This was a long week, as the title subtly implies, but I’m not really sure why.

Nothing too big happened this week. I just feel a little drained mentally.

From work, that is. I’ve been frustrated/irritated with work happenings, and I think I’ve let that slip into my home life a bit too much this week. I work pretty hard — and have gotten better — at compartmentalizing Work from Not-Work.

That’s why I don’t like working from home, even though I have a 40+-mile commute two ways. When I leave the office and get into my car, I’m done with Work for the day. And, to be honest, that commute usually helps me decompress a bit before I arrive home.

But since my trip out West, and for various reasons not entirely within my control, I’ve worked from home a lot over the last two or three weeks.

I’m hoping working from the office every day next week will help me get back on track mentally. Except Labor Day, of course. I’m very happy to have an extra day at home this weekend.

Not-Work Accomplishments

My drafting of The Warden of Everfeld: Legacy is going well. I’m slowly but hopefully surely increasing my weekly writing output. I still haven’t reached a baseline average of 5,000 words per week — or even half that — but writing has become more habitual for me again.

I wrote about 2,000 words this week, for about 9,000 total. I’ve also moved into some new content areas, rather than just rewrites, so that’s been invigorating.

I’ve found myself hyper-aware of over-expository sections in this writing. I think I’ve kept the exposition rather tame in the first two chapters, which is good.

But I’ve also gotten better at seeing the long game with my character arcs. It’s not necessary for me to give the entire background at once. Details can be pushed down the road a bit, to come in more natural ways.

That’s the opposite of my approach from my early drafts of WoEM, when I wanted to tell everything up front.

So I guess you could say I’ve learned a bit about drafting. That’s always a positive.

Goals for 9/7

1. Celebrate turning 30 with a beer and oyster feast
2. Possibly go to the MD Renaissance Festival, which is the best Renaissance Festival, and no one can convince me otherwise.
3. Write 5,000 words — Labor Day should help.
4. Leave work at the office.

Steve D