a writer should be, cozy and magical, not unlike autumn. I’ve written quite a few poems and there are two or three that are almost ready to submit to literary magazines, which I am extremely excited about.
The other exciting development is that I switched POVs in my novel and am revising much faster now. It was a bit counter-intuitive since this POV probably needs the most work so you’d think that would slow me down significantly, but it turns out that it’s much more rewriting than revision and that is making all the difference. I’m about 20 pages into the now 100-page section and I added a whole chapter which is going to benefit the story considerably.
What I’m Learning
I’m a good writer. I won’t be so presumptuous to say I’m a great writer, but I often forget how much of a skill writing is and that I push myself extremely hard to develop that skill. As someone who deals with a significant amount of imposter syndrome, it is extremely helpful to be reminded every once in a while that my writing is actually pretty good. It helps me not to get discouraged when I think about just how many people write.
I am also learning that switching projects can be a good thing even if it slows me down a little. It’s better to make progress on something else than to stare at my main project for weeks without writing a word. Switching to a different POV has helped me tremendously and my revisions are flowing along, with the added benefit that I’m not nearly as stressed and I’m making time to do art and other projects. I’ve cut down on the time I’m on my phone and am working out more as well.
Leisure
The two big leisure activities I’m working on are getting strong and reading more books. I’ve scheduled my mornings to do some poetry, art, or reading first thing in the morning. Then I work out for an hour or two. Finally, I do some revision before I have to get to work. This has become an efficient system that is helping me to feel better and have more energy as well as increase my productivity.
Looking Forward
I am going to try my best to participate (at least in part) in Inktober as I work on developmental art for a graphic novel I’m working on. I am extremely excited about this project but I do know my limitations as an artist. Art is something I’ve done extremely sporadically throughout my life. My composition needs a significant amount of work and I have no clear process as of yet. I am hoping that this project will help with that and I am able to come up with a process that works for me and helps me to be consistent with all the various panels.
The other thing I’m looking forward to is going to hear Neil Gaiman speak. I’m less than a week away from hearing him speak and I couldn’t be more excited. He is one of my favorite authors and such a good teacher and inspiration.
As for what I hope to do in terms of progress on my various projects, I’m still trying to not push too hard and give myself unrealistic expectations. However, I’d love to finish the POV I’m working on revisions for and maybe get started on the next one. That would be around 80 pages of revision, which is doable but perhaps a bit quicker than I’ll actually get it done. As for other projects, I’d love to submit 5 poems or more to literary magazines. I currently have two or three that are ready. Finally, I want to get a couple of pages done for my graphic novel, as well as some visual development art. As always I have my hands full but I feel much better about my stress levels than I have in a while.
