(un)Curb My Creativity

I'M LIKE 30 WORDS SHORT OF HITTING MY 1K GOAL. THIS IS MY LIFE.


Today had the potential to be one of those "meh" days... but I was trying to keep myself from not being meh. Went to Dunkin' for Free Donut Friday. Got a bonus free donut because the employee misread the order. I've only ate the donut and a handful of peanuts and some Doritos... and I realize I haven't had any water today.... so that could explain the sludgy.

But there's also a part of me that just wants to stop writing on this NaNovel just because there's still so much work involved. I want to take a rest and do other things right now.

I'm under a little bit of self-imposed pressure, I guess.

I'm trying to get part 2 and part 3 of this plotting homework done today, so I can take a break -- like maybe for a day -- from actually doing work this book/plot/idea before NaNoWriMo starts.

I'm also starting to hate Grant & Lauren again.

I woke up around 6:00 today. Would've actually gotten out of bed and got to writing earlier, but Harriet decided to cuddle in bed with me.

I'm also not... thrilled. While I was lying in bed, I realized I may have to do Grant & Lauren for NaNoWriMo because it would make Julie & Max make more sense. I'm getting really bummed about that because I may have to drop out of that four month long "Get That Book Written" workshop* over at Savvy Authors. I have too much material already drafted for Grant & Lauren, so I'm not sure if the workshop would be of benefit to me since I'd be sludging through an already started project.

* = The workshop focuses on plotting, writing, and editing your book in four months.

I finally finished up the plotting worksheet I was working on.... earlier this week? Last week? I can't remember when I last touched it. I've spent the past three days in tax overload, doing taxes. So I'll take this as a win.

I have big gaping plot holes heading into Act III -- and I'm convinced that my idea sounds like every other chick lit ever published. But that "Get That Book Written" workshop I'm taking over at Savvy Authors starts Monday. We'll be spending the rest of October plotting out our books, so I needed to go in with some sort of an idea kinda already in shape.


Someone finally turned the heat on in our apartment building, so it'll turn into a sauna soon. Not thrilled about that. Pretty much have to keep some of the windows open anyway because this building is a dump. (YAY SLUMLORD!)

It's 8:13 p.m. It's dark out. The apartment is nasty cluttered. I've ate too much pizza and breadsticks. I want to go lie in bed, but I'm trying to be productive first. That and I was always told that you shouldn't go lie down immediately after eating.

I'm not really sure what the hell I'm doing.

I'm still very resistant to using Scrivener -- part of the problem is that I need to make time to do "Learn Scrivener Fast" -- so now I'm back to getting all the random files to all my projects on to Trello boards. (Never mind the fact that I have a love/hate relationship with Trello!)

But I attended an "organize your digital life" workshop at the RWA national (virtual) conference, and I'm actually finally working on getting allllllllll my random files under control. I figured I'd start with my fiction projects since I have them scattered everywhere. I'm trying to get all the files uploaded to the appropriate Trello board, and then store the files I upload off site on Amazon S3.

I switched projects for 3-Day Novel. Now doing a vampire romance. I had a more complete story -- even if there's still plot holes -- outlined compared to Jack & Jill.

3-Day kicked off at midnight, and I wanted to do a session to see if I wanted to continue or just write off the $38 entry fee... and I'm still not sure. I want to write clean so bad, and I feel like I already need to start puking out words. Never mind the fact I have zero things plotted on the bad guy.

I wish I never registered for 3-Day -- AND I WAS SOBER TOO! I came off my Camp NaNo high, and I was like, "I can totally do 3-Day! I did it before!"

And now I'm like.... this sucks.

I'm attending the Romance Writers of America national conference this weekend. It's all virtual this year; they have a Zoom room for write-ins, open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. all weekend long.

I spent 30 minutes working on a relationship plot point. I'd have kept going but there's a keynote at 2 p.m.


Yet I'm annoyed I had grand plans to get to Trader Joe's early in the morning to get conference food. It doesn't matter how early you get to Trader Joe's in the time of COVID -- it's still freaking crowded. Like there was a line of people almost back around the side of the store, waiting to get in. Then I had to make a donut and coffee run, so I got home later than I wanted. And Zoom and my computer weren't playing nice, so my two hour planned write-in turned into 30 minutes. But I'm feeling a little better. Surprisingly, I'm kinda maybe making connections at this conference.

I continued on streamlining my plotting/outlining process in Dabble.

I feel smothered. Because my apartment could be the star of a "Hoarders" episode, and I'm just plodding away at trying to get cleaning done because it's overwhelming.

Wins: I think the problem I've been having with my plotting is the outlining method I've been trying to use. Like it's too detailed. I found a Hero's Journey outline related to romance I'm thinking about trying, and set up a couple plot grids in Dabble for that.

Meh.

It rained today. I'm also in Puttytribe -- yeah, I have a fear of FOMO -- and Tuesdays and Thursdays are Focus Parties, so I thought, "Oh, I"ll spend alllll day on Tuesdays and Thursdays doing fiction."

That didn't happen today.

I'm not even sure I like the outlining process I'm using.