Tag Archives: planning

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Twenty-Three

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Before I even start with today’s post, I need to mention a gem I forgot last night. That whole post about my workstation, happy as I am to have the desk and desktop set up, was written on my phone. If you’re feeling an overwhelming urge to roll your eyes about now, that’s probably a natural response to such a statement and it should be embraced. Go on. Roll them like someone just told a really awful joke.

This post is going to follow my writing and creative efforts of the day, with some degree of detail (with some omitted because I don’t want to bore anyone to death). That way I can focus on this, but focus more on the proofreading, writing, and submissions I need to get done today, as well as get a little cleaning done in preparation of Marceline (Or maybe Meowrceline? No, that’s just awful.) being brought home. In case I failed to mention it explicitly: there will soon be three cats wandering my house, which means the cats will outnumber humans. If I go missing for a great length of time, assume I’ve expired and the cats have made a meal of me.

Veering back on topic and away from whatever dark place that joke went, this post will also provide a great way for me to scold myself later for not being able to stay on task for more than ten minutes at a time (that’s a really generous estimate). Typed that last sentence while thinking how I could really benefit from a shower and some breakfast about now.

Prepare to be bored, probably. Or amused. Maybe a mix of those two things. Boredmused? Whatever. Continue reading →

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Sixteen

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Let it be known that I started this before midnight, and will consider this a slight cheat-day, if only because the whole evening was a magnificent series of problems and frustrations.

Thanatos, my new-ish laptop, died. Take a moment to appreciate the humor in something named after the God of Death kicking the proverbial bucket. The entire process of figuring this out took about two hours, and one trip to BestBuy. The diagnosis: one very dead graphics card.

Suffice it to say, I was not happy. However, some good came from that, and so I’m going to postpone my post I’d planned for today in favor of another. It seems more appropriate, given the circumstances.

Day Sixteen – The best laid plans, the way they crumble, and the good that can come of it

It’s been said I have a little black cloud that floats over me, and there are days I’m inclined to agree with that. My history of dental problems that could have been avoided if procedures had been done correctly speaks to this end quite loudly, and with many expletives. It helps no one that I am quick to find myself in a bit of a down in the dumps state. I dare say I’m a bit of a high-maintenance person at times (that is not a happy self-assessment to make).

One thing I have been is a planner. I’m not very good at spur-of-the-moment, and my whim decisions are usually a bit expensive or end poorly (see also: my purchasing a Surface 2 or the time I decided to test the flammability of hand sanitizer). I may not always plan a great deal ahead, but I like to have a general idea of what I’m doing (except in writing, for some reason, which is generally drafting like mad and then calculated editing). Suffice it to say, I usually get pretty frustrated when things go ass-over-elbows on me.

There’s an unsung good side to when the best plans go to shit, though. Tonight is a very good example of that. My very good friend, and brother-from-another-mother (I went there because he’s called me that before, but I think it sounds ridiculous), Jason was so kind as to build me a desktop for Christmas. It’s a decked-out behemoth of a gaming PC, and I got plenty of use of it before I moved to Hollidaysburg.

Somehow, along the journey to my new home, my screen got scratched up a good deal. I had it wrapped in two microfiber fleece covers, with a pillow pressed against it for support, and so I have no idea what the hell happened. I do know that particular monitor isn’t very good at being functional now, which is kind of what matters. And so my desktop just sort of sat around. I could, and should, have replaced the monitor and used my desktop, but I had plenty of excuses instead. I didn’t have a desk here. I have my laptop to use (and now my Surface 2). And so on.

When my laptop of less than six months bit the dust tonight, that was enough of a wrench in my usual writing and gaming routines to force me into some action. After leaving Thanatos in the capable hands of the Geek Squad, I bought a monitor for my desktop. And then I bought a desk, which ended up half-assembled because no one in their right mind assembles a desk after 10:30 at night. I am prone to some very stupid decisions occasionally, but we’ll not dwell on that.

Most importantly from this all: my evening was going to be spent getting some work done on a short story (which is presently in Limbo, unless its last upload to my OneDrive worked), and relaxing to some WoW. Thanks to that unhappy incident, I am now most of the way towards having set up a much-needed space for writing (and PC gaming, yes).

Beyond that, I am very ready to make my trip home to Carnegie, see my family, and just decompress for the weekend. It’s a much-needed vacation, I think. Eighty-four days remaining.

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Fifteen

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Today was a really productive day for me, especially for a day off of work. I didn’t really plan on it being productive in the way it was, either. Writing and WoW were my agenda, and to that extent I have failed miserably. It started last night, when I noticed a fly or two in my living room…and then about ten of the little bastards in the kitchen. Nope. Unacceptable.

I ended up deep-cleaning and reorganizing the entire kitchen, chasing down every damn fly in my house and giving them all nice, well-deserved Raid-baths. The kitchen, I dare say at the risk of sounding braggy, looks a hell of a lot better. I also discovered one of my cats has taken to shitting in the one cooler we had, so that was unfortunate. More surprising was that the cooler masked the stench, but I’m grateful for that all the same.

This post is planned, believe it or not, and I forget what the inspiration was by now (I cleaned my house for six hours today, so I’ll ask for a small break here). No witty transition. I’m sleepy, damn it. Continue reading →

No progress is good progress, right?

Posted on by under General Bloggity Stuff

Sort of like the logic that goes into “no news is good news”, except I have some very intense doubts this line of reasoning could hold up to…well, any scrutiny at all.

I’m about one third of the way done drafting Chapter 2, which certainly is news at least.  It’s sort of news of a good nature, but not really in the sense that I need to get back to writing it before the ideas trickle out of my soft, porous brain-meat and flee into the dark, dangerous real world where they’ll likely be swooped down upon by large, thought-eating birds of prey.

On the plus side, things are indeed looking up for me and I may have celebrated as much with a jolly little holiday to Hollidaysburg (read as: I spent the weekend with my lovely, ever-patient girlfriend when I should have probably been using some of that time to write).

Tomorrow is a short day of work at my real job, which means I have a good chunk of time to devote to Joshua’s Nightmares.  And maybe, hopefully, I’ll turn at least one of the six or seven drafts lurking about on the Admin end of my blog that (I’m very thankful) none of you can see presently.  The rest of tonight can be dedicated to sleeping off the lingering effects of Sheetz feasts, lazing about, and a twelve-hour marathon of Doctor Who.

Quick addendum, and one probably unworthy of bold and italics but so what: when I posted this, I switched tabs quickly because I’m juggling too many conversations.  In that moment, I briefly read my own blog title as “Phil’s Mother****ing Adventures in Fiction”.  While I’d never stoop to such vulgarity (or at least I wouldn’t admit to as much), I must admit it has a bit of a nice ring to it.

And so my gameplan is as follows (at least for now)

Posted on by under General Bloggity Stuff

That frustrating moment when:

  • My writing plans are derailed by headaches most of the day
  • I realize I’ve started four drafts on here, and couldn’t finish a one of them because it feels like someone’s stuck my brain in a blender, and the somehow put that working blender inside of a dryer
  • I have made zero progress on Joshua’s Nightmares since those hoorah moments a bit back

And so, the plan from this point is as follows:

  • Focus primarily on Joshua’s Nightmares.  It needs to be a novel-length, novel-quality work, and I’ll be damned if I don’t manage as much.
  • Keep up with this page, Misadventures In Fiction, so nobody wags their fingers at me for dropping off the planet for an inexcusable length of time.
  • Make sure, at the very least, I jot down story ideas to work on later.
  • Not letting myself get distracted quite so much, when possible.
  • But also make sure I don’t overdo it and drive myself completely insane; I’ve got Netflix for a reason, afterall, and it’s not just so my sister can watch shows about the Kardashians (sorry, Chrisy, I may have thrown you under the bus there).

Hopefully this will pan out, but I’ve also come to realize most of the time when I make plans, the Universe tends to throw a curveball my way.  All I can really say is onwards to creativity.