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’ve got my eye on the next five scenes in Project Stairwell this week, taking me up to the end of the first act. It’s a tricky project at this stage of the narrative–there’s a lot of scenes built around the same archetypal structure and power struggles, and a lot of context to get around the action in order to make the character negotiations meaningful. 

The feel that I want–and I’m not sure whether I’ll nail it or not–is a series of negotiations that feel like the slow progression towards a boss fight. This often means looking for ways to change things up–looking for ways to tilt the dynamics between the characters a little, and setting the stage in a new way to convey that things have shifted. 

What’s inspiring me this week?

Peter Benchley’s novel, Jaws, which has been largely superseded by the iconic film (and soundtrack( in the eyes of most people but remains an incredibly useful book to go back and study for the craft of it.

Admittedly, I haven’t seen the film since I was seven, but I was caught off guard by just how well the book builds up its metaphors and uses the shark as a catalyst for various social and personal conflicts in its protagonist. In a lot of respects, the shark is the least interesting part of the novel, were it not for the fact that’s its also steeped in useful shark facts and research that gets doled out as you read along. 

What action do I need to take?

Mostly, right now, I feel like I need to start making a development plan for the parts of publishing that aren’t writing. As I get the writing side of things under control, my attention starts to turn towards getting stuff out and promoting it, and there’s both a wealth of options for doing that and a lot of skills to pick up to make them effective.

Right now, I don’t have a plan, just a general idea of all the directions I want to head because they seem to have some merit. That feels a bit like I’m trying to wrap my head around every part of that and trying to level it up all at once. In truth, what I really need to do is develop one skill at a time and then add new strings to my bow as I go along. 

Part of my week really should involve logging my current resources, new skills to acquire, and a rough order to start exploring.