Between the Whittlings: Saturday things~
Hello! Not live footage of me remembering that I missed posting last week.
Apologies, friends. *bows* I am going to write it NOW.
I did end up having a very writerly Saturday, nonetheless. Started the day with a student who's working on a longform Psych essay and she's been really enjoying it. With her, I find myself reiterating the idea that first drafts are not final drafts and we should be patient with ourselves in the process of moving from one to the other.
Then, I attended a panel at NLB about online literary journals. Technically, I went cos a friend was on the panel. But it turned out to be really fun. The audience participation was great and I was sad when it ended. It was bittersweet. The kind of ending that speaks to how truly enjoyable the event was. I guess this is how I feel about the best stories, too. They really ought to go on a high rather than dragging on for so long, you wonder why you're suddenly feeling guilty for not liking it anymore. (I'm looking at you, Grey's Anatomy.)
Then, my friend and I went to a cafe and we indulged in bubble tea, food and chitchat before indulging in writing.
Writing, I'm coming to see, is a real indulgence. It is painful. But it's like one of those weirdly satisfying pimple popping videos. Even when it hurts, there's an emotional satisfaction in writing the same thing a little differently over and over until it's maybe almost exactly what you mean for it to be. I’m always itching to go back to it. And I suppose the best part is that you could actually ponder stuff as you go about your day, even if you’re not actively at your desk.
You could be at bus-stop too.
I'm on my 2nd draft of my novel. The first one was short and messy. This one is the Everything draft. Where every character just speaks their mind and everything is in-your-face and on-the-nose. I feel like I need to fling everything out there before I even try to edit it down. I'm expecting that to only start in Draft 4 or 5, if I'm being honest. Either way, I’m really excited to be finally *working on my novel*, yay.
This week, I also published my 60th issue of One Week At A Time (OWAAT), a newsletter I run for my students. There's something quite odd about newsletters. You write them and send them out but you're really just clicking a bunch of buttons. But it's also really magical. Just scribbling on a piece of parchment that fizzles into sparkly embers before it appears in mailboxes and fireplaces everywhere. (I grew up on Harry Potter, can you tell?)
See you on Saturday!! (I’m gonna set a Remember the Milk reminder this time!)