Tag: San Francisco

ROW80: The Train Has Left The Station

Hey there folks! I missed Sunday’s check-in because I was in the midst of a research trip (SUCH an awesome experience! More about it below), so I figured I’d post something today. Gotta keep working to stay accountable, right?

I know there’s only one more check-in left for this round, but right now I feel like I’m just gaining steam. Last week was a really good one in terms of stoking the creative fires and taking baby steps to integrate self-care into my life. I did a lot of thinking about TELL ME NO LIES, my steampunk murder mystery project, and realized that it’s not nearly as incomplete as I’ve been telling myself, and everyone else, for the last year. My mom and I did two days worth of Zumba classes, which means I’m starting to feel a little more fit and active. And I had the BEST RESEARCH TRIP EVER to the Sisters of the Holy Family’s archives.

The SHF motherhouse is located in Fremont, not too far from Mission San Jose, founded by Spanish missionaries in 1797. While the Sisters originally lived in San Francisco, they moved to Fremont in the late 1950s, and built their motherhouse on the property of Palmdale Estates, a historic property that dates back to the time of the California Gold Rush. The place is absolutely exquisite, and I got the chance to take a walk Sunday afternoon to clear my head before going back into the archives.

Motherhouse, Sisters of the Holy Family

Two of the English Tudor-style manors on the property, built in the early 20th century.

A view of one of the ponds on the property.

I’ll be doing a couple more overnight stays this summer, and I’m really looking forward to it. In a lot of ways, I feel like this research trip (my first archival jaunt in almost a year) is exactly what I needed to get me back on track with my dissertation. Between the stresses of work and life and change and such, I’ve fallen into a real malaise when it comes to writing. It’s the usual–not feeling good enough, doubting every word, depending way too much on the delete key. But this past week I was also reminded of the glories of the zero draft, and how true passion for a topic can produce something that has crazy potential, despite inconsistencies and mistakes and huge gaping plot holes.

So I’m thinking of my dissertation as a zero draft, and reminding myself that there’s no pressure (right now, at least) to make it perfect. And hopefully that’ll help me lock my inner editor away, and liberate the creator in me, and I’ll actually get something done.

Here’s the week’s progress, in a little more detail:

Dissertation

Data Collection: Spent Saturday night and Sunday in the archives, read roughly 20 years worth of historical annals, and made some plans for how I want to start coding my data.
Dissertation Chapter: I didn’t read the 3 chapters I had planned to, but I managed to do a lot of thinking work. The new goal is to actually use my words this week. More specifically: Write 250 words each day, and GET THIS CHAPTER DONE.

Creative Writing

Poetry: I didn’t write anything new, but I did post an old poem in response to a really good prompt. Rereading my other old poetry reminded me that the only way I’ll be inspired to write poetry is to read it, and so I’m trying to add that to my reading repertoire. And I would like to write 2 poems in the next week, at least 1 haiku and maybe (if I’m inspired), something longer.
Novel: I’ve got a working outline of Chapter 14 of TMNL, so this week I’m going to finish the chapter. Woot!
Reading: I read THE IRON DUKE by Meljean Brooks, and ohhhhh mahhhh gawwwd. So. Friggin’. Hot. So dark and glorious and wonderful and on-the-edge-of-my-seat action, along with scorching love scenes. I think I will start doing book reviews in April, and I can’t wait to write this one. For next week, I’m going to start Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series. I picked up the box set, so that’ll keep me busy for while.

My main goal for this week: to try a new system where I complete 1 item on my to-do list in the mornings, and 1-2 on my list in the evenings. The trick is to not overwhelm myself with the fact that OMG I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING I AM SO BEHIND, which usually results in me reading celebrity gossip columns for hours and hating myself. Self-hate = bad; self-love = good, therefore I am going to aim for fewer gossip columns, and more gettin’ it done.

Whew! That was a lot. How’s the week progressing for everyone? East coasters, has spring reached you yet? I’m dreading the drought that is currently spreading through California, but… ugh, I’m kinda loving the summer-ish weather, especially when it gives me sunsets like this:

The oh-so-glorious Pacific Ocean.

Don’t forget to wave a friendly hello and cheer on the rest of the ROWers. We’re just about to the end of Round 1!

ROW80: Back In The Saddle

March 2, 2014 / Lena Corazon / 11 Comments

It’s been a long, long, long time since I’ve written a blog post–about 3.5 months, to be exact. The last year has been a wild, wacky, weird, intense one, without much room or space for writing, blogging, or doing anything beyond the day-to-day. But now that I’ve stopped having nightmares about the day job, and given that I’m finally in the process of creating some routine in my life, I feel like it’s finally time to get back in the saddle.

So here I am! I’ve missed the ROW80 community while I’ve been away, and I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to.

Yesterday I headed to San Francisco’s Old Mint, where all the gold was stored in the days before Fort Knox. The occasion: the Fourth Annual SF History Expo. Talk about a history lover’s paradise! There were dozens of organizations represented, like the California Historical Society (based in SF, with archives that are free and open to the public), the GLBT Historical Society, and tons of neighborhood-based historical orgs, which were some of my favorites.

San Francisco Old Mint (Photo credit: www78)

I signed up for way too many email lists, found a ton of events that I’m dying to attend in the next few months (the best: a sea chantey sing-along event held aboard a historical ship), and gained a ton of momentum to continue work on my dissertation and my steampunk novel. After all, they’re both based on San Francisco history. Maybe one day I’ll have a booth of my own at one of these events. 😀

With that, here are my goals for the rest of Round 1:

Dissertation:

Complete one chapter of my dissertation by the end of Round 1.
Create a working inventory of data sources.
Hammer out a coding scheme for data sources.

Creative Writing:

Write five new chapters of TELL ME NO LIES.
Write five poems.
Read four novels.

And that’s it. Short, sweet, and hopefully attainable. I’m aiming to check in for ROW80 once a week, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll start writing non-ROW80 posts as well.

So yay! With that, I’m off to check in with the rest of this week’s ROW80 participants.

ROW80: Fleet Week and Fairs and Other Exciting Things

October 7, 2012 / Lena Corazon / 14 Comments

I think it’s official: this past few days is the most relaxed I’ve felt in weeks, if not months (maybe years?). After the cray-cray summer, and the even crazier school year, it is such a relief.

The Blue Angels, instagram-style.

I write this post in the midst of one very exciting weekend in San Francisco where it seems like every event in the world has descended upon us: a Madonna concert, two baseball teams (the SF Giants and Oakland A’s) in the playoffs, a football game, Fleet Week, the annual Columbus Day festival, the 2-day “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” concert… the list (found here, for anyone curious) goes on. I’ve spent the last two days ooohing and aaahing over the US Navy Blue Angels air show (and, er, ogling men in uniform), and in a few hours I’m off to the Castro Street fair, held in the city’s historic LGBT neighborhood.

The Blue Angels flying over the SF Ferry Building

Needless to say, I haven’t gotten much done as far as goals are concerned. Here’s how things have played out since Wednesday:

Day Job: I’m back in the archive, spending 3 hours/week digging through the Sisters of the Presentation’s old 19th century documents. Given that their convent was all but destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire, it’s astonishing to see all of the material that has survived. I’ve made my way through the order’s “Book of Customs” (a guide to expected conduct and deportment for the sisters of the community), and another “Guide to Religious Practice”–all very interesting, given my background in prescriptive literature (the topic for my MA).

Haven’t touched that big list of “things to-do by Sunday” that I posted in my last update, so that’ll be my big to-do for next check-in.

Writing: Managed to write 6 out of 7 poems for #OctPoWriMo, and may dash off an extra one at some point so I can meet my goal of 31 poems in 31 days. A number of surprising things have emerged from my pen this week, but there are two that stand out: “Recalled to Life,” where I’ve finally managed to describe the creative drought caused by grad school, and “The Dangerous Weird,” which celebrates all the wacky, weird, and wonderful people in my life.

Exercise: Fell a little short overall–walked 4 days this week, though the last day was only for 1 mile because I wasn’t feeling too well. The total mile count for the week: 13.

Social Media: I fell a little short here as well (I haven’t actually been in front of a computer for too long in the last few days), but hopefully the week to come will be a little more stable.

Self-Care: I haven’t been in front of a computer, but I’ve had a lot of journaling time. I’ve been dealing with some old hurts and demons, and realizing that they’re not as painful as I thought they once were. Putting them to rest and moving forward is my big goal right now.

-oOo-

And that’s the long and short of it! I will say that I am grateful to be enjoying some very fine autumnal weather (October is SF’s warmest month of the year), but I am more grateful that the insane temperatures of 90 degrees and up, which we saw at the start of the week, have dissipated. I think Napoleon is happy as well. He wasn’t too thrilled with the heat, as is plainly clear:

Not a fan of the heat.

Hope everyone’s had a great first week! Don’t forget to wave hello to the other ROW80 participants here.

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Lena Corazon

Flights of Fancy