Identity Function

It was about ten years ago when I started to realise how much more allergic to cats I was becoming. I had good days but they were the exception rather than the rule: I felt like I was swimming through congestion most of the time. Whole days and weeks would pass without a clear sense of having accomplished anything*.

Honestly, February felt a bit like that again.

I am in a much better place than I was when we still had cats roaming over our bed, or even last winter when I had the cold that never went away, but I have still felt rather loose and weak all month, even as I have been exercising more efficiently than ever.

So, as we go through this monthly things post (which only really covers a couple of weeks anyway), I expect a lot of “no work” remarks, because I feel like I consumed time rather than produced meaningful writing.

Three Things for February

I made this a short goal list because the post came so late in February. What of even those goals did I manage?

1. Song fourth draft — prep for crit group feedback session. Completed. The feedback I got was very helpful and enthusiastic, and honestly that might be the thing that helps me most: I have been struggling to find my enthusiasm about anything, even Song. Hanging out with crit group folks brought it back.
2. short stories — two things:
   1. finish draft of next BSQ story
   2. plan story for submission this quarter

   Neither of these saw any work.

3. workshop application — write draft of cover letter. Didn’t do this, but did clean up a sample chapter.

Score 1.5/3 — that’s actually better than I expected.

… which was another hallmark of the Bad Cat Fuzz Time — I was always surprised when I looked at what I had got done. It was never “all of it”, but at least it was more than I had imagined.

Three Things for 2019

February was not productive, so obviously my 2019 goals won’t have moved on much. Let’s take an unflinching look.

1. query A Turquoise Song — a goal in three sequential parts:
   1. prepare a fourth draft — incorporate feedback, make it good. Target is to have this done by the middle of the year. I have collected more feedback which will help here, but I don’t have a revision plan yet.
   2. prepare query letter — obviously the initial targets are the agents I talked to at the conference in 2017, but I also want to prepare for querying other agents.
   3. query — get the book out there.
2. short stories — I am finding my relationship to short stories becoming much less contentious, even fruitful!
   1. several stories to write for Boundary Shock Quarterly — the first one is begun, but I Need to finish it.
   2. write and submit four stories to other markets. So that’s one a quarter, and I will mark it as such.
3. engage with the writing community — this is a nebulous label for a group of related goals that don’t warrant a top level item to themselves.
   1. workshop application — I’m going to apply for an intensive workshop. More on that once it’s in hand, which it isn’t yet.
   2. podcast — one of the things that came out of the inconclusive work on producing Livia as an audiobook was a desire to launch a podcast of some kind. This would be audio-only initially, although I am still searching for a good format.
   3. cons & confs — I need to be getting out there more. I just do.

Minor incremental progress only. Looking for better things in March.

Three Things for March

Time to get the train back on the rails.

1. short stories — finish the BSQ story that is due in a few weeks. Hard deadline.
2. Song fourth draft — revision plan is needed. Build that.
3. workshop application — cover letter or sample chapters.

Trying to to keep things a bit punchier this month.

Now to punch harder.

[*] I was accomplishing things, really, but it was reactive rather than effective and I really had no clear awareness of how much I was getting done.

I don’t like burnout. The worst thing about it is that I don’t see it coming: I am diagnosing January’s burnout in retrospect. In the moment it just felt like I was overwhelmed and tired, but in hindsight it is pretty obvious that I had taken on too much and wasn’t getting any of it done.

So this is not going to be a positive Things post, as should be obvious from the way I am not getting it done until two thirds of the way into the month.

Let’s lift up the rock and see what’s underneath.

Three Things for January

With the understanding that I basically didn’t do anything, what did I complete?

1. Cinnamon Harmonies — no work. I will come back to this later in the year, April at the soonest. The trick here is going to be closing it out. No points this time though.
2. Song fourth draft — I need to develop a revision plan, but I didn’t do that. This is probably the second most important thing I need to do this quarter. Marking this incomplete.
3. blog — obviously not, although I have done more blogging than anything else. Half a point.
4. workshop application — I have done some work on this, with thoughts on the cover letter and the sample I want to send. Calling this half done, although that might be generous.

What I have done this last few weeks is some wildly overdue card sorting. The Konmari spirit is upon me still, and clearing out cards to make space for other things is still pretty important to me.

Still overall, I am going to rate that two halves out of four, or 1/4 once the fractions are simplified.

Three Things for 2019

This is not the vigorous start to 2019 that I had hoped for, but this has not been vigorous month so that’s just where I am.

1. query A Turquoise Song — a goal in three sequential parts:
   1. prepare a fourth draft — incorporate feedback, make it good. Target is to have this done by the middle of the year. No progress on this first part yet.
   2. prepare query letter — obviously the initial targets are the agents I talked to at the conference in 2017, but I also want to prepare for querying other agents.
   3. query — get the book out there.
2. short stories — I am finding my relationship to short stories becoming much less contentious, even fruitful!
   1. several stories to write for Boundary Shock Quarterly — I have started in on the first of these.
   2. write and submit four stories to other markets. So that’s one a quarter, and I will mark it as such.
3. engage with the writing community — this is a nebulous label for a group of related goals that don’t warrant a top level item to themselves.
   1. workshop application — I’m going to apply for an intensive workshop. More on that once it’s in hand, which it really isn’t yet.
   2. podcast — one of the things that came out of the inconclusive work on producing Livia as an audiobook was a desire to launch a podcast of some kind. This would be audio-only initially, although I am still searching for a good format. No work this month beyond some sorting to make space.
   3. cons & confs — I need to be getting out there more. I just do. No progress on  doing so, however.

As I say, not a great start but I still think this is going to be a good year.

Three Things for February

Not that there’s much left of February, at this point, but…

These month goals are predicated on the truncated amount of time remaining in the month. That necessarily reduces the volume of work which can be completed, as well as the scope.

Still, there are real tasks that can still be accomplished towards my goals for the year.

1. Song fourth draft — I’m expecting to receive more feedback on the 3rd draft from my crit group, so I need to prep some questions to help provide prompts for discussion.
2. short stories — two things:
   1. finish draft of next BSQ story
   2. plan story for submission this quarter
3. workshop application — write draft of cover letter.

Note that I am not putting in work on Cinnamon Harmonies this month. I plan to come back to that in April.

Alright*, let’s get back to it.

[*] US English convention is “all right” but I grew up with “alright”. For some reason I have suppressed that British usage for most of the time I have been writing seriously, even while I use other British usages without compunction or mercy: armoured trousers are are my speciality, for example.

I am reclaiming this part of my upbringing.