Summary:

 

I managed to work on writing projects every day of my week off before Christmas, which was satisfying, and made me feel better about taking some time off over the festive period. Big plans for the New Year, though!

 

Monday:

 

An interminable trip to Lowestoft gave me the opportunity to write the next two scenes of Colours, and the only slightly less interminable trip back saw me doing some brainstorming on one of the main characters’ motivations.

 

Tuesday:

 

I met Geena in Richmond for a writing session at Petersham Nurseries, but didn’t feel very focused. I wanted to get stuck into using my new Self Journal to plan the first few weeks of 2018, but I accidentally left the instruction manual at home. Instead, I wrote a list of all the various things I want to work on, with proposed deadlines for the main sections, creating a rough (and very challenging plan) for January to mid-June. I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but we’ll see!

 

I took a look at a flash fiction piece from earlier in the year to see if I could expand it for submission to an upcoming anthology, but decided I’d rather leave it as it is, since I think it works well at its current length. I haven’t been submitting short pieces as much in recent months, and I think it might be difficult to fit new short work into the schedule for next year, if I’m going to work on both novels. It may be necessary for me to prioritise and let go of some stuff if I’m going to stay sane.

 

I did some freewriting for a different magazine submission, with a limit of 300 words, and it was good to just let myself write whatever came to mind without a larger plan. I managed a first pass that took me by surprise in the direction it took.

 

In the evening, I had a video call with Charlie and Amie, who gave me some excellent advice on copy-editing and revising my current Artisan draft.

 

Wednesday:

 

I remembered to pack the instruction booklet for my Self Journal today, so I started my writing date with Ann by reading through it and making some notes on scheduling. I completed the overall goals section and put a reminder in my calendar to start using the journal in the New Year. It seems like something that will be helpful in maximising my productivity, but we’ll see.

 

I typed up and edited yesterday’s 300-word piece and added it to my list of things ready to submit.

 

I went through my notes from Amie’s editorial feedback on Artisan and organised them into categories, then typed them up to provide an action plan for attacking the revision in the New Year.

 

I wrote a scene of Colours and planned the next three.

 

I typed up a whole load of notes from both an old and my current notebooks.

 

I finished off my session by reading some writing resources I had accumulated and saved for later over the last few months.

 

Thursday:

 

I had an unexpected moment of inspiration about a problem I’ve been having with part of the main plot arc of Colours, so I wrote some hurried notes on the train in an effort not to forget it.

 

Friday:

 

I submitted a short piece to a magazine and scheduled some more submissions where the window doesn’t open until early January.

 

Saturday:

 

I wrote the next scene of Colours and made some notes about things to think about for later in the story.

 

Sunday:

 

I added some bits to a couple of earlier scenes in Colours, to bring in one of the major plot threads I had so far missed out.