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
Doing this lightning fast this week, because…well, Christmas. Hope everyone is having a great day, and getting the chance to celebrate it in a manner that befits their personal beliefs.
What am I working on this week?
Continuing my end-of-year re-charge with books, television, and movies with a little short fiction around the edges.
What’s inspiring me this week?
I’m a big spoiled for choice given how much narrative I’ve consumed in the last seven days, but after finally catching up with the second season of Supergirl it’s probably a winner. A very different show than it had been on its previous network, and some of the things that have changed are disapoiting, but they things the show has gained from the shift seem to be much bigger.
What part of my project an I avoiding?
I’ve got a friends story to read and provide feedback on, that I haven’t had a chance to do yet. Really need to look at squeezing in a little work on that over the next day or so.
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
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Merry Christmas, etc.! Sounds like the recharge has gone well. ^_^ Super fast here, before I forget to do it!
This week I’m working on: Got the edits back from my beta reader for the WiP, so with a Write Club upcoming on Friday, I’m going to try to jump into that. I suspect it’ll still take some time and wiggling until this thing is in a place that makes me happy, but any progress will feel great. ^_^
I’m inspired by: What people can do with yarn. I’ve recently started playing around with knitting, and I’m absolutely terrible (as a beginner should be!), but I’ve been obsessing about patterns and beautiful shrugs and sweaters and scarves and mittens and shawls and–*sigh* They’re just so beautiful, and so very, very out of reach for me right now. But I’m thinking for the distant future. <3
I’m avoiding: Nothing today! XD
I’d love to hear how the knitting goes – while it might seem out of reach now, if it continues to interest you, I’m sure you’ll find yourself deep down the rabbit hole in no time!
Also, Merry Christmas!
Peter: Glad to hear that the deep dive into stimulus is treating you well, and I hope your Christmas day is going wonderfully, and the neighbours are causing minimal annoyance if any.
What am I working on this week?
The full sweep of simplifying continues. Have cleared the clutter from the physical work environment, reworked email, and spent a bunch of time cleaning out cruft in the contact management system, and ensuring everything is supporting the focus for the year to come. Year end review is continuing, and I’ll be spending some time this week dealing with Evernote and Omnifocus as major sources of remaining clutter that needs to be cleared.
What’s inspiring me this week?
A few things. I’ve finally solved the problem around not reading enough key source material by doing something that should have been painfully obvious – audiobooks. I’ve torn through Cal Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and I’m figuring out what to listen to next based on immediate priorities. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that sooner, given the amount of time I spend listening to audio content.
Also sat down and watched Drive this week, and found it a really tight film with some great performances. The more I watch Oscar Isaac on film, the more I’m blown away. Really interesting 80s aesthetic to the soundtrack without being overbearing, too.
What part of my project am I avoiding?
Distilling the information I’m sifting through into outcomes for the year ahead. Not sure if this is because of significantly higher complexity involved, or brain just wanting to take a break over the break.
Following up my messing up of HTML tags: the idea of deliberate practice – diving into research around key technical details in order to progress, is something that’s really lit my fire. I do do that with voice over, but hearing it reinforced in the book is making me realise I need to double down on the idea across a few other fields that are priorities to me.
I think you’re on to something with deliberate practice–it’s something I know I need to incorporate more into my daily work, but it seems so key to developing any skill, I’m surprised I don’t do it more. Was this a concept from So Good They Can’t Ignore You?
And oh my, yes! I love audiobooks. I do sometimes wander while listening, but that just makes the 15-seconds-back button all the more useful. ^_^ Best of luck with the year’s end cleanup and review!