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 currently about 1/3 of the way through the type-in draft of Median Survival Time, which largely involves typing up and adapting the hand-written draft while making changes as I go. A lot of stuff gets stuck at this point, and a lot more gets added in. The goal for the coming week is to get the remaining two-thirds typed up–it’s going to be pushing things pretty hard and leaves little time to dwell on major issues that will get fixed up in the final two sweeps.

What’s inspiring me this week?

I finished Angela Carter’s The Magic Toyshop earlier today, and like most of Angela Carter’s work there’s a precision and control to what she’s writing that very few other writers can match. Its probably less accessible than a lot of Carter’s other works–The Bloody Chamber is very up-front about its reference points, while novels like Wise Children and Nights at the Circus balance their literary models against a more accessible arc. The Magic Toyshop plays around with the Dickensian mode a bit, and the conclusion left me a bit cold. That said, it’s a bit like going on a long scenic drive to get someplace a bit drab–the final destination may not be to your taste, but the journey to get there was breathtaking.

It’s also convinced me that it’s time to read everything else Carter has written pretty damn quickly.

What action do I need to take?

The simple action I need to take is checking to see whether I can get after-hours access to my desk at university. I’ve headed to campus to do some work a few times over the weekend, but it usually involves tracking down a berth at one of the twenty-four-seven workspaces available in a library. They’re workable, but don’t have power options when the laptop is running out of charge, and that means I’ve got a hard limit on how long I can be there.

The more complex action I need to take is a series of hard choices about what’s getting priorities in the rest of the year. I’ve got a fairly clear idea of the mountains I’m working towards after doing the quarterly plan last week, but I’ve still gotta put together a path for getting there.