The Sunday Circle: What Are You Working On This Week?

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’m on the tail end of a novella draft at the moment–there’s three chapters left to right, then the “go through and fill in all the gaps” sweep where I’ll start tinkering with everything that needs to be done. Very much the tricky stage, because it’s wrapping up all the things that have been set-up in earlier chapters (I prefer set-up to conclusions. It’s more fun)

I’m also fleshing out some details for the project that will follow this novella, henceforth going under the working title Project Adelaide. At this stage, that largely means continuing my experiments with Damon Suede’s Verbalise approach and locking down a suite of tactical verbs for the major characters.

What’s inspiring me this week?

Designer Mike Monteiro appeared on my radar around a decade ago, courtesy of his Fuck You, Pay Me speech (which spoke to every freelancer’s heart). He’s a forthright, funny guy with a firm sense of belief in the value of his work, and now he’s written a book about the ethics of design–specifically User Experience design–and the ways in which bad design is currently fucking up the world.

Ruined by Design isn’t the first book about the problems with social media (among other things), but it’s one of the first I’ve read where their problems are tackled by a professional whose been immersed in the field and knows how the problems begin. Montiero’s ire is wide-spread, but of-focused on Twitter and CEO Jack Dorsey, courtesy of the fact that Montiero’s studio and Twitter were housed across the hall from one another in early days. 

The book is terrifying, but also eye-opening and brilliant and occasionally touched by hope that sometimes seems hard to come by when processing the state of the world. I will, no doubt, be writing a full-length post about the book eventually, but for now…oh my god, just read it 

What action do I need to take?

I’m rebuilding my ongoing process at the moment, after the long break after my dad’s death. The first stage was getting rough drafts back into my day, reigning in the impulse to “write all the thing right now” and get back to trusting that steady, regular work will add up faster than binge-writing and burning out (and it has. That novella up top? Little more than a zygote of an idea two weeks ago, and now it’s 20,000 words).

In process terms, this is the easy part. Now, after finishing my marking, I need to start grafting research, editorial, and business processes onto my day in order to start pushing things past the first draft stage. And this is where the so-much-to-do, so-little-time impulse really kicks in and encourages procrastination. Also, the part where I can’t rely on routine as much and need to make actual, hard decisions.

Which means I need to sit down and do a plan that is not 90% madness and ambition, but instead creates a to-do list from that final 10% that is actually achievable and necessary and actually-what-needs-to-get-done-around here. Take the decisions away, so I can just work my way along the list and be done with it.