Sunday Circle

The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).

After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.

Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).

MY CHECK-IN

What am I working on this week?

Heading down to the GANZA conference on Tuesday, which means the first half of the week will be spent putting the final touches on my conference paper and working out transport logistics (I’m not looking forward to the 5:30 start on Tuesday). Planning on a day to recover, which leaves me with a very short working week on Friday to get writing projects kickstarted.

What’s inspiring me this week?

My head’s been in a lot of reference books that I’ve read a hundred times before this week, but writing the final stages of the conference paper has given me a new appreciation for Elizabeth Bear’s New Amsterdam stories–there’s some structural choices she makes that really underpin the immortality of her vampire in some really interesting ways as the series moves towards the final novella, without making it the centre of the narrative.

What action do I need to take?

So much of my attention has been focused on the paper part of the conference that I’ve neglected a lot of the travel logistics, and there’s . distinct lack of post-conference planning at work. Both are on my list now that the conference is so close

The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).

After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.

Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).

MY CHECK-IN

What am I working on this week?

There’s ten days until I deliver my conference paper and all Fiction work has largely been shuttered until that’s cleared. This week will see me finalise the order of the lit review (finally!) and write up the actual critical section, with the goal of giving it to my supervisor for a quick look around Friday. Then, I have a short window in which to write something else before the conference actually hits next week.

What’s inspiring me this week?

I’ve been reading a lot of Marie Kondo this week–a re-read with regards to her first book, but a first read of Spark Joy. This has been accompanied by a hell of a lot of tidying and creating space in our tiny apartment, but it’s also sparked a lot of interesting thoughts with regards to fiction and making your living as a creative. I did a more thorough examination for my newsletter subscribers this week, but there’s a good deal of insight in Kondo’s work that illuminates why figuring out what you want from writing is so damned hard.

What action do I need to take?

Reading, mostly. I need to give the five books I’ll be talking about a more recent once-over and make some notes before I write the next part of the presentation.

The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).

After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.

Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).

MY CHECK-IN

What am I working on this week?

I’ve got a rough draft of the conference paper down at the moment, which means this week is all refinement and building up. The core focus is just clocking up hours and making sure that I’ve got a next step–I lost track a little on the Thursday gone after hitting the end of the draft because I’m only thinking to the end of the current task.

What’s inspiring me this week?

I reviewed Alan Baxter’s Write the Fight Right as preparation for some coming manuscripts that are heavily fight focused, and it’s a really useful book for getting a bunch of little details you can use in a fight scene

What action do I need to take?

There’s a moderately urgent email to my supervisor that I’ve been putting off, and a whole bunch of filing that needs to be done. A lot of things are intentionally on hold until I’ve done my paper on the 23rd of January.