I work best when I have deadlines and goals, routines and habits. Experience has shown me that without a plan I could fritter away my precious time off and that would never do.Unlike other stretches away from the classroom, this summer is packed and fractured. As a result, I’ve had to really sketch out what needs doing and when, prioritizing my existing writing obligations and mixing in my two grad courses. So far, this has been working out pretty well.Deb and I walk Ginger first thing as the coffee percolates. We do the longest walk early before the sun becomes brutal. After coffee and the paper, I hike to the home office and boot up. After checking email and social media, then dealing with the little things, I click on to the Reynolds High School Journalism Institute Online Training site and do one of the modules required before I get to Austin in July.Once that’s done, I have been writing. The week began with a revision to my story for Crazy 8 Press’ forthcoming Pangaea anthology. Yesterday I quickly put together thoughts for a requested novel pitch. Today, I completed the first draft of a story for a forthcoming anthology, the Kickstart campaign for which will be launching in the next few weeks and I’ll go into detail there. But at 5400 words, it does the job and definitely needs more drafting.Still on the summer docket will be my Westfield Comics columns for July then my Planet of the Apes essay for the Sequart anthology and a piece on Comics Scene for Back Issue! And, time permitting, back to my ReDeus novel outline which whimpers in the dark. And there’s prep for next week’s Mystery Trekkie Theater rehearsal in New York as Mike Friedman, Peter David, and I get ready for Shore Leave.Come July 6 I begin four days of Curriculum Writing for Baltimore County as my two grad classes begin. Then it’s off to Austin for a week of Journalism training (doing grad homework each night no doubt).Each afternoon wraps around 4 so I have at least an hour to do the grad readings for my two courses. There will be six books in total to cover plus various articles so the more I can cover before the courses begin, the better prepared I will be.As you might imagine, after the dinnertime walk and a meal, I’m ready to be a vegetable on the couch.
#Tags: writing