NANOWRIMO

So I'm considering starting a Nano this year, mainly because my child would like me to. Said child is also Nanoing. There are worse reasons, I suppose. I happen to start November with a few days off, so maybe I can get a head start on the word count? Problem is, I have no ideas. None. So that's the first step, I guess. I need to spend today coming up with something, and trying to get some words written, maybe a character sketch or something. I see I wrote in February about my Blue Sky project. I am ashamed (but not surprised) to say I haven't gotten anywhere on that. Why can't I use my incredibly productive husband as a muse? He is an author/illustrator, and works incredibly hard at it. When I have a day off, I will clean, and run errands and get stuff done, but it feels like I am doing that to avoid the actual work - finding a new direction, or passion. I have pretty much no hobbies. That seems weird. I run, read, and listen to audiobooks, but those aren't really hobbies, per se. I feel like I need a richer personal life to infuse and improve my writing.

Blue Sky

So I'm working on yet another project. Never heard back from the agent about Inky, but I really should send the MS to more than just one! 

Blue Sky is about the dreams people have to do something big -- and how to actually achieve it. Whether you want to write a book or move to a tropical island and live on the beach. How do you actually DO that? It's part inspiration, but mostly about perspiration. I hope, anyway. I haven't written it yet. I'm trying to figure out a format that will work. 

But I do wonder if "writer" is really  my future job. I am good at what I do (editing) and I enjoy it. I just don't know if it's a good idea to be essentially freelance forever. (Although I do have a good and very regular gig.)

Book title: Bright and Jagged Lines

(Side note on book titles: Looking back, I see I chose "How the Light Gets In", later a bestseller by Louise Penny! Let's hope it's a "great minds" thing, and not a "fools" thing.)

So the mental health and artists book is done and published. Fits the very definition of "slim volume", but still worth it. It was good to work with Kevin.

But.. what next? The agent never responded on Inky, which is fine, but why haven't I sent it elsewhere? I always manage to find some other project - cleaning, editing someone else's work, preparing for a party -- to avoid doing the work needed to move on to other things. It's not just laziness, then. It's something else. Why such a lack of ambition? Maybe it is laziness, since in my current set up, I don't have to fully commit to anything, including work. And there is nothing that carries over into my homelife. With the kids off living their lives, it really is time to get one of my own!

New project

New project -- mental health and artists/performers. I'm doing the research for a children's text for Grade 6. It's exciting for me, since I will get my name on it.

I've also sent Inky off to an agent. Although I don't think they'll accept it, I'm glad to have taken the step. It's sad to me to see that I haven't moved forward on this in TWO YEARS.

I need a motivational speaker to sit by my side...

Fail

Haven't posted anything in months. Now, as I'm trying to rewrite my novel to get it ready to submit, I decide it's important to see what I've written. It's called procrastination, and I'm not going to do it anymore. Back to work on Inky. I need a title though, hmmm....

Mistakes

Mistakes ... you have to be willing to make them. I have to be willing to make them. I don't think I am willing enough. I think too carefully before beginning anything, and before saying anything. But they really are how we learn. My husband is always working to improve his French, and I think the reason he is so successful is his willingness to keep it up, and make tonnes of mistakes. If he isn't sure of a word or construction, he doesn't really slow down, he just picks one and says it to keep the sentence going. You can still understand what he's saying, and the conversation stays a conversation, rather than a lesson, or a patience test. 

Today, I plan on making some mistakes. 

Cleaning all day

ARGH! no inspiration so far today. I've been cleaning and driving people places for much of it. I actually don't mind cleaning, especially when I'm home alone, and it often DOES provide a chance for creative thinking. I listen to the radio, hear fascinating stuff, and get to move around a lot keeping the blood flowing. But so far, nothing NEW, and certainly no work on any of the ideas I've had this week. (not there have been many, but still. I know this blog counts to some extent, but I'm starting to feel I'm spinning my wheels even on this.



Book title: How the Light Gets In (from Leonard Cohen: There is a crack, a crack in everything/that's how the light gets in)