Writing Goals 07-08
For the record: I’ve done a fourth step of 30 Steps to Becoming a Writer, and set my goals for the year ahed (wich, incidentally, started yesterday, may 1st, 07).
Those goals are (in no particular order; they’re all musts):
- A script for the first part of the Kriegsmarine Romance.
I might have to write some more if some ifs come True but part 1 is mandatory, come hell and high water. - The first draft for the novel code-named D.A.
That’s the one piece I want to write even if it’s the only thing I write. But since I want it to be good and since I never wrote any novels and since I’ve better keep it real, the first draft is more than enough for the year one, I guess. - A Lyadoff & Anchutkin novel.
Or maybe a novellete. Or a screenplay. Anyway, that’s a much lighter, humorous, pulpish one, which is why I wanna make it my trial balloon. - 12 acceptable short stories.
Acceptable by me, that is. One short story per month can be done, I guess. Even though the stories I did before were no more than 1500 words and took me a month or even more to produce. On the other hand, I wasn’t quite as persistent then as I occasionnaly am now. - Some [moonligther’s] work like journalism, copywriting or screenwriting.
No idea as to particulars. The merrier, the better. Money might help, too.
I might try the 5. in English: is there a better way to learn a language than to go and use it? Might even write a tentative story or two. As for the bulk of my fiction, I guess I’ve better stick to Russian yet. I know it, I feel it, I still got things to improve. A lot of them.
So, I don’t know why I write it all in English :) Maybe I just keep my Russian page for the showy stuff, and unmaterialized ambitions don’t show much. Especially here: russian authors have an unnerving ability to lose interest in their project even as people are willing to buy ‘em.
Good thing I’m a half-Jew, then.
The Power of Goodbyes
What the fuck am I doing? It’s not as though reading my friends’ blogs is my solemn duty. It’s not as if bloating out on the random bits of humanity’s thought is my long-term goal. It’s not as if my rss reader is doing much for me, except for wasting my time and jamming my radar.
I shagged it, then. My rss reader doesnt’ support cancelling the account, but I changed the password to something I don’t remember. I can retrieve it, of course, but that would take way too much dedication.
Anyway, for the next step I’m about to try creating another Windows account with access to Atlantis, EverNote and foobar2000 only.
the depth of my Sith
Awkay, now's the time for you to know how badly organized I am.
It's been almost two weeks I decided to wrtite a long-pondered novel this year and all that came out so far is one page and a few notes. Ok, the maybe the plot needs some clarification anyway, but there's more. There's also a manga scenario I should: I want to be working on. And the only thing I've done for that lately was buy some runes.
It's not that I shouldn't rehearse for my writing, it's just that I shouldn't be doing a lot of other stuff. I spend much more time on the net than I do on my projects. I play games that I thought I abandoned in September. I procrastinate on my not-really-that-promising job so it keeps slipping to the later hours when I'd better to be working on the projects that should get me out of it.
I probabely should come up with some numbers, but I don't even measure my time decently. SlimTimer is a terrific app but I keep forgetting about my timers all the time.
I lack both focus and self-discipline. As often as not, after I made a decision I do quite the opposite right away.
I've got other nasty habits. I'm much more used to reading, watching and listening than to writing or drawing or something. I've got writer's block as well as talker's block. I can't usually keep my attention still for 5 minutes. I don't eat healthy and I don't exercise much so my energy is low. That hypostasis is everywhere: in my music lessons, in my relations, in my spiritual growth. It's a deep pit I'm in, and my dreams are way too high.
It's gonna be a lot of good fun to get up there.
I don't know if I come across some unique insights or recipes. I mean, Steve Pavlina, David Allen or Merlin Mann, to name the few ones I know, are way ahead with that kind of stuff. If I do, anyway, I'm gonna post it under 'growth' tag.
I'm also going to post some tedious everyday data under 'log', in case you're that curious. And I'm looking forward to some major climbing.
So help me God.
2007 primary project
I was ready to decide it anyway, so Steve Pavlina’s article was just about right on time. And the primary project is a novel that I’m contemplating for five? seven? eight years?
There’s probabely more writing to be done this year, but the novel is the must.
Fear leads?
I am afraid. I’m 31, that’s ridiculous. All the good drummers I know started at 5 to 15. Most of them are pretty big men, too. I’m 31, featherweight, and rather lazy.
Am I lazy, brothers and sisters. Ever bubbling with new ideas, too. No wonder I’ve dropped most anything I ever tried, including the drums 9 years ago, having no money to pay for education. Not what you’d call unstoppable.
Sure, I’d like to be a supa-boopa-drumma, and it would be fun to find out that a guy can learn to become a professional musiciant starting in his thirties. But just finding it out takes a great deal of time and money. Ok, nevermind the money, they come and go, but haven’t I wasted enough time already without any achievement to talk about?
Then again, I learnt to drum, or rather, attended the lessons, longer than anything. Longer than my universities took, which was a year and a half among both of them. Damn, it seems I disliked the technical stuff all this time, where was my head? All this bumping around - db programming, videogames, translating books, back to games, then to internet ads… so much pain, so little gain.
Aww, what the heck? All this bumping around made me versatile and schoolable. It’s a second month I’m taking lessons again, and I’m seemingly doing ok. It’s ok right now, ok, whichever ways I took in the past brought me here. I like it here.
Not that I have much to lose, anyway. I tried boring stuff, I tried playing career games, but I think it’s time to look back and say I suck at it. Why not trying something fun, maybe that’s what I’m for?
I am afraid of course. But fear lead to darkside and, anyway, I’ve been following it for too long. Now the fear may follow, if it dares. After all, a drummer is a leader.
ps. Randy knew…
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