Lena Corazon

Flights of Fancy

Month: July 2012

ROW80: Embracing New Beginnings, and Banishing the Doubt Monster

If I had a brain scan taken right now, I think it would resemble one of those houses on an episode of Hoarders: piled high with junk, all discombobulated, disorganized, and frightening. July has sped past me with all the zipping and zooming of a bullet train, and I’m not quite sure when I have to show for it.

A photo from one of my fun day trips: The Golden Gate Bridge as seen from Marin. (Photo taken by the author)

One of the causes of this mental disorganization of course stems from the craziness of moving and settling back in. I’ve adjusted to being home with family fairly easily — maybe a little too easily. There have been all sorts of lunches and dinners out, day trips to fun places, and other activities and outings going on. All this social time has been wonderful, but it’s been eating away at my quiet time. As many of you introverts will know, that quiet time is darned essential, and so I need to do a better job at setting boundaries for myself.

To make things even better, the Doubt Monster has been lurking around for the last few weeks, accompanied by his cronies Irrational Fear and Angst. This means that writing, both creative and academic, has been an agonizing process. Words are wrangled onto the page with back-breaking effort, most of them get deleted, then replaced with approximately the same level of pain. My rapidly approaching (and expiring) deadlines have done little to kick my butt into gear, which in turn brings back the Doubt Monster in all his wonderfully doubting glory, and the cycle begins again.

But it is August 1st! This means that it is time for renewed energy and new beginnings. Better yet, I have decided that it is time to banish the Doubt Monster and his posse into some galaxy far, far away so that I can clean up my mental house and get things in order.

August 1st is also the start of CampNaNoWriMo, which I (of course) decided to tackle in a moment of wild idiocy (supreme overconfidence?). I toyed with the idea of pulling out, but part of me thinks that the forced focus might actually be good for me. To make my life a little easier, I’ll be working on STRANGE BEDFELLOWS, my somewhat-erotic romance that is already 15k long. An outline sort of dropped into my lap, fully-formed and shiny, a couple of months ago, so I’ll be using that as my guide.

My itemized list of things accomplished/not accomplished will be posted on Sunday, but until then I leave you with this picture of my cat, Napoleon. I like to think of him as my mascot in all things associated with lazy, and a welcome reminder that a little rest and relaxation in the midst of all our busy time.

Napoleon, the Little Corporal of All Things Lazy

ROW80: Settling in, and Random Photos of Ostriches

A preview of coming attractions.

Well, folks, we’re a week into Round 3 of ROW80! Given that the week was punctuated by an oddly placed holiday, hopefully you all got to enjoy a little extra relaxation and fun in addition to the day-to-day demands of life. And yes, you read that title right: there are random photos of ostriches in this post, though you’ll have to wade through my check-in to get to them. Enticing, eh?

 

My week started with a bit of a family health scare: my grandma was rushed to the hospital on Monday and ended up having to get a pacemaker. She is recovering well, thank goodness, but everyone was really worried for a few days. Beyond that, I am happy to report that almost all of my boxes are unpacked. Even better, almost all of my cherished belongings have a home. I’ll have to turn my room upside down again in a few days when I start my painting project, but once all is said and done I will post pictures of my new writing space. The walls will be transformed from the pale lavender that 11-year-old-me thought was the absolute height of sophistication, to a warm golden yellow that will hopefully brighten and warm my teeny tiny space.

Also awesome: the family cat, Napoleon, has decided to acknowledge my existence, unlike the time I came home 2 summers ago when he pretended that he didn’t know who I was. Once again, he curls up next to me in bed while I drink tea, write, and listen to classical music. My life is now complete. *squee*

Between unpacking and decorating I haven’t had a chance to really find my rhythm, but I’m working on it. Here’s a shakedown of Week 1:

Day Job: Today (Saturday) was the first chance to tackle what I have code-named PROJECT DISSERTATE OR DIE (yes, the caps are necessary, and yes, “dissertate” is totally a word). My focus for the next week or so is on the seminar paper that I owe my dissertation advisor by mid-month, so I’m doing lots of reading, note-taking, and brainstorming. This week’s goal: Finish (or almost finish) seminar paper by next Sunday’s check-in.

Writing: My other big endeavor for this round, PROJECT RECHARGE, is also coming along. I’ve taken time out for journaling sessions every day this week, and decided that a bit of soul work is in order. I have many thoughts and feelings on this matter, and perhaps once I distill them into something easily digestible and understandable, I’ll be able to write a blog post or two on the matter. This week’s goal: Add bits of free-writing (poetry, story snippets) into the journaling/brainstorming mix.

Social Media: 10 blogs visited, check! Twitter, Facebook, and queuing up blog posts is still on the to-do list. This week’s goal: Wade back into Triberr, get back into the ROW80 #teamsprinty madness, keep visiting blogs, maybe brainstorm potential blog posts?

Exercise: So… moving counts as exercise, right? ‘Cause I can’t count the number of boxes, odds and ends, and pieces of furniture that I helped my dad move. Aside from that, I got 1 “real” workout on the glider in. Now that I can’t roll out of bed and go for a walk (we live at the top of a really steep hill), I have to shift my workout plan a bit. This week’s goal: Aim for 4 days of exercise; get used to the idea of having to *drive* to a walking spot.

So, yay, progress! Be sure to stop by and wave to the other ROWers taking part in Round 3. And hey, just for fun, why don’t you have a few random pictures from my excursion to Ostrich Land? The world can always use more fuzzy animal pictures, even if ostriches are more odd-looking that squee-worthy and likely to snap off a hand if you’re not careful. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Ahoy, Ostrich Land!

The obligatory Instagram’d ostrich photo.

The sign does not lie.

Ostrich feeding is dangerous work.

Baby ostriches: not as cute as baby sloths, but precious nonetheless.

Enhanced by Zemanta

ROW80: New Goals for Round 3

2012 is moving so quickly that I feel like I have whiplash. Somehow it’s already July, and I’ve completed my fourth year in grad school (?!).

I write this post having just completed the “Big Move” from Santa Barbara to my parents’ house in the San Francisco Bay Area. For at least the next year, I’ll be living with them as I work on my dissertation.

Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, CA, USA) at...

It is SO good to be back in San Francisco. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Of course, July marks the start of Round 3 of A Round of Words in 80 Days, the writing challenge that “knows you have a life.” For more information, visit the “About” page.

My life seems to be conspiring against my ability to write of late; June was an absolutely insane month filled with grading, research, schoolwork, and packing up my apartment. Given the major deadlines I’m facing for school over the next couple of months, I gave serious thought to skipping Round 3, but I think I could use the accountability that ROW80 demands.

More importantly, I’ve been feeling at loose ends with my progress as a writer. Being back home in my parents’ house, living in the bedroom where I wrote my first poems and stories, brings into sharp relief the fact that I still haven’t reconnected with my creative impulse as deeply or as fully as I would like. The prospect of grappling with my dissertation for the next few months without any sort of creative outlet feels unbelievably bleak. Right now I’m less concerned with finishing the WIPs on my plate, and more concerned with remembering how it feels to wield words to bring the worlds within my head into existence.

For this round, I have a few goals with specific timelines, and a few others that will be ongoing. Here’s the breakdown:

JULY

Day Job:

  • Finish and submit a 12-15 page seminar paper on etiquette books and cultural theory. Approximate due date: July 15th
  • Finish and submit a 25-30 page literature review on my dissertation topic (19th century Catholic women religious in the United States, with an emphasis on the SF Bay Area). Approximate due date: July 31st

Writing:

  • Renew creativity with daily journaling sessions and lots of brainstorming. I’m not placing a word count requirement on this, because at this point I need to just get back into the rhythm and flow of writing. I don’t care what I write — flash fiction, current WIPs, random snippets, bad poetry, it’s all up for grabs at this point.

Social Media:

  • Start building a queue of 10-12 blog posts to begin sharing in August.

AUGUST

Day Job:

  • Continue dissertation reading and (hopefully) begin visiting convent archives to assess holdings and materials.
  • Write and submit 2-page dissertation summary. Approximate due date: August 15th
  • Meet with dissertation committee for the “little conversation” to discuss the dissertation proposal and advance to doctoral candidacy. Approximate deadline: August 30th

Writing:

  • Take part in August CampNaNoWriMo. I know, this might be a little crazy, but I’m not gunning for a 50k win. Instead, I’m hoping that whatever creative juices I unlock in July will allow me to focus on one project and flesh it out a little bit. This is a tentative plan, so we’ll see how July goes. Regardless, I will keep writing everyday so that I don’t lose the habit.

SEPTEMBER

Day Job:

  • Revise July’s seminar paper with the goal of producing (1) a conference presentation for November and (2) a co-written journal article. Due date TBA.
  • Draft proposals for dissertation grants and fellowships. Approximate due date: September 30th.

ON-GOING GOALS

Day Job:

  • Continue dissertation reading, visiting and working in convent archives, and writing weekly research memos.

Writing:

  • Write everyday. No exceptions.
  • Read 1 (non-academic) book a week.

Exercise:

  • Work out 4-5 days a week (I’m upping the minimum threshold by 1 day). Continue to eat balanced meals and drink plenty of water.

Social Media:

  • Visit and comment on 10 blogs each week.
  • Start using Triberr on a regular basis.
  • Adopt Anne R. Allen’s slow-blogging manifesto, and aim for 1-2 posts/week, starting in August.

As always, there’s a lot going on. For this round, however, I think this is going to be all about concrete goals and deadlines for the day job, and much looser goals for my writing. Once I unpack all my boxes, finish settling into my room (there’s a major painting project on the horizon), and hammer out a routine, it’ll hopefully be a lot easier to get things done.

I’m looking forward to connecting with everyone taking part in ROW80 this round. If you’d like to add your name to the list, or check out the other bloggers who have joined in on all the fun, visit the linkytools list.

Enhanced by Zemanta

© 2024 Lena Corazon

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: