Pages

Sunday, November 27, 2011

ROW80 Round 4 - 8th Update

It's a bit of a mixed-bag in terms of my achievements this week. Last Sunday and Wednesday I did a fair bit of writing, and probably got around 2,000 new words in total, but aside from that, I've barely touched my novel. I did scribble more random notes for the other novel idea that has been pestering me (the weird Western/Samurai/Steampunk/Fantasy whatever it is one), but it's not as much progress as I would like to have made. Still, at least it's some (and certainly more than I've made in the last several months). I'm working almost every day now, so finding time (and energy) to write will become more of a struggle.

I'll soon be starting the revision/editing process for my thesis. My Honours supervisor wants to see if I can get it published in an academic journal, which means I need to get it down from 75 pages to around 20-25; most of the editing will just be cutting stuff, though some bits will need to be rewritten for the sake of flow/clarity. I'm aiming to have a revised draft ready for my supervisor to look at about two weeks from now. While I'm at it, I'll probably try polishing my conference paper I wrote last semester for an assignment to see if I can get that published as well. Not a huge task in terms of word count, just a lot of shuffling, cutting and rewriting.

I've also made a start on workshopping some of the pieces submitted by my writing group, which I haven't had time to do before now; I'll hopefully be able to start emailing some back this week and be up to date by our next meeting in mid-December.

Because I was bored, I drew/painted a little steampunk dragon:

My knee is also taking its time to recover (having a job that currently involves lifting/carrying boxes all day doesn't help), but the support tape and the exercises seem to be slowly strengthening it. After examining my MRI report, the physio thinks that instead of damaging/twisting a ligament (as originally seemed to be the case), the crappy general structure of my knee and resulting wear of the cartilage resulted in my kneecap partially dislocating. Unfortunately it's something that can't really be fixed by surgery, though hopefully the exercises will help it become less severe and/or frequent. And at least it wasn't a full dislocation (I had that happen once to my other knee as a result of a karate injury; there's a level of "OMG WTF OW" I never want to visit again). Our new store opens next Thursday, so after that I should be just doing non-weight-bearing duties like customer services instead of nightfill.

Hopefully if I finish this chapter tonight, Judgemental Dog won't force-choke me...

Check on other ROW80ers here.

9 comments:

  1. Love the Dragon! Hope the knee is better soon and good luck with editing the thesis! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your dragon picture! Wish I could draw/paint! I'm in a revision place, too. It feels like there's not so much to show for a lot of work, but you can't buy in to that philosophy. Polishing/revision is just as important as the initial draft. Incredibly valuable even though it doesn't add to the word count! No worries!

    Hope your knees get to feeling better and good luck on your new store.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, love dragon! Right now I envy you for being able to draw lol I can't even draw a stick guy/girl figure lol
    Hope your knee feels better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hope your knee feels better soon.

    Well done on the amount of writing you did do. That's good going considering that you're doing a thesis aswell. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well done on the 2000 words - it's still progress. Hope your knee recovers. Injuries are definitely not fun, especially if you're doing nightfill. Bring on customer service (where you listen to people complain about the most ridiculous things)!

    What a great dragon! I wish I possessed some artistic talent.

    Good luck for the week!

    ReplyDelete
  6. First, let me say OW re: your knee. That does not sound like fun at all.

    However, congrats are in order for the 2,000 new words. It's crazy hard to write when brain and body are overworked and overtired.

    Getting you pieces published in an academic journal...very cool. Happy editing!

    Hope you have a good week.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You are achieving a LOT! The thesis sounds especially intriguing to me. Perhaps I have education envy!

    Just popping over from ROW80. Grateful to know it is going so well for you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. well done on your week - 2000 better than 0! I'm impressed with academic writing - it's quite a reduction but I remember (just) the challenge of doing so and its quietly satisfying - so sorry about your knee these bits that go wrong can try our patience with the time they take to restrengthen but I never cease to be awestruck and how well a body can respond - anyway hope it grows stronger quickly

    all the best for coming week

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sounds like great progress to me! Love the dragon and hope the knee gets better. Good luck going forward, hope you keep the great groove!

    ReplyDelete