Tag: moving

August Write Day: Routine Reset

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On LifeLeave a comment

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

  1. Write something every other day.
  2. Move to the next stage for my stories.
  3. Read three books.
  4. 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

  1. Read three books. Getting this out of the way early.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

On Moving and Opportunities

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On LifeLeave a comment

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

Concept Art – I Appear Missing and Conveniently Forgot to RSVP to the Search Party

On By Jessie GutierrezIn On Storytelling, Writers - Jessie3 Comments

The last six years of my life have been spent in the exact same way. Fact: my autopilot setting is so solid and well practiced that my pilot is as foreign to me as a distant planet. Which is perhaps why I’ve had such a rough time writing lately. How can I possibly have anything worth saying if I haven’t experienced anything worth writing about?

Originally this was going to be a thought blog on fate and plans coming together almost too easily and how change, while scary, can be awesome. Instead I found this:

Lemony Fate

Continue reading “Concept Art – I Appear Missing and Conveniently Forgot to RSVP to the Search Party” →