From Tension to Stress

What is it about this time of year? I don't have nearly the amount of presents to buy or promises to keep as most of the people I know. Yet I am feeling really stressed out. I just came off a 4-day migraine that was probably equal parts stress, winter weather and not eating correctly (because of the stress thing). I'm watching the snow coming down, making the roads even more fun to drive on going home than they were coming to work--and they were BAD coming to work.

So what to do? Here's my plan of attack. Which may be an oxymoron when talking about getting rid of stress, but there you go.

1) Lists. Once I have everything I need to do in a list, it makes it seem more manageable.
2) Divvying up the tasks. I tend to try to overdo. [Okay, I hear all of you out there with your sarcastic, "Oh, yeah?"s.] Since I really don't want to get out on the roads today, I keep thinking, "Tomorrow at lunch I'll . . . " I've listed things that will take 4 hours to do on my one-hour lunch break. And none of them involve actually eating lunch. So 2 list items tops at lunch and one after work. There's still Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week. Plus some time next week, too.
3) Let a few things go. Always the hardest for me. But it does help to identify an item or two that I don't really need to get done right now and take them off the list until next year.
4) Do something fun just for the hell of it. Again, a hard one when I'm already feeling overbooked. But stopping for a cup of gingerbread coffee and reading a chapter or two of a book or shooting the bull with a friend I haven't seen in a while can be just what I need to energize for all those other tasks.
5) Take care of my health. That means eating right and making time to exercise. The temptation is to grab Micky D's or some other high-fat, high-cal, high-bad food and eat it in the car. Not conducive to feeling at my best. Pack lunch.

See, I feel better already. So what do you do to relieve stress? Is writing, or not writing, involved?

Tension

"Grandage is alive to the fact that uncontrolled rage is profoundly uninteresting to watch: If emotions boil over, tension evaporates. " David Benedict of Variety reviewing Grandage's production of Othello with Ewan McGregor as Iago.

There were two revelations in that statement for me. The first is that it may be why I don't particularly care for most reality shows. Especially the "I'm Better Than Everyone Else So I Can Treat Them Like Shit" shows. The people seem to be cast because they have no emotional control. And it's boring. Put one person in the mix who is polite and helpful, but plotting something for later and it gets a little more interesting.

The other is with regard to writing, of course. The long slow simmer is what builds tension. And it can be incredibly hard to do. But it has me thinking about both Vesta and MMG. I will be more aware of this in the rewrite process (and it'll be there in the back of my mind for the first draft of every book from here on out).

Warming Up The Pipes

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was the next book on the stack. It's interesting, but I feel overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. I know everyone has said it's a quick read, but it doesn't look like a quick read. It sits there mocking me. "You're tired and busy and I'll break you," it whispers. And it may be right.

So, I've decided to skip the stack for, I hope, some enjoyable short stories. I picked up Margaret Atwood's The Tent the other night instead of JS&MN. I can knock off three or four of her short stories in fifteen minutes--and they're good. I have the latest copies of Glimmer Train and Fantasy & Science Fiction. I may pick up a couple different magazines at B&N today at lunch (buying books for Miss Elizabeth for Christmas--fun!). Maybe Realms of Fantasy and one of the "reviews".

This serves two purposes. I have quick reads for when I do find some time to indulge. AND I am doing research on what they're buying. "Hmmmm," you say. "But, Deb, your key is the novel. What do you care about what short story markets are buying? You struggle with short stories." Exactly! Got it in one. The plan is to have a first draft of Vesta done rather soon. And MMG is starting to nag, but it's not yelling at me so I may have some free time during which I don't want to start a third novel. So, short stories. I have some that need varying degrees of revision, including a fantasy involving a mermaid, hence the fantasy mags. And I have some potential ideas for a few more. Ergo, market research. And seeing how the big boys and girls are doing it.

Before you say anything, Jenny and Ali, I already have the Tim O'Brien and Sherman Alexie books you recommended. And a couple Neil Gaiman collections--one of which I'm almost done with.

So: la, la, la, LA, la, la, la.

December Goals

I can't believe November and NaNoWriMo are over. It was a good ride, even if I didn't get close to 50k words. Major congrats to everyone who participated in any way.

My goals for December are to keep up the momentum from November. Just keep plugging away at Vesta. 10 or more pages a week sounds good to me. I thought I might be ready to start on MMG, but I'm not feeling it yet. Maybe it will hit next week or the week after. Whenever it does, I'll jump in. But until then, I have Vesta to keep me going.

So what are your goals for December?

Three Days to Go

So, only three days left of November and, therefore, NaNoWriMo. I should break 20,000 words today or tomorrow. That's not all that bad, really. And I like the Vesta story, which is even better.

What I'm going to take away from the experience is to just keep plugging away. Every day if at all possible. Even one hour can mean another three or four pages. At an average of 250 words per page, that's 1,000 words right there. In one hundred days, you'll have a pretty hefty novel on your hands. That's three and a half novels a year. At just one hour a day. When you look at it that way, how can you not keep at it?

Of course, we're all human and we all let other things intrude. But I will do my best to stay mindful of what I accomplished this month. And use that knowledge to do the same each and every month.

Great Weekend

The dreaded glug notwithstanding, I had a great weekend. Spent Thursday with my non-writer friends--I do have a few. We had a delicious meal and a lot of laughs. The way you're supposed to spend Thanksgiving.

The rest of the weekend was a nice melange of writing, reading, doing housework (not a lot, just enough) and watching television. Not a bad way to spend three days. Especially since I managed to avoid stores altogether.

Last night was the last Sunday dinner with Pirates plus. Again, good food and lots of laughs, although on different topics than those discussed Thursday. I had to leave early to pick up my sister from the airport. It would have been much more fun staying around with the gang, but I guess I needed to do one family-related thing this weekend.

So, back at work this morning. It's still very quiet. Four coworkers are off today, because they covered on Wednesday. D.B. is off so no one to talk writing with. Bummer. But also not many to interrupt me if I should decide to write a bit while here. Groovy. Think I'll do just that. And maybe find a place in Vesta to use "melange."

Not an Auspicious Start

This morning did start well. I woke up early and worked out. Read some blogs and email. Put a load of laundry in the washing machine and got things organized to start writing. Then the glug. The dreaded glug. The glug that means my drain in the basement is backing up. Sigh.

So the guy from Doc's Drain Cleaning is here. He thinks he's got it all, but is going to run the washing machine just to make sure that it isn't the floor drain. Then he's out of here and so is about $150 bucks. One of those things you just have to do when you own a home with mature trees around it. Making a note to myself to call them in September next year so maybe we can avoid the glug.

Then it's off to Target to pick up a couple things I forgot yesterday on my rush back home after dropping my sister off at the airport. Yay! And back to start the turkey (I'm eating elsewhere tomorrow but still want my own leftovers) and write. Dammit.

Deeps breaths. Better to get the glug out of the way the day before Thanksgiving than ON Thanksgiving.