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?
The bulk of this week is given over to finishing the first act of Hell Track and getting started on the second act. This means I’m well behind on my six-week project sprint, but getting through my PhD confirmation saw me running at high anxiety for three straight days and I struggled to step away from that state once the confirmation was done. In the end, I declared much of last week a wash so I could focus on my mental health, with the goal of re-starting the sprint on Monday.
What’s inspiring me this week?
So Black Panther is pretty phenomenal, and a great example of making an action movie that’s about something other than the action. Just a gorgeously realised bit of SF with a strong, beating heart running underneath it, and easily the kind of story that you watch and aspire to make. The nice part about the last week has been the number of articles about how it was done – not just from director Ryan Coogler, but about the costuming and design that play a big part in the setting.
What action do I need to take?
There’s ten days until the scheduled release date for You Don’t Want To Be Published and I’ve got a list of final proofing notes, in addition to finalising all of the meta-data details that get entered and re-entered at every sale site.
I’ve ended up taking a short, unscheduled break from writing newsletters over the last fourteen days. Regular GenrePunk Ninja transmissions will resume
Like many of you, I have good weeks and bad weeks on the writing front. This week has been rocky, and if
Welcome to GenrePunk Ninja supplemental, where I occasionally post foundational essays written before I launched the GenrePunk Ninja newsletter, especially if they’re
2 Responses
Peter: how did you go with finding space for admin in your daily schedule? HUGE kudos to you for giving yourself space for mental health, too. That’s super important.
What am I working on this week?
GDC prep primarily. Reaching out to plan 1 on 1s, looking at the conference schedule & parties and figuring out where I want to spend time. Last week was unfortunately a bit of a wash due to heavy duty sleep disruption due to the little one.
What’s inspiring me this week?
I finally saw It Follows on the weekend, and that film was fantastic. The sense of creeping dread throughout, and the simplicity behind how they created a threat that was alien and inexorable, and somehow at the same time moronic and mundane. The cinematography was delicious in how it used the surroundings to heighten dread.
I’ve also given in and followed the crowd to watching The Good Place, and it reminds me a bit of Archer in terms of how economical it is with time. It hits the ground running and will often have multiple gags set up very quickly running in parallel in an episode – not quite as rapid fire with dialogue, but definitely a show that uses time wisely.
Other than that, I’m listening through the audiobook of Women Who Run With The Wolves at the moment, and there was a section this morning talking about how we deal with lust and sexual energy – the difference between healthy sublimation and suppression, and how some people are never taught how to embrace and channel that energy via anything other than sexual activity, and yeesh. It hit me hard, even though I feel like a bit of an outsider reading the book and stealing some lessons as universal.
What action do I really need to take?
I’ve realised that I need to update my LinkedIn profile prior to GDC, as it is YEARS out of date at the moment. Ugh.