Works in Progress

THE BEST PARAGRAPH I READ THIS WEEK

BIG THINGS ACHIEVED THIS WEEK: I met with my supervisors this week, talking through the way we’ll be handling things as I move into my third year as a post-grad. I’m finally at the point where there’s less research and more writing required, so I’ve been thinking about how to keep my life balanced (and, occasionally, despairing that such a thing may be possible and debating which goals get deferred.

The other big achievement for the week has been thinking really hard about my relationship with my phone, and removing all sorts of apps that have resulted in bad habits. Obviously, this includes social media, but after reading Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism I’m trailing a bunch of other things as well.

For the first time in years there’s no email app on my phone–a change that’s proving useful, as I tend to read an email while seated in front of my computer and prepared to respond, rather than noting somethings come in when my phone pings and forgetting to respond. Similarly, I’ve removed apps governing website maintenance which I primarily used for checking stats out of habit, and my phone’s web browser is pulled into the least convenient place impossible.

STATE OF THE WRITING PROJECTS: The challenge at the moment is focus, and my schedule has largely settled into the point where the bulk of my time is going to the three projects at the top of my to-do list. A scene-by-scene editorial list for the Ghost Story helped me identify a point where the story’s momentum flags, and some possible changes to rectify that, and also gave me a subtext I can bring out a little stronger. Getting back into Warhol Sleeping after a long break is daunting, but I’m devoting an hour chunk of my day to stare at the manuscript and ponder it, which will gradually ease me into the headspace.

CURRENT EARWORM: I’m still listening to Crimson and Clover on repeat this morning, although I’m swapping back-and-forth between youtube and podcasts while I catch up on my usual weekly listening.

CURRENT READING: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, which is proving to be one of those books that is both excellent and complex.

BEST SCREEN MEDIA OF THE WEEK: One of those rare weeks where I’m spoiled in this category, as I’ve watched a whole bunch of things and all of them have been excellent. Russian Doll is probably the best of them, but I’m entirely tempted to suggest that getting into the 2018 run of New Japan Pro Wrestling shows is a lesson in storytelling that I’ve sorely needed.

EMAIL INBOX STATUS: 1 email, from an old friend, that I’ve been meaning to reply to for the better part of a month and therefore has all the added weight. Having a dedicated window where I process the inbox–and not looking at it any other time or getting notifications that things have arrived–is a surprisingly-big-but-effective change.

WHAT AM I LOOKING FORWARD TO RIGHT NOW? My trusty laptop bag died yesterday, giving up the ghost after outlasting four different laptops and giving me about eight years of use. It’s one of those bags that was good enough for the job that I felt bad about replacing it, but now that I’ve got the chance, I’m really looking forward to going out and buying something that fits my current needs a little better.

BIG THINGS ACHIEVED THIS WEEK: The first week and a half of January has been a bit of a mess for me–lots of disruptions to work habits, lots of anxiety about upcoming thesis milestones and presentations. Which, in turn, has leant itself to a god deal of practastiprojects between hammering away at my draft (although, thankfully, having just read Rest, I’m at least able to understand how the downtime has been helping).

I’m on the third draft of a conference paper at the moment–and this one, at least, seems to have the content in the right order. I’ve also done a massive notebook cull, which saw approximately 70 notebooks leave the apartment and the rest nicely arranged in blank and ongoing-project boxes.

I’ve finally eliminated spiral binding from my life–something that brings an incredible amount of relief and frees up a lot of mental space I didn’t know those old notebooks were occupying.

I’ve also divested myself of cheap, 8mm rule notebooks that I’ve been holding onto just in case I need them. Given the number of notebooks in the blank’s box (aka, that one on the left), I don’t think I’m going to hit that kind of emergency any tie soon.

STATE OF THE WRITING PROJECTS: I’m off to the Gothic Association of New Zealand and Australia conference on the Gold Coast on the 22nd, which means 90% of my focus is being spent working on the paper I’m scheduled to deliver there. I think I’m through the literature review part–the bit that I find hardest–and onto the stage where I just get to talk about my sample texts.

CURRENT EARWORM: My partner has been singing snatches of Kool and the Gang’s Jungle Boogie all work, and it’s been waging a war with Morris Day and the Time’s Jungle Love as the ear worm du jour.

CURRENT READING: Given the focus of my paper, I’m re-reading Elizabeth Bear’s New Amsterdam series and both books in the Cheshire Red duology from Cherie Priest.

BEST SCREEN MEDIA OF THE WEEK: The Marie Kondo Netflix series has made the biggest impact this week, kicking my partner and I off on a long-overdue attempt to try and sort out the apartment. That said, it’s hard to past Season Three of Lucifer as the best thing I’ve watched this week–the show impresses me with its capacity to reinvent itself every season, and it’s willingness to keep trying new combinations of characters in scenes rather than relying on established pairings.

It is, quite frankly, one of the best spec fic TV shows that I’ve seen in probably two decades.

EMAIL INBOX STATUS: 51 emails plus a handful of messenger notifactions and texts I haven’t processed. Anxiety-driven weeks are hard on my inbox habits, given my tendency to turtle up and ignore the outside world. Fridays are being being declared an admin and planning day for the foreseeable future, so I’m hoping I can get that reigned in today.

WHAT AM I LOOKING FORWARD TO RIGHT NOW? December and January have seen an uptick in book sales for Brain Jar Press, and I suspect it’s got a lot to do with it being the time of year where people buy multiple books at once. Regardless of the reasons, I’m looking forward to that cash hitting my account in February, where it will give me a decent buffer to risk on marketing on various platforms.

BIG THINGS ACHIEVED THIS WEEK: A whole bunch of Brain Jar busy work, including:

• New covers for You Don’t Want To Be Published and The Birdcage Heart.
• Finalising and uploading copies of Hornets Attack Your Best Friend Victor and Other Things We Called The Band, which will be the next Brain Jar Short Story release scheduled for Boxing Day.
• Resuming daily Conan posts over on Twitter, after some very intermittent posting over recent weeks.
• Christmas Shopping.

STATE OF THE WRITING PROJECTS: Warhol Sleeping progresses scene by scene, but it’s well and truly over 40k now, which means we’re in short novel territory. I’m also working on a MMA-in-Space project that riffs on Robert E. Howard’s Sailor Steve Costigan stories, as a bit of a palate cleanser after the difficult narrator of Warhol Sleeping.

CURRENT EARWORM: Bad Romance, Lady Gaga. Or possibly the Amanda Palmer version. I just have a whole bunch of oh-ra-oh-la-la running through my skull and it isn’t going away.

CURRENT READING: I’ve ended up reading Genevive Valentine’s Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus at the same time, which is a whole lot of vaguely-steampunk-themed magic-circus reading that should probably not be included in a year that’s had a lot of vaguely-steampunk-themed magic circus reading. It’s possible one needs to be put aside for a time.

BEST SCREEN MEDIA OF THE WEEK: We’re powering through the second seasons of 3% and Lucifer and it’s all been pretty damn glorious, to be honest. Just have to find myself a window to go see Into the Spiderverse in the next week or so.

EMAIL INBOX STATUS: 29 emails that need to be processed, which almost feel like being on top of things at this time of year.

WHAT AM I LOOKING FORWARD TO RIGHT NOW? I am incredibly psyched for my partner to open her Christmas present in four days.