Tag: self care

February Write Day: Resetting Expectations

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

January has been a full month. I’m taking an online noncredit course for work, and I had underestimated the amount of mental energy it would require from me, on top of my day job.

Last Month’s Goal

  1. Read three books.
  2. Exercise at least every other day and get back to the gym.
  3. Finish current round of revisions for New Earth.
  4. Outline New Earth for chapter structure.
  5. Begin revisions based on character notes.

Let’s get to the reviewing.

Read three books?

No. I finished one book in January, although I made progress on two others.

I sort of don’t know what to do with the current book I’m listening on audiobook: Black Leopard, Red Wolf. The world is more detailed than anything I’ve ever read. The characters are intimate and unique. And yet, one-third of the way through the book, I’m just starting to grasp where this story is headed. This book is 24 hours of listening time in audio format, and it’s taken me nearly eight hours to understand the plot.

Maybe audiobook is the wrong format to read this book. I intend to finish it, but I have been stalled by snail’s pace of a plot on this one. What kills me is that this is an incredibly well-written book. I really want to like it. So, I’m hoping it will start to pick up in the second act.

Exercise every other day and get back to the gym?

Almost. I exercised 11 days in January, but I did not make it to the gym. My challenge at the moment is finding the right time of day to work out, and making that part of my routine.

When I was last going to the gym regularly, about four years ago now, I had access to a really nice gym in the office where I worked. This allowed me to work out during my lunch breaks. Once I left that job, I had to reset my routine to work out in the evenings at a local gym.

When I stopped going to my local gym — circa 2020, no idea why… — I never went back. So now, I’m in this space where on any given day, I know I should exercise, but I find it difficult to a) tear myself away from work, even though I mostly work from home, b) tear myself away from family obligations in the evenings, or c) motivate to go to the gym later at night once the kids are in bed.

So, I’m still trying to find that balance. I think it may end up being a mixed bag of short workouts on weekday afternoons, and one or two longer gym workouts at night or on the weekends.

Finish current round of revisions for New Earth?

Technically, yes!

Because I never wrote an ending to this story, and somehow forgot about that fact. I need to finish the ending, and then I can call this done.

Outline this story for chapter structure, and revise based on character sheets?

No, and no. See above.

Goals for February

I have some catching up to do in February. My online course will continue through this month, so now that I know what the course load really looks like, I should be able to work around it better.

I started a new thing last week. Weekly goals for my personal life. I track weekly goals for work as a running to-do list, so I thought I might as well try that in my home life as well. I’m starting with pretty basic things, but being able to check things off throughout the week is good.

Incidentally, most of my personal weekly goals are related to my monthly goals. I don’t intend to publish them here regularly, but perhaps I’ll talk about them now and then.

The point is, I’m hoping this will help me stay focused on the things that are important to me, sort of a self-care checklist.

  1. Read 3 books. I’m actually not sure how I’m going to achieve this in February. I will likely not finish Black Leopard, Red Wolf this month, unless it becomes extremely compelling soon. I can probably finish my current nonfiction paperback read, and I may need to find a couple of shorter reads to fill the gaps in between.
  2. Exercise every other day and get to the gym. Same as last month, just trying to establish that routine.
  3. Finish ending for New Earth. I know how I want to tie off this story. I just need to sit down and do it. I’m honestly out of practice for long writing sessions, what with my focus on revisions this past year.
  4. Outline New Earth for chapter structure. Same.

Steve D

January Write Day: New Somethings

On By Steven D'AdamoIn FantasyLeave a comment

Well, here we are. 2023.

Time to look back on all my goals from 2022 and recalibrate for a new year. I’ll probably do a general goals review post for all of 2022 at some point this month, but this is not that post.

Today, let’s just stick to the here and now – how December went for me and how I would like for January to go.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Finish New Earth.
  2. Read three books.
  3. Exercise three times per week.

I feel good about this one.

Finish New Earth?

Yes! At least, as close as I can get with a second draft. As I had mentioned last month, I did not track a word count goal for December, because I just wanted to finish the story.

I got over the bump of the final conflict, and I have some falling action to write. The reason I’m not too concerned with the falling action is twofold.

a. Right now the falling action just feels like a cliff notes section of the day after, and that’s uninteresting, both as a writer and a reader.

b. I need to review both stories in The Herb Witch Tales, Uprooted and New Earth, in full to ensure that I’ve hit all the big thematic beats I wanted to hit throughout this duology. That will really determine what I need to cover in the falling action.

So, a revision phase is in order. I’m still not sure how I will proceed with that. Printing the two documents of 70+ pages each just to red-line edit them feels wasteful.

Plus, I have a shiny new writing tool. I got myself a small, hefty laptop whose sole purpose is to give me portable access to my writing in a pinch. For the last couple years, I’ve primarily been writing on a desktop in my office, which is in the back room of the upstairs of our house. A nagging technical issue aside, it’s not a very convenient writing spot when I have two kids running around and usually don’t get more than a half hour to sit and concentrate on something.

What I’m hoping this new laptop will give me is a way to sit for 10 or 15 minutes in my kitchen and try to scratch out a couple hundred words while dinner is on the stove, or while my one-year-old is falling asleep with a bottle in his mouth next to me on the couch.

Read three books?

I read five books! One was short, and another was very short, but I don’t care. I did not meet my 2022 GoodReads goal of 26, but a final push over the holidays brought me to 22 books read for the year, which I’m not upset about.

Exercise three times a week?

Minus the weeklong feasting of the holidays, yes. My strategy to simplify my workout goal has really helped me focus on what I need to do on a given day to just achieve a bare minimum.

Part of the problem is that work has been so stressful the last few months that I’ve all but stopped taking real breaks during the day. I wasn’t letting myself take substantial breaks, which obviously cut into any workout time I might have.

So, in addition to the workout plan, I also just need to give myself the space to have some self-care time during my workday, when I’m by myself and have some control over my schedule. If I had a resolution this year, that would be it — allowing myself the space for self-care, without feeling guilty about it.

Goals for January

  1. Start revising The Herb Witch Tales, #1 and #2. I don’t quite know what this process will look like yet, so I can’t commit to a timetable yet. I definitely don’t want to sit on these stories for too long. I just need to figure out my revision process and start. That likely starts with an overarching view of the themes, plot threads, and character beats I want to follow throughout both stories, so I think I have some contemplating and organizing to do first.
  2. Read three books. I’ve made more progress on A Memory of Light and just started listening to 1984, so January reading is off to a good start.
  3. Exercise at least three times a week. I’m not going to jump ahead of myself. I have a decent routine down, and I need to figure out how to build on it. That could include incorporating a longer yoga session or two into my week, but I’ll see how it develops. I also got a double-end bag for Christmas, which provides a great way to get some cardio and shoulder/triceps workout in. I just need to clean out my garage and install it. We’ll see how that goes.

Steve D

Self-Care and Uncertainty in Unemployment

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, Writers - Steve D'Adamo1 Comment

The topic of self-care has been on my mind a lot recently, notably because unemployment has given me a lot of time to think about such things.

I’m into my sixth week of unemployment and it’s going… alright, considering the circumstances. I’m starting to hear back from positions I’ve applied for, and my days are fairly routine.

Waiting for call-backs on my job applications has been tough; setting a routine has been the remedy. Continue reading “Self-Care and Uncertainty in Unemployment” →