Writers, Jan '14 - YouLookFab Forum

One of the things I love best about working at home is being able to take a shower in the middle of the day. Worked at a breakfast place this morning, then ran errands, and I didn't have anywhere to be for the rest of the day so I stopped by the coffee shop and got a hazelnut latte and a lemon curd scone to go (yum) and then headed home. Warm shower and now I'm wearing jeans and a comfy cardigan and my slippers rather than grownup clothes that weren't warm enough.

How's your writing going? I have managed to get really derailed with the hangover from the holidays and then some minor health issues. I had given myself some time off from working on small projects for other people in order to work on my big manuscript, which has backfired now because I don't have any immediate due dates and so it's easy to procrastinate. I really need to get back on the horse, which is why I'm writing this. As soon as I hit post I'm going to go transcribe some of my handwritten draft from last month, and update my to-do list for this week.

12 years ago

Liz

Active Member

Hi, Laura! Mid-day showers: I'm not sure there's much better.

I hear what you're saying about the "holidays," and the effect that season has on creative flow. And then to have health matters on top -- that's a lot. Sounds like you had a lovely day work day.

I've not got any deadlines right now. Creatively I'm in a gestational period and am feathering a new online nest. To that end, I'm picking up some images tomorrow that I took from 2008 - 2010. I'm ready to write about the time around those photos, and feel an impetus to let the words do what they want. It's satisfying and unsettling at the same time.

Logistically, my domestic life is simmering down after an international interlude over the summer and fall. Which is a really polite way of saying it was very challenging and I'm glad to be stateside now. So are our kiddos. May I ask what your manuscript is about? And you take on other projects as well? Is it hard to balance those with your personal creative work? What inspires you?

MsMaven

Veteran

For some reason I don't think of myself as a writer, yet these last few weeks I've been glued to my computer chair--writing and rewriting. I will present two papers in the next few months and have proposed a topic for a third event. I have deadlines looming. I have an article I want to submit but it needs expanding a bit. And I'm writing a biography, which is the source of these papers. No time yet this year to work on a book proposal.

Since I spend so much of my time in yoga pants, I have few WIWs to post.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Liz, I love the idea of a gestational period. Sometimes the brain needs to go fallow and just take in and process input, I think. I suspect that that was part of my pokiness this last month, to be honest. Traveling and seeing family always takes so much out of me, emotionally and physically. Your photo project sounds really promising.

MsMaven, how exciting, your upcoming papers and biography. Deadlines are such a two-faced thing, aren't they? Both encouraging and overwhelming. I had to write a book proposal for my current project and it was a really useful and illuminating process. I'm still not convinced it's very good, but with a project that requires research, you sort of need to write a draft of the proposal to find out what additional research you need to do which spawns a revised proposal which spawns additional research, etc ab absurdium.

My big project right now is a book length work of history - looking at a particular historical event and its significance. I've not written a piece of nonfiction this long before, although I've done lots of articles and shorter pieces, and played around with novels and story ideas. It's been a challenging process so far for sure. Most of the time I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing...

MsMaven, I know what you mean about dressing - on the really good 'productive' days a nicer outfit is often one of the first things to go!

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