August was a month in which I got far too little sleep, but wrote almost every day. Often the latter fact led to the former. Oh, sure, it sounds good, but I’m averaging only 6 hours sleep a night and I really need 8 to be a productive and functional yada yada. Honestly, this month has been something of a scramble. I feel like I’ve only just gotten my feet this semester, and it’s halfway over. I should be thinking about what I’m going to do next year and it’s all way too soon.
Loving
My grandmother was going through her jewellery box the other day and gave me a ring. It was my grandfather’s mother’s, and the only people it fits in the family are me and my sister, and it’s a fraction too big for her, so I have it for now. It’s just a simple gold band but I like it. I hardly ever wear gold. I used to have this little silver ring, 925 but super cheap, and I lost it ages ago. My finger has felt naked ever since so it’s satisfying to be wearing something again.
Reading
I’ve been reading a lot of poetry this month. Laura Mullens, Baudelaire, Michael Faudet. Now Game of Thrones is over I suppose I can get back into A Song of Ice and Fire without confusing myself, which brings us into…
Watching
Guuuuuys I am so proud of my Stark girls scheming together. I have watched that one scene about eight times now and it never loses its appeal. This was my guess as to the haps since shit started going awry in Winterfell. Not being fooled didn’t stop me from literally squealing in joy, however. I could talk all damn day about my hot takes on this season and my hopes for the next one, but I’ll spare you that.
Listening to
This month I got into The West Wing Weekly podcast. I love nerding out about fiction and this podcast is basically that, plus interviews with the cast, behind the scenes crew, director and writers. From a writer’s perspective, I particularly like the interviews with Aaron Sorkin. When there’s a piece of art that people love and talk about, there’s always going to be times the audience reads into something and has ideas about it that the writer didn’t intend. The West Wing is so dense as a show that it’s actually gratifying as a writer when Sorkin says “yeah, that’s… interesting, but it’s not intentional”. I also love how goddamn anal he is about the language he uses. It delights me.
Thinking about
So as it happens, my Fitbit is falling apart. Just the straps, really, but it’s a pain in the ass and legit Fitbit straps are not cheap. I’ve been tempted by the Alta HR for a while now, and that led on to being tempted by the Charge 2 (it has VO2 Max, guys!), and then I thought I’d hang out on a purchase until I saw the upcoming smartwatch, and then I sort of thought… if I’m getting a smartwatch, I want it to be able to do more. And be less ugly. I’ve liked the idea of the rotating bezel on the Samsung Gear for a while, and the new Sport might be what I’m looking for, but I’d have to see it in the flesh first. I have delicate wrists and I don’t want something that looks daft, you know? Their dedicated fitness band also looks pretty intriguing. If you have recs or reviews of smartwatches and fitness bands you love, hit me up.
Writing
So, remember that fanfiction I mentioned? It’s 70,000 words long now. I have no plot worked out, the game it’s based on is very open-ended, and basically I’m just running along in a panic. Eventually I’m going to have to wrap it up but like… I mean I don’t even know what the climactic moment is, you know? The fuck am I even doing here? It’s going to end up a 200,000 word monstrosity god I hate myself. But hey, I’ve been working on it most days, so you know, writing is writing or whatever. Poetry’s been going pretty well, too. I’ve been trying out some new techniques and shaking off some old self-restrictions and prejudices when it comes to form. I have a portfolio of my work due next week and I think I’m basically pretty happy with what I’ll be offering. I have a lot of work to do refining over the next couple of days, however.
Playing
Still spending most of my time with Fallout 4. Bethesda games are great in that you can completely ignore the main quest-line, if you feel like it. I’m level 35 and I still haven’t worked out where the Railroad guys are at because I’m not paying all that much attention to the weird code they write all over everything. There’s always more to discover. I love the little details that aren’t marked. Skyrim’s the same way. On one of the southern mountains, there’s a fairy-ring of mushrooms. In Fallout, there are all these teddy bears set up doing things. Two of them playing checkers with cigars and beer, that sort of thing. Beyond cute. What I do like about Fallout 4 is the character development. The quest lines for your companions are really great shit and they have solid personalities that I always felt were a bit lacking in Skyrim (the best NPCs of which, naturally, you can’t take with you). Are they taking a leaf out of Bioware’s book? Perhaps. Like Bioware, they made one of the best and most-loved characters unromanceable, so I can only assume. Goddamn cock-blockers.
September Goals:
Last month I started flaking on the hashtag games after only a week or two. I hope to do better this month, though I haven’t found an instagram one yet. I’ll be doing #authorconfession and #WIPtruthordare on twitter, though, so look out for me there. I have a lot to do with my poetry, and in August I didn’t make much progress with my novel, just a few scenes here and there, nothing like the 10k I’d been aiming for, so I’m looking to get some work done on that too. Once I have my portfolio handed in, I’ll feel more able to send some of the pieces I’ve been working on to magazines.
And I really need to get back into blogging regularly. It’s become an “oh fuck it’s 1am and I haven’t blogged yet, oh well” sort of thing the last couple of months and that’s not acceptable.
On the personal end of things, sleep and exercise are going to be my focuses this month. I think I need to keep it simple for a bit and work on building good habits.
See you in cyberspace, babes <3