Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Wasteland

Mode of distraction: A.D.D. and apathy.
Distracting me from: All productivity.


So. I'm trying this again.

It's not my fault I've been so bad at posting. I've been too busy reading Karen's deliciously cute and crafty blog while simultaneously hiding from its superiority. Plus, I've been really lazy lately.

Post-MFA graduation has found me first celebrating my new-found freedom and free time, and then found me wallowing in it. Melting into it. Submerged from toe to nose. Etc.

Not that I've been a total slob. I work full time, I joined 24 Hour Fitness in the wake of losing my student gym membership (and I'm actually going), I'm still in a fully function and even more fully satisfying relationship, and I'm still reading (currently Franzen's The Corrections). But still. Something about the last month has felt like trudging...fun trudging, but trudging.

I think October is going to change that, mostly because I've decided it will. I'm at the brink of getting myself into a small, lovely workshop situation again, with a peer's manuscript crisp from the printer ready for a review, another peer's thesis to review, and my own novel to work on for said workshop.

October will be feature a welcomed integration of new to kick my ass out of Neutral, including (but not limited to):
  • Draft 2 of Muscle Memory - I have started on this, but not much. There is a big new scene I have in mind that will come pretty early, and while it won't shift the book's overall plot, I think it will set me on a more character-enriching path that should color the rest of the story. In theory. 
  • A new writing community - I've missed this being a part of my life, and I think being with like-minded creative folk will do me good. 
  • Oscar time - With the unveiling of the Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close trailer, Oscar season has officially begun. This gets my blood going. I've already seen The Help (great) and Contagion (pretty good), and there are a host of movies I'm ready to bus over to Kabuki for, dragging whoever is willing to join me. Time to start brainstorming Oscar party prizes...
  • Kelly Clarkson's new CD, Stronger - Can't. Even. Wait. It's been two and half years since her last studio album, which--to be honest--was more a collection of solid, of-the-moment pop tracks, leaving the album feeling a bit more like a collection of current sounds than a fully conceived album. With 75 demos and old songs leaking courtesy of thieves and fans even more intense than yours truly, I've heard about half the album in demo form and...it's fabulous. I did the superfan pre-order thing which provides me with a deluxe CD and a bonus EP...all in all, 23 new Kelly Clarkson tracks to spin the shit out of come October 24 (or whenever it leaks). 
  • Even more reading - On the list: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, The Help, Dangerous Laughter, The Handmaid's Tale, and Bastard Out of Carolina...or whatever comes my way. 
  • Halloween - I still have no costume in mind, but I always kind of rock that part, so I'm sure something will come up. (I really am getting anxious about this though). 
And now I'm off to get started. 


    2 comments:

    1. Hooray for all of the above! Oscar Season = time for more movie dates. YES! :)

      Don't stress about Halloween. Something will manifest itself. I feel sure of it.

      xoxox

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    2. i totally feel this post, boss. i've been trudging myself and almost get the urge to head to campus just for that non-solitary social aspect of being a writer. i've only left my place to go to work since classes ended. i'd be bored if i wasn't so busy trying to finish this damn book.

      halloween: first, go see "Drive." then, if you don't have the urge to buy a white satin jacket with a gold scorpion on the back and rock it on all hallow's eve, i don't know what to tell you.

      ReplyDelete