THOUGHTS, RAMBLINGS, WHATEVS
Sooo… I’m still in NY, y’all. LOL. That’s the first thing, and it’s not necessarily by choice, I’ll tell you that much. I’ll get to why in just a second.
But still? BRUH. If last week was a test, then I passed that joint with flying colors! All the craziest things in the world, in LIFE, were happening all at once, and the pressure was ON!
First, though, the good news: the data on my laptop is SAVED! YAAAAYYY!!! I could not tell you just how elated I felt when I picked up my hard drive and held my data in my hands, lol. The “bad” news? I can’t back my saved data up anywhere else at the moment, so the hard drive is the only copy of it I have. It’s formatted for Macs, so it doesn’t work on my backup laptop (which is a Dell PC), my older Mac is totalled, fungi-stylez, and my brother has a Mac, but it’s so old that it won’t do anything but basic stuff.
Lol! Talk about irony. So now, I’m protecting this external hard drive with my life, praying that I’ll be able to find an updated Mac and save my data onto my cloud… sooner rather than later.
The other crazy news:
So, the reason I’m still in NY? Due to an unbreakable line of thunderstorms marching their ways across the country, my flights all got canceled on Wednesday. LOL! Can you imagine? After a week of craziness, I had to deal with that tomfoolery. The airline tried to rebook me but all their rebookings were canceled as well, lol. It was just a hot mess. So I just said “skip it”, and I rebooked for this week instead.
Turned out to be the best decision I made, EVER! I took some time to rest and relax after Wednesday’s flight fiasco and honestly just recalibrated myself. Felt sooo good. Not only that, but there were also a few things I hadn’t had time to do prior to Wednesday’s departure, so the week-long delay helped me to really wrap up my business here in NY. Plus the extra time with my fam. So, yup, #winning.
I think my perspective on all the crazy stuff happening– learning to laugh at crazy and just let things go, for example– are really exemplary of the growth I experienced through my 20s. Honestly, my grown 30-year-old self is not at ALL trying to sweat small stuff or get stressed out over things out of my control.
Kick rocks, Murphy’s law! Either way, the heavens willing, we’ll be in AZ this week. Anyways, here’s what I actually got done last week:
LAST WEEK’S HAUL
What I wrote: Somehow, even in all the crazy, I STILL got writing done, holy crap! I cranked out 2,303 words for The Iron Maiden, which is roughly about 300+ words per day. It’s nowhere near what I’d like to be cranking out, but it’s WAY better than nothing. The only way to get a novel done is literally one word, one paragraph, and one page at a time, so it’s happening, fam.
What I edited: Hmm! Not much, to my memory.
What I read / watched / listened to: I fell behind on my podcasts and reading this past week, which I’m totally cool with. I think I only caught two of my podcasts, but I see myself catching up all this coming week, especially knowing I’m going to need a lot of background noise for unpacking and settling in!
What I researched / developed: Surprisingly, I developed a teeny bit of backstory for another series of mine, that I probably won’t start working on hardcore until the beginning of 2018. It’s a vampire / werewolf / otherworldly creature episodic serial with a twist. It’s called “Immortal”. Somehow, I also created** another book for the Doe City Thrillers and conceptualized** an action-thriller dystopian trilogy that I’d like to write. The latter, I think, will be firmly YA, but it needs a bit more development. Strangely, enough, I literally dreamed this trilogy up! The idea presented itself in my sleep (as about 30% of my ideas oft do), so I put it on the project slate and am just going for it, lol.
**FYI, for me, “created” and “conceptualized” mean that I have a premise, a title, a lightly sketched background and a log line for an idea. Then I just put these ideas on my project slate for future germination and development. Don’t think I’m just birthing full-blown books over here, lol! 😉
THIS WEEK’S HUSTLE
What I’m writing: Still working on The Iron Maiden, aiming for about 1,000 words a day now. I’m almost done with nearly everyone’s first and second sequence in the novel, and at my current pace, I think I’ll have it down by the end of June. FYI, the release date for The Iron Maiden has been moved back to September, unfortunately. As I’ve been editing and re-writing, I realize that I just… needed more, I guess. So sorry about that, folks.
I’m praying for freer writing days towards the second half of the year.
What I’m editing: Nothing, just writing!
What I’m reading / watching / listening to: I resumed my reading of Lee Lofland’s “Police Procedure & Investigation”. This is such an integral book for writers of crime, thriller, and mysteries. I LOVE it. I’m on Chapter 6, “Homicide, Murder, and Manslaughter”. Chilling, but informational! I’m also thinking of starting another fiction novel, maybe “All Hallows Moon” by SM Reine. But we’ll see! Plus, of course, I’m slowly catching up on all the podcasts I’ve been missing the past week and a half.
What I’m learning: I’m still on my creative uni hiatus and probably will be until June 13. We’ll see!
Okie dokie. I’m so glad that week from hell finished up on Thursday, leaving nothing but calm in its wake. (Hopefully, that is!) But there’s still more to come ahead! What about you? Any writing challenges or just general life challenges you foresee for the near future? How do you think you’ll overcome them? Leave your thoughts, comments, and words of wisdom below!
Writing on, rocking on, and forever journeying towards creative badassery,
<3 Colby
