Blogtober Post #1
This is my first post for Blogtober. It’s my first year giving it a shot, with the goal being to make 31 original blog posts in October. I’m already behind, so that means Halloween will get two posts. I’m going to end each day with a recap of everything I did as a writer and writing teacher that day. Somedays, if I’m really tired, the post could be just some bullet points. Other days, I may go more in-depth into things. Tonight, it’s going to be mostly bullet points. I haven’t been sleeping well, it’s close to midnight, and I’m exhausted.
- I did not do any of my morning reading. That’s worth noting because I read pretty much every morning. I’m rethinking my morning reading habits.
- The first thing I did was schedule three posts for the Nine Tenths Project on my Patreon for today.
- Scheduled a chapter of Halloween Jack and the Red Emperors to post to my Patreon for certain subscriber levels.
- I wrote three new pages of the Nine Tenth’s Project. In September, I got behind due to some family drama, a battle with depression, and focusing on the Halloween Jack Kickstarter.
- Copied three pages of Nine Tenths Project, into a second journal for a reader that wanted to own a hand-written copy of the story herself. I find this almost meditative.
- Sent an email to two students that completed my first self-paced Gallowclas, Exploring Your Aesthetic. They’ve been wanting more, so I’m developing a new class, Exploration of Craft. It’s going to be an adventure putting this class together. I have three craft books for the class. Now I pick out fiction and poetry readings for each assignment, and what the writing assignments will be for each class.
- Made social media posts about what poems and poets have inspired fiction writers. Got some ideas for which I can use in some of the lessons.
- Had a call about a potential venue for a storytelling show at the end of the month.
- Emailed back and forth with a student about whether they were going to drop out of a class. They will be staying. This pleases me. They were doing interesting work.
- Met with my buddy Brian C. E. Buhl, he’s the guy that turned me onto Blogtober. We meet almost every Wednesday and Sunday and write together. I worked on some Halloween Jack. Split one chapter into two. I didn’t get much in the way of new words, but I figured out a fix to something that had been giving me problems in this draft, and for the first time in a while, I’ve been having real fun in writing.
Not quite as productive as I would like, but I’m tired on every level. Before bed I’m going to tackle some reading. My evening reading list is:
- The Writing Live, by Annie Dillard
- Make a Nerdy Living, by Alex Langly
- The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay
- The Road Between, by Courtney Peppernell
- Rilke’s Book of Hours, by Maria Rainer Rilke
- The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
We’ll see how much of it I get through before my mind and body give out and I crash.
