Progress

I just wrote more than 1,100 words that I really like. They're the result of a bunch of freewriting and relationship-tinkering that I did the other day. That kind of work is frustrating because it feels like it isn't moving me forward, but of course it is. My subplots and secondary characters are starting to make sense with my main plot. I am figuring it out! Hoorah!

My classmates are talking about setting goals for NaNoWriMo. I think I'm going to try tracking progress again, but in hours spent working rather than words. What seems like a good weekly goal?

Monkey Media

Barrel of Monkeys is all over the place. We had a story in the Chicago Tribune earlier this week!

And coming soon we'll be on Chicago @ Play in a clip that features our collaboration with the Words @ Play program. I hear that's on Chicago Municipal TV, channel 49 for most cable subscribers, twice daily at 6:30 and 10:30 p.m. But also it's on youtube . . . and here!



In most of these clips, I am wearing my favorite Monkey wig in preparation to play "that unthankful Kristin" Well, nemesis to Lauren Bates in Kai M.'s Disco Girl.

Wow

Painter Shakti Kroopkin married one of my favorite people on the planet, making him really happy, which makes her one of my newer favorite people on the planet.

Shakti got interviewed by SFReeper about an upcoming live painting event she's doing, and she has a lot of good things to say about process. Like this . . .

It’s in the process that we express ourselves. It’s not in the final touches, making something perfect, or making it a finished product. You have your process and you let yourself go and be free and express yourself. Then, you problem solve after that.

It is so easy to get impatient with the process. Seriously, Shakti, you're painting and I'm writing, but you gave me the inspiration I needed to have fun with my process this morning, to remember that it's as, if not more, important and satisfying than the finished product.

So I was already happy to be reading this interview, when this part blew my mind:

I have one son, not even two years old yet, and he has been painting quite a bit. Whenever he sees something I’ve done, he always looks at it and says ‘Wow.’ Now, whenever he wants to draw or paint, he says ‘wow.’ It’s become the word for painting and drawing.

I want to make that my new word for writing. I've got to go do more 'wow.'

Into the Dark

I'm back in it. I reorganized more than 10,000 words at the start of my novel tonight. I have to take a breather because while reorganizing, I cut some bits that I really like, and it's about all the cutting I can take at the moment. If I work on it more right now, I'll want to put stuff back in. If I wait until tomorrow, I might be able to see whether or not I like the changes.

The word count game is done for the moment -- it worked to get me through the first third of the novel, but it's too messy to keep up. I'm working on big ideas and making changes to ittybitty sections all over the place. I still hope to be done revising in early November, but there isn't a rush.

Charts are satisfying, but writing and math are two different subjects.

Playing on Caddie's new Pandora radio:
"Stockholm Syndrome" Yo Lo Tenga
"Things We Said Today" The Beatles
"Engine Heart" Mirah
"Skeleton Song" Kate Nash
"True Affection" The Blow

And this Death Cab for Cutie, which suits the season . . .

Edit

I decided to work on a Pandora station for my book while I mess around with outlining.

Soon enough Regina Spektor's "Edit" comes up.

"You can write but you can't edit."

Thanks Regina.