“Revive”
Twenty-four hours,
hiatus from daily life,
reaffirming rest.
Steve D
Author: Steven D'Adamo
I'm a fantasy author and blogger. I like to write about the creative process, music, movies, books, and my weekly haiku series, "Haiku Sunday"
August Write Day: Routine Reset
July was a crazy month for us. We closed on our new house, moved all of our crap, spent another two weeks unpacking, and finally are starting to settle in. It’s been entirely disruptive in the best possible way, but I am ready to find my routines again.
Last Month’s Goals
- Write something every other day.
- Move to the next stage for my stories.
- Read three books.
- Exercise every day.
Write something every other day?
No, for obvious reasons. We must have spent what felt like a full month packing every night, and then unpacking every time, so that meant less writing time. I kept up with posting on this site, which is something. Otherwise, I only spent one day on any revisions for Uprooted.
The good news is that I only have a few more notes to work through for that draft, so August will also include whatever my next step is. And, critically, deciding what my next step is.
Move to the next stage for my stories?
Oh, hey, I had a specific item for this, which I definitely did not forget about. Well, that cements it, then. I’m going to carry this goal into August and make meaningful progress on these stories. I think I will focus on revising New Earth next.
Read three books?
Yes! I managed to finish three audiobooks in July. I have also been on a bit of a tear the last week with A Memory of Light. I’m into the final final act, and I can’t really put it down at this point. I’m going to finish this book in August, probably within the next week.
Exercise every day?
No, but I fared much better here than in my writing goals. I had twenty-two days of physical activity in July. In that count I’m including basically a full week of moving boxes, a full day of moving furniture, a day of significant playtime with my boys at a picnic, and another day of playtime at a local pool.
My home workout routine definitely took a hit, but I was physically exhausted for two straight weeks with moving.
I did not change-up my routine as quickly as I had hoped, but I likely will in August. In our new home, I’m a 5-10-minute walk from a big franchise type gym. I have no excuse not to become a member there and try to workout at least a couple times a week.
Goals for August
- Read three books. Getting this out of the way early.
- Exercise every day. How my routine evolves is an open question, but I’m not going to jump headlong back into serious weight-lifting after a four-year hiatus. I want to keep up with yoga and resistance training, so any weight-training will be mixed in.
- Write at least every other day. Continuing the trend of not counting my haiku as part of this, meaning I have to put more focus into my stories.
- Move to the next stage for my duology. I think this will be a read-through of New Earth, looking for narrative, thematic, and tonal consistency with Uprooted, and overall plot.
Steve D
Haiku Sunday – Fountain
“Fountain”
Giant blue mushroom,
playful running waterfall,
torrential downspout.
Steve D
Book Review: TYLL delivers a winding, mystic tale
I picked up Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin, mainly because the cover caught my eye.
I didn’t really know what to expect with this story, except that it played on historical figures of the seventeenth century and was loosely based on an old German folk hero dating back to at least the sixteenth century.
It seemed right up my alley, if a bit different from what I usually read.
Tyll is a very well-written story with unique characterizations and an interesting confluence of themes between separate but overlapping tales. The first is a drawn out introduction to a tiny village in the Holy Roman Empire where the young son of Klaus Ulenspiegel is raised. The boy shows a knack for acrobatics and an interest in the occult from a young age, causing trouble for his family until he eventually runs away to escape the clutches of prying clergymen who come to his home.
From there, the story meanders between vignettes of different characters. I found myself interested in the detailed writing style, but wondering where this was all headed. Eventually, it becomes clear that it’s following several overlapping characters across time. Certain sections seem to be arranged non-chronologically, but it’s not difficult to follow.
I feel like I will need to reread this to see all of the connections in full, but I quite enjoyed it.
Steve D
Haiku Sunday – Close
“Close”
Adjacent spaces,
thick walls cordon off living,
exist secluded.
Steve D
Haiku Wednesday – Dauntless
“Dauntless”
Fearless, and somehow
always associated
with seafaring ships.
Steve D
Another Word of the Day inspiration on this Wednesday evening. The only time I’ve actually heard this word used is in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Haiku Sunday – Mold
“Mold”
Same ingredients,
plastered into a new mold,
with unknown outcomes.
Steve D
On Moving and Opportunities
We’re moving this week. We bought a new house about 15 minutes away from our current house and are now in the process of transporting as much stuff as possible over this week. Saturday is the big move-in day, with a big rental truck, and big furniture, and big plans to be living in the new house full-time come Saturday evening.
Moving to new places comes with a lot of stress, soon to be followed by the stress of selling our current house.
It also comes with new opportunities, aside from adjusting to a living space that we believe and hope will enable us to build the family life we’ve talked about for years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how my day-to-day life can change with our new house, and I’m trying to temper my own expectations but also remain open to those possibilities.
We will have a nice front porch and back patio to relax on, readily accessible from the house and also far enough from the noise of our road to feel somewhat private. I’d like to think we will spend many comfortable mornings, and afternoons, and evenings sitting and talking in our outdoor spaces with friends and family.
We will have both a grocery store and a gym (of a reliable franchise brand) less than ten minutes’ walk from my doorstep. Will I be able to reclaim a slice of the walkable suburban lifestyle I had grown so accustomed to during grad school? I sure hope so. I’m excited about the idea of walking to the store with my 4-year-old to pick up milk on a Wednesday night.
We will have a finished basement, soon-to-be-playroom, where our sons can have a space to play and yell and make messes that do not feel disruptive to the flow of our main living, dining, and kitchen areas.
We will have sidewalks in a quieter area removed from main roads and throughways. I hope I will feel comfortable letting our kids roam the neighborhood without fear of cars speeding by every three minutes.
We will have a backyard that is a relatively flat blank slate — just a cement patio and grass right now that, with patience, we can evolve into a vibrant, welcoming, and pleasant garden and play area.
I think we have a lot of hopes and dreams for our new house, and that’s what’s exciting about it. The opportunities it provides us affirm our decision to move. It will be fun to see these opportunities play out.
Steve D
Haiku Sunday – Cruise
“Cruise”
Alternative route,
Open highway bends and curves,
an asphalt river.
Steve D
July Write Day: Some Changes
June went by pretty fast, but it’s been a good month. I mostly kept to my newly established routines, and we bought a new house. Or… are buying. We haven’t closed yet.
My wife and I came into this year knowing we wanted to do some serious house-shopping and find the home we wanted to stay in long-term, that gave us a little extra space, and in a neighborhood that gave us access to the things we value.
We found that house much more quickly than we expected, somehow avoided a bidding war, and are moving towards an early closing date with our financing in place. We’re moving in like ten days, which is crazy to think about.
So, July will be quite the month for us. Let’s see how June went.
Last Month’s Goals
- Do something writing related at least every other day.
- Read three books.
- Exercise every day.
Do something writing related at least every other day?
Almost. Strictly speaking, I did something writing-related 14 out of 30 days in June. As I wrote a couple weeks ago, I think this method of tracking a loose writing schedule can largely work for me going forward, but I want to make some tweaks.
Out of 14 days-on-which-I-wrote-something, here’s what I worked on:
- 5 haiku
- 3 blogs
- 1 DnD character background
- 5 revision sessions for Uprooted
Those 5 days spent on haiku bug me, not because I don’t enjoy writing haiku — I do — but because it doesn’t take me very long to write those, and I think I can dedicate more time to other writing endeavors. I spent only 5 days on revisions for Uprooted. I largely achieved my goal with that story for the month, but I could have done more.
For July, I’m going to continue writing weekly haiku, obviously, but only in addition to bigger writing efforts. In writing this post, for instance, I will also be writing my haiku for this week. So instead of spending an extra day writing only one haiku, I’ll need to make sure I carve out time for other writing efforts.
We’ll see how it goes.
Read three books?
Nope. I did a good bit of reading in June, but I didn’t finish a single book. I was just focused on other things. I finally caught up on The Mandalorian season three, and I like to listen to the reaction/analysis podcasts on The Ringer-Verse. So, those episodes have taken up a lot of my listening time I might have otherwise spent on audiobooks.
I’m still working my way through the same three books I have been, including A Memory of Light. I’ve made progress, so July should be a bit better for reading goals.
Exercise every day?
Almost. I missed one day, and seven days I only managed to stretch a bit. June was a busy week for me at work, so I definitely didn’t have the energy or time to workout every day. I like this routine, and I’m hoping to expand on it a bit in July. For now, it’s working well for me.
Goals for July
- Write something every other day. The only real change here is to not count haiku as a single writing session. Hopefully, this will help me spend more time on my main work-in-progress, Uprooted and New Earth.
- Move to the next stage for my stories. I’d like to take the next step with these novellas. I think that will be to revise New Earth, even though I still have some clean-up to do in Uprooted. I would just like to make meaningful progress on these, because I feel like I haven’t for a couple months.
- Read three books. Same same.
- Exercise every day. Also same same, but I may have an opportunity to change this up a bit this month. More on that later on.
Steve D
Evening Satellite Publishing 