ROW80 Round 5 - 6th Update

Progress on Dark and Silent Waters this week has been fairly minimal. I had my outline and my novel document open, and I intended to work on them, I really did... And then I had yet another Shiny New Idea. Knowing it wouldn't leave me alone until I did something with it, I spent an hour or so typing some random crap about it into a Word document, just so I'd have something to look at later. Earlier in the week I'd somehow conceived of a whole new set of magical rules and structures (no reason, it just happened), and though at the time I didn't have a story for it, I think the Shiny New Idea could probably use it (but I'm not going to do anything with it until my current work in progress is out of the way).

(I could also say I've been distracted by playing Words with Friends, but I choose to believe that it is simply a 'language research exercise')

Also, this morning I woke up and found I'd written myself another random note while half asleep; "make the paint magic" (sure, subconscious, whatever you say...), so even though the story is half-baked at most, it's still doing its best to distract me from my main novel and my thesis and basically all the things I should be doing.

Still, I did manage to open my thesis and cut another few pages, even though it took quite a while because I then had to rewrite bits of it to make sure it still flowed properly. In my original goals post, I stated that I wanted to finish my thesis during this round, but didn't really set a deadline, and I think this may be why it's taking me so long to pull my thumb out and do it; there's no sense of urgency, so most of the time I'm just like, "I'll do it tomorrow... Eh, can't be bothered, I'll do it another day..." and so on. In light of this, I've decided to set a deadline: February 1st. By this date I want to have a complete draft of my revised/reduced thesis in journal article format, ready to submit to my Honours supervisor for feedback. I even made myself a motivational poster:

(Pan's Labyrinth is one of my favourite movies, but that Pale Man thing STILL freaks me the hell out)

I'm working all day tomorrow, which is awesome; since it's a public holiday I'll get paid a metric crapload of money, meaning that next week I won't have to live on canned soup and noodles :D After that I have all Friday and Saturday off so I should be able to get stuck into my thesis properly then.

Judgemental Dog shares my (misplaced) enthusiasm for new story ideas:

~Rex update: He had his blood test on Tuesday night, but we have to wait until late this week or possibly early next week to get the results. Depending on the outcome, he'll either keep getting the same dosage of medication, or we might be told to increase/decrease it. Since last weekend he hasn't had any really 'down' days, so I'm hoping that's a good sign (he spent most of this afternoon repeatedly throwing his squeaky toy at my foot, so at least he's playful). He's still not eating as much food as I'd like him to, but since this medication tends to make him feel off most of the time, I don't think there's much that can be done about it; either way, his lowered appetite doesn't seem to be affecting his mood or energy levels.

He was funny at the vet, though... As soon as she turned around and started pulling her rubber glove on, Rex's eyes widened, his ears went back and he backed himself butt-first into a corner and refused to move. Who says dogs don't have a good memory? :D~

See how other ROW80ers are faring here.