I woke up late today, and my neck hurts. Was it my pillow? Was it because I slept in? Was it because I stared at a TV and computer screen all day yesterday? Who knows. It’s just made me think about chronic pain in characters (I get neck and head pain a lot). I’ve definitely written characters with continuous pain before, but I don’t think I’ve ever done justice the pain that a lot of “younger” people feel today. And by that I mean individuals who are in their twenties and thirties who should really be in their peak and just constantly have tired bones from the repetitive labour of their jobs. Perhaps, since it’s become quite normal, it would just come off as whinging in writing?

Anyway, on the agenda is a bunch of things, a lot of them more just organisational but nevertheless something I need to get done to help in the other areas.

Organising Project Data

I’m in the middle of reorganising the way I collect my project data. It’s nothing major, but because I hadn’t updated my previous log in so long, there are a lot of updates to be made.

When I do this, I also cull my projects. I can do that now. I used to not throw anything away (back when everything was physical and then when I migrated it all to digital) and it just created a clutter of poor quality stories that I was never going to look back at. Now I let them go. First, I see if I can “recycle” them. Is there anything in them worth keeping that I might be able to warp and fit into another project I’m not tossing?

Now that I think about what and why I’m writing different projects, that’s also included in their data when I add them and update them. I also now have a section of “intent” where I have to think of and put a purpose in and where they’re at in terms of meeting that purpose. Are they for a competition? Are they for submission? Who do I want to submit it to? It’s to motivate me to think more about where the work is going, rather than just “I write it”.

Reassessing Folders

I do this every couple of years, and it usually comes with changes to the organisation of the folder themselves. I have all my writing in one folder, that then splits into about a dozen other categories. I sort my projects by their progress, and then by their potential, narrowing down the ones I should be working on if I stray from the ones that ready for editing.

Writing

I have a lot of different types of writing that I want to get done this week, writing that I’ve just been taking notes about or spotting in my folders whilst re-organising everything. My journalism pieces (which are really just non-fiction pieces about travelling etc.) and practising short pieces. I also have a whole lotta editing that I’ve been neglecting. Acting like I don’t see it on my whiteboard, ClickUp and folders.

Reading

I haven’t been reading anything, and so I need to rein that back in and get some words into my head.