Wonder Woman Panties
I made three goals for this year...
1. Finish the manuscript for Black Lake
2. Run 10 consecutive miles
3. Engage in real life everyday
What does this have to do with resurrecting a blog I haven't touched in nearly a decade? Well, I guess it's about progress. I started the year strong, especially with engaging in real life. I was paying attention to the news, making friends, finding service opportunities with youth. Then, around the end of March, I picked up pace on my manuscript revisions. I made a plan to finish draft 3 by the end of June, and was hitting my 1000 words a day fairly frequently. And I started to run (a feat attempted many times before and always failed). Slow, unattractive, functional running. One mile, then two, then three at a time.
All in all, it was going great.
So here's why blogging. Things don't stay great all the time. There are hiccups. Stumbling blocks. Groin strains. You know, stupid shit. This is life. I'm just not great at rebounding and I'm equally bad at taking pep-talks from others. Basically, I need someone to get me going again.
Can I tell you about what went wrong? Thanks.
Well, first it was the news. It started dragging me down, so I stopped listening. I focused more on making friends, having meaningful conversations, and doing outreach to invite high school/college age youth to volunteer as mentors for the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program. But making friends is slow going as an adult, and a lot of meaningful conversations dead-end, and even the most thoughtful, service-oriented youth are battered by distractions and challenges. Basically, I got frustrated with the pace of things.
Then, I got some bad-good news on my manuscript. Like all beginners, I make lots of mistakes. In this instance, I've over-complicated my plot. Writers do this all the time. And there's a solution. I've even caught the problem at a good point in the revision process. But it means pulling out threads that I find meaningful and reimagining several characters that I love just the way they are. Yes, I could soldier on with my complicated narrative--that's a choice. However, I want to write something people will actually enjoy reading, not throw across the room in a fit of confused rage.
Please don't rage-throw my book.
Then I got carpal tunnel, a jacked up shoulder, and a groin strain. So, no writing for two weeks and no running for...well, we'll see. Oh, and did I mention Chris Cornell died? And facebook silences black and trans activist disproportionately to white hate trash. And our National Parks are in jeopardy as is our climate. And everything good about the world basically sucks.
Yeah, I'm a spiraler...yikes!
If you're still reading, you're a real trouper. If you gave up because I'm a whiner, that's reasonable. Anyway, I'm blogging to tell myself to put on my wonder woman panties and get back to work. If I can't run, I'll do PT until I can. I got a new keyboard and I'm already typing again. I have another opportunity to meet with interested youth this weekend, and even if it's a tiny group, it's a step in the right direction. If my feelings have been hurt by friends, well, I can choose to get over it. And I just need to do the work to fix my plot and love my newly reimagined characters. They'll be great too. As for all the other stuff, I can sign petitions, call representatives, identify local ways to help. And Chris will always be alive in my heart.
Boom. Pep-talk.
1. Finish the manuscript for Black Lake
2. Run 10 consecutive miles
3. Engage in real life everyday
What does this have to do with resurrecting a blog I haven't touched in nearly a decade? Well, I guess it's about progress. I started the year strong, especially with engaging in real life. I was paying attention to the news, making friends, finding service opportunities with youth. Then, around the end of March, I picked up pace on my manuscript revisions. I made a plan to finish draft 3 by the end of June, and was hitting my 1000 words a day fairly frequently. And I started to run (a feat attempted many times before and always failed). Slow, unattractive, functional running. One mile, then two, then three at a time.
All in all, it was going great.
So here's why blogging. Things don't stay great all the time. There are hiccups. Stumbling blocks. Groin strains. You know, stupid shit. This is life. I'm just not great at rebounding and I'm equally bad at taking pep-talks from others. Basically, I need someone to get me going again.
Can I tell you about what went wrong? Thanks.
Well, first it was the news. It started dragging me down, so I stopped listening. I focused more on making friends, having meaningful conversations, and doing outreach to invite high school/college age youth to volunteer as mentors for the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program. But making friends is slow going as an adult, and a lot of meaningful conversations dead-end, and even the most thoughtful, service-oriented youth are battered by distractions and challenges. Basically, I got frustrated with the pace of things.
Then, I got some bad-good news on my manuscript. Like all beginners, I make lots of mistakes. In this instance, I've over-complicated my plot. Writers do this all the time. And there's a solution. I've even caught the problem at a good point in the revision process. But it means pulling out threads that I find meaningful and reimagining several characters that I love just the way they are. Yes, I could soldier on with my complicated narrative--that's a choice. However, I want to write something people will actually enjoy reading, not throw across the room in a fit of confused rage.
Please don't rage-throw my book.
Then I got carpal tunnel, a jacked up shoulder, and a groin strain. So, no writing for two weeks and no running for...well, we'll see. Oh, and did I mention Chris Cornell died? And facebook silences black and trans activist disproportionately to white hate trash. And our National Parks are in jeopardy as is our climate. And everything good about the world basically sucks.
Yeah, I'm a spiraler...yikes!
If you're still reading, you're a real trouper. If you gave up because I'm a whiner, that's reasonable. Anyway, I'm blogging to tell myself to put on my wonder woman panties and get back to work. If I can't run, I'll do PT until I can. I got a new keyboard and I'm already typing again. I have another opportunity to meet with interested youth this weekend, and even if it's a tiny group, it's a step in the right direction. If my feelings have been hurt by friends, well, I can choose to get over it. And I just need to do the work to fix my plot and love my newly reimagined characters. They'll be great too. As for all the other stuff, I can sign petitions, call representatives, identify local ways to help. And Chris will always be alive in my heart.
Boom. Pep-talk.
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