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 current project has been dubbed “Project Rad,” and it’s been progressing at a steady clip since I kicked it off back on Tuesday. The past week has involved weapons deals in comic book stores and desperate fights in stairwells, and I’m currently heading into the chapters where mentor figures appear and significant events teach the hero what will happen if things go wrong.
What’s inspiring me this week?
I’ve started reading MMA biographies ahead of the Cerberus Station Rumble redraft, and it’s been interesting to see the default narratives at work in the genre. For example, both Forrest Griffin and Ronda Rousey set out to establish themselves as underdog outsiders in the early stages of the narrative (and Griffin, under the conceit of talking technique, points out that presenting yourself as an underdog is a strategic choice in MMA).
My notebook is filled with small details to take back to the redrafting process, and at least one minor problem that I’ll need to account for in terms of fight procedures, but this is why we do research in the first place 🙂
What action do I need to take?
There’s a good chance I’ll need to adjust my expectations for the coming week, as the CPAP machine I used to breathe while sleeping has started to make weird noises and deliver far-less-effective pressure over the last few days. It’ll be going to a repair place after the public holiday is over, but it means going without a machine for a stretch. Since I’m already slipping back into the fall-asleep-while-typing, slow-to-get-up, and constantly angry territory associated with apnea, this is not going to be my best week at the keyboard.
I’m not quite ready to give up on my daily word-count quotas just yet, but I need to be mindful of the point where they stop being a goal to keep me moving forward and start being a tool for anxiety-driven self-flagellation.
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
I haven’t done the Sunday Circle in a while, mostly because life got a bit complicated and my writing subsequently (consequently) went awry. Then, at the start of this year, I began my PhD research and couldn’t, at first, quite find the rhythm that let me juggle that with other things. Just lately, I’ve tentatively found my feet and got back into a little scheduled writing time in the morning–and I decided to use that to write my first novel. The idea of writing my first novel while working on my thesis I do still find unnerving; I keep telling myself I’ve scheduled the writing time, so I have to use it for something.
Right now, I’m still pecking away at pre-writing: worldbuilding, characters, plot. Totally out of my depth with novel-length work, but I’m digging the process. It’s pleasing when you add an idea, and it suddenly connects to a bunch of things you’ve already put in place, for example. On the other hand, it’s easier to feel self-doubt with a big, complicated project, I think. When you look askance at it, it’s easier to mistake it for a crazy jumble of wretchedness slowly sinking into a swamp.
Still… What am I working on this week? More novel pre-writing. Also, if it counts, writing a lengthy section of the literature review needed for my confirmation of candidature, looking at how to define violence (and whether you need to). Novel-wise, I finished a 7000-word synopsis/scene list before the weekend and plugged it into Scrivener as scenes, ready to go. This week, I plan to pull my character notes together and dig a bit deeper.
What’s inspiring me this week? I’ve been reading a lot of Willem Schinkel for the lit review, delving into his ontological notions of violence as a reduction of being, always present in social interaction but edging towards the sorts of stuff we all think of as violence as participants increasingly see each other in more and more restricted ways. It was all plugging quite nicely into this week’s plotting, which had my characters not remotely interested in violence but becoming trapped by it.
What action do I need to take? Well, I have a plan to work on the characters for the novel. The main action for that is to turn up and put in the time, even if I’m feeling as if I should be directing the time elsewhere. If I’m counting the lit review section, that will take some additional critical reading, and then turning up and putting in the time.
Had surgery a week ago. I go back to work tomorrow. The theme here will be take it easy.
What am I working on this week?
I’m working on the second part of a three-part novella that will become my new reader magnet. I think the first third came out pretty well. I’m feeling a bit more comfortable with the second part. The third part will be the challenge, I suspect, but also the most fun.
What’s inspiring me this week?
With the new covers out, I tweaked my Amazon advertising and started to see a trickle of sales again. Sitting in the ghetto ranks was a small weight on my mind. Knowing I can start pushing my rank back up is a relief.
I started reading Verbalize on your recommendation, Pete. I know most writers have half a dozen characters they give different names and faces. I’d like to think this book will help me find a few more. I have two books left to write in my current series but I’ve begun planning other series and I’d like their main characters to be more than just rehashes of previous characters.
What action do I need to take?
The two things I have in progress are a) a website rebuild, which is going well but only part-complete and b) launch prep for Book 3, which is now ready to go. The launch prep needs to come first, as I’m likely going to have to make that around the end of May. Then I can get back to the website.