Editing and November Project

[calissa]

Editing has been picking up lately. I have managed to acquire a couple of new jobs that are keeping me busy and it is taking a little bit to adjust. I am somewhat amused by the fact that, even though I am a person who highly values stability and routine, I have ended up in a role characterised by deadlines and uncertainty.

There are definitely parts I'm enjoying. The sheer variety in what I've been editing has been awesome. It has also been nice to feel like I'm doing something useful with my time (though I wasn't exactly feeling useless before). However, the change in schedule to incorporate more editing time takes a bit of getting used to and my To Do list just seems to get longer by the day.

This afternoon I spent some time having tea and chatting with sidheblessed. I may have mentioned before that we try to get together once a fortnight or so to talk writing and keep each other accountable. Today as we talked I realised how tired I was. I've been chasing one deadline or another for a few months now.

One of the things we discussed was a November Project. Managing injury makes NaNoWriMo difficult, if not physically impossible, for me. So, I have taken to designing my own challenge. This year I have been tossing up between two possibilities. One was completing the story bible for Wolfwinter--something I had very much hoped to do by the end of this year. However, given how tired and over deadlines I am, I am rather regretfully putting this aside.

Instead, I'm going to do much the same thing as I did last year. My current writing journal is an A6 size. Every day for November I am going to fill one page with something creative. This could be a poem (or several), the draft of a story, a photograph, a painting... whatever I feel moved to include. I enjoyed the results from last year and hope it will be low-key enough not to stress me out this year.

Do you have a November Project you'll be working on? I'd love to hear :)

Comments

[kaberett]

I'm vaguely intending to try to write 1000 words a day (on average), be it essays I've got kicking around or blog posts that want out or working on the fic backlog or Yuletide. But equally I know I'm a tired human being heading into winter, so I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't manage it!

[calissa]

That sounds like a very sensible approach. Do you find winter affects your mood significantly? I know that it does for many people.

[kaberett]

Yep, I have significant winter SAD (some people have summer SAD! It is fascinating). I've also got strategies in place - daylight temperature lamps, increasing my anti-depressant dose, etc - but it's... well, I'm doing a new job in a new place and I know enough to aim to be gentle with myself.

[calissa]

I'm finding that being gentle with oneself is definitely the way to go right now :)

And I know I'm not seeing everything, but I think you are doing awesomely well at adjusting to the new job and new place. They are some pretty major changes, after all.

Perhaps it's just me, but winter SAD definitely seems less prevalent in Australia. I imagine it is all the sunshine we get.

[darakat]

Hope the editing goes well, it seems to be somewhat stressful at times.

I don't have anything but Masters to work on first half of November, after that I am not sure yet. I have a lot of stuff I want to do that's on the back burner, deciding which one to do is pretty hard though since they all seem of equal importance.

[calissa]

Thank you. The editing itself is mostly fine. It's just the reshuffling of schedule and trying to get everything else done as well. Part and parcel of working freelance.

You must be really looking forward to getting back to some of those projects, even if it is difficult to decide where to start.

[raze]

Aw, I feel you on the physical challenges of NaNo; I do not have an injury to manage but I do have fairly bad arthritis, and I wind up really feeling it every November. I love the physically and mentally healthy but fun alternate you came up with, though - too cool! Would love to see a few pics of it in progress during November.

[calissa]

I'm not really sure it is an injury, exactly, but it's the only way I know how to frame it.

I do hope you'll take care of yourself throughout November. I imagine the cooler weather doesn't help things.

I was contemplating posting up some pictures and bits. I shall see how I go, though. I don't want to start pressuring myself with the thought that everything has to be audience-ready (I've really got to work on that perfectionist streak).