David Drazul |
News | Blogs | Stories | About Me | EditingNews3/1/23: Proofreading jobs completed. Back to writing.Our electric utility said that January's average temperature was 10° higher than last year. 10°! The usual variance is a couple degrees. As a result, my electricity consumption was down 25% from the year before. But it finally snowed. Yesterday. 5+ inches. First time since mid-December that we got more than a quarter inch. 1/31/23: The new year is off to an ok start. Got a little bit of writing done for Gateway..., and I think the outline for the last third of the story may be complete. Picked up two proofreading jobs from out of the blue, so they're cutting into writing time, but at least I get paid for them. No snowfall outside of a couple dustings (less than 1/4 inch) for the whole month. Temperatures often 15-20°F above normal. 12/31/22: I've struggled to come up with something to say for the 4Q 2022 update that had some hint of being upbeat, but that's tough to do when there's no progress to report. I considered skipping it altogether, but felt that I should post something to document that I still exist. There's always non-literary stuff going on, but how many times do people want to read about my progress on the annual firewood harvest? An internet friend of 20+ years (Is there still friendship hierarchy bias that internet friends are less important than friends you hang out with in person?) died from cancer this year after a year-long struggle. I'm still dealing with that, feeling remote and useless. On to the new year. Hope springs eternal... 9/27/22: Gateway... is up to 50,000 words. I cranked out 840 words tonight. At that pace, I could be done within a month. But we all know that I have a myriad of distractions and tasks to do. "Staking Sunflowers" was rejected by its eighth market. Wood pile is almost done. It'll be three cords in size, which is my typical quota. Crazy hot summer slowed me down. Trying not to kill myself in the heat. The drought was brutal. Rain barrel ran dry trying to keep my tomato plants and flowers alive. 6/28/22: Gateway... is up to 49,000 words. And those two thousand words were just in April. Then the weather warmed up and I had to get to work on outdoor projects: powerwash and re-stain the deck, chainsaw those 20" diameter ash logs, split and stack wood, etc. Haven't bothered trying to shop the short stories because I haven't gotten over those feelings of futility. 3/28/22: Gateway... is up to 47,000 words. Yes, that works out to be 1,000 words/month, which isn't much, but considering I only wrote 2,000 words for the previous ten months, that's progress. I also worked on two other projects that have been in my head for some time. Combined with the Gateway... work, they would double my output. Still not great, but that's ok. Progress is progress. I took a class entitled "Fearless Writing", based on the book of the same name. It helped me to see what's been blocking my attempts to write (me) and showed me how to dispel those thoughts and get back into the flow. It's not an overnight cure; I have to keep working at it until it becomes automatic. But I feel a bit of hope now, which isn't something I've felt for some time. Older news can be found here. |