The Patient Patriot
An Unfortunate Habit

ROW80-2 -05/01 -Life stuff

I'm having one of those 'life gets in the way' sessions I think. Not as much writerly stuff done as I'd hoped. But I know it will pass. I came back a week ago from visiting my girlfriend in Toronto, and haven't done a lot since it seems. My visit was pretty laid back, as she had some health issues that slowed her down even more than usual. She's somewhat better now, but now I think I'm coming down with something - that sort of achy feeling, stuffy head occasionally, lack of 'oomph'. Sort of like a minor hangover. I even had BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) for a few nights, when I'd roll over. Can be a loose crystal in the ear canal, or maybe a virus.  Fine now, I suspect the latter. I'm getting sleep, exercise, and eating well - on the average. Day to day I'm pretty erratic. Probably doesn't help. 

Objectives (writerly and an 'other' section):

  • Write - Because I do enjoy it. I'll set a new and very modest target of 1h/day, early in the day. 
    • Write new material - one draft Flash Fiction a week. Story done and posted here.  Titled The Patient Patriot. I had trouble getting this going, so decided to pick an idea start writing, and truest my experience and imagination to come to my rescue. Success! 
    • Edit existing material - to send in for publication - see below. 
  • Write better - Read about how to write, and get constructive feedback.
    • My main source of writing info is a series of writerly blogs. Objective  -stay current.  Yup, still  current. Helps that I dropped a few.
    • Continue with setting Flash Fiction prompts. Good for challenge, practice, and feedback. Objective - set a challenge a week.  Prompt is set, this week the topic is eavesdropping.
    • MasterClass on Storytelling, by Neil Gaiman. None. #12 is next. Have not done the exercises yet. 
  • Publish/market  - We publish partially for the glory and bags of money, but also for the feedback and increased marketability. 
    • I have many FF written already, here. I'll re-examine them, and send off one a week to some publishers. 
      • Sent a recent story, Taken for a Ride, to Bards and Sages Quarterly, as well as Tales from a Moonlit Path. Rejection form the second one.
      • Reviewed all 17 written this year, picked and tweaked two more, ready to submit somewhere.
    • Facebook ads - none. 
    • Amazon Marketing Services Campaigns on KDP -Some sales, but not a big profit on this yet. But I continue to tweak. And sell.
    • Three Kindle copies sold in last week.  
  • Read with purpose
    • Objective - read and review a book a week. I read Relic, #1 in the Pendergast series. More light reading, but good. 
  • Better health
    • It's spring now. Set Fitbit target to 3500 steps a day. Objective - 7 day average 3500.  I'm all over still, one day 350, next day 7,350.
    • Set sleep target to 7.5 hours, starting at midnight. Objective - 5 times a week.  7h, hit 6/7 days,  but erratic. 
  • Stay social - That's a given, what with walking about, visits to local cafes and bars, and all my grandkids being in Ottawa. Good visit with my gfriend in Toronto, plus my sone and his family on my return.More walks to various locals, whee I catch up with friends after a long winter. I even have my corner at one, where 'the writer' sits. People always eager to ask where I get my ideas, or suggest stories I could write. I need them to be customers.
  • Have fun - Gaming, Netflix - both indoors. Outdoors?
    • Netflix - reruns of Grey's Anatomy. Ceeated by Shondra Rhimes. As a writer, I can appreciate how each show has a theme, and the several story threads then all support that. Sometimes a little too obviously, but good.
    • Gaming - yes, lots of truck driving. In Brazil lately.
    • Vacation -being mostly retired, I don't think of this. But I should think about where I'd like to go, in Canada or abroad.  
  • Chores - I added this to capture bigger jobs.  Definitely nothing.

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Shannon Yseult

Life does happen. Honestly you've still got some words, some steps, and some reading in there so that's pretty darn good!

RobTheWriter

Sorry to hear you're feeling under the weather. Hopefully whatever it is will pass quickly. Life often does get in the way of things, but sometimes you have to break away and take care of important and pressing matters. Here's hoping you manage to get through that and back on track. Hope you feel better soon.

Shan Jeniah Burton

I've been wondering how your girlfriend was. I've found that I need about a week post-travel to get settled back into something close to my regular routine, and longer if I come down with something.

I'd forgotten the name for BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo), but I've experienced that more often than I like (and, since I'm afraid of falling, it's more disconcerting than it might be). I recently read an article about therapy for it, but haven't followed up on that yet, since mine comes and goes, and when it goes, I don't think much about it.

Looks like you're doing well on average, so maybe a bit erratic works better for you in the long term than a strict routine would?

I've purchased the Neil Gaiman MasterClass too, but have committed to finishing at least one of the other four online courses I already have in progress before picking it up. Are you enjoying it?

Eden Mabee

Feeling under the weather as Spring in just starting to take hold can be a downer, but don't let it hold you there, Mike. Go slow, take your time and enjoy the journey... in the end, it's the journey that really matter anyway.

The comments to this entry are closed.