just a little writing update

remember when i used to post my daily word count for my novel draft on this blog?

in case you're considering doing the same:  go for it!  it really helped my progress a lot.

i'll admit, since stopping this public word count updating, my draft has slowed down a little.  let's blame it on the upcoming wedding, the extra duties at work, and my addiction to dance moms instead (ok seriously though, watch this eight year old child move, it's unreal... and this is from the first episode guys; anybody else feel inadequate now?).

on the bright side, when children make me feel inadequate it inspires me to learn how to do the splits.  maybe with a few more stretchy weeks we'll get there.  regardless it's good for posture right?

but anyway, a week or so ago i finally broke the 40,000 word mark on my draft, and thought it's still rather slow going, it's getting increasingly satisfying to see my page count creep towards 150.  the protagonists finally know how to make the time machine work now.  one would think this would lead to high action adventures.  it hasn't yet, but the soap opera is getting pretty ridiculous.

when i first started writing i scoffed at the writers who said that the first novel you write is unlikely worthy of publication.  while it's still appealing to try and push this draft toward a wider audience eventually, i'm definitely seeing why this statement has been made.  it's such a learning experience to produce such a large quantity of coherent content for the first time, and i really suspect the next attempt i make will have a lot more to it and less to revise.  it's getting really tough to put off those new ideas that keep popping into my head for novel #2.

BUT it won't be novel #2 unless i finish #1 so plod along we shall!  hope everybody else is keeping motivated with your creative work.  if you need a kick in the pants to get back to something you're working on, consider this one from me!

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shall we just watch the video?

in high school i used to be a huge video geek.

my friends and i would run around town with a camcorder and a lot of free time, and back in the early days of windows movie maker and imovie hd 6 i ended up with some enjoyable footage.  hopefully one day i'll be able to do something with all those 8mm tapes.

so it might sound odd that i was a little skeptical about instagram's new video function.  i had not been using vine previously so the concept took a moment of getting used to.

honestly, having downloaded vine to make the comparison, i think i actually prefer it to the video version of instagram, but since so many more people use instagram than vine the purpose is definitely there.

steve and i watched trainspotting last night, which is a favorite of mine as far as something so grotesque and hard to watch can be.  for some reason it is one of those movies that often gets me really inspired to be creative.  maybe watching such a humanization of a bunch of heroin junkies gets me thinking about what i'm busy doing with the time i have... with the privilege that i have... with the freedom and decisions i have.

or maybe danny boyle is just a really talented filmmaker.

we have all kinds of technological resources that foster creativity, from blogger, to instagram, to photoshop and vimeo, but sometimes all the different outlets make it feel like i'm drowning in a million ideas instead of developing one big thing.

i think i want to change that.

so hopefully i won't be the only one spending this week thinking about creativity and what i want to do with it.  i think i'll start where i always do and write something.

happy monday!!