Back Home – The Climb #568

Saturday 12^th September 2020

It’s good to be back home.

Even though I only live round the corner from the Crispinator, I’ve missed my own house and bed. Whilst I only had a morning to myself before I headed back round, it was nice to have me time again.

They’re doing well, all things considered, and are self-sufficient enough that they can manage on their own. If they need anything, I’m only 5 minutes away.

So I got to spend the morning getting back episodes of The Climb published, as well as taking care of some administration. My aim was to get all those little tasks that needed clearing off. I’d like to enter next week with a relatively clean sheet so I can focus on the new redraft.

I still don’t have my head in that headspace yet. I don’t know how best to explain this other than saying it’s a bit like Netflix. There are some series that you enjoy and watch, and then there are some you just have to consume. I need to be the latter. I need the story to be swimming around my mind even when I’m not working on it. It needs to be part of my conscious and subconscious.

There’s a bit of mental gymnastics that needs to happen to get it there. I need to identify those things that are consuming my brain and park them a little so the story can move to the forefront. That’s often achieved by identifying particular parts of the novel that really excite me. That could be a scene or some piece of writing craft, or even an outcome. It’s a hook for my brain to latch onto and draw me into the story.

Especially at the start of a project, I need a lot of concentration. There are a lot of spinning plates. Not only do I need to retain the story as well as the characters, but also mentally keep a note of the things that need to be changing. And whilst I’ve got a lot better over the years of having notes against each chapter reminding me of changes I need to make, there are bigger overarching changes that I need to always be aware of (make the story a little less dark, bring in a bit more comic relief when suitable). I think I do a pretty good job at getting things out my head and into notes (it’s certainly something I’ve worked on over the last few years) but there’s part of me that still worries that some important facet of this redraft is going to escape through the cracks and ruin the draft.

We spent the afternoon and evening playing Diablo 3. I’ve played it on PC when it was released but this was their first time. Xbox was offering a free weekend so we’ve been playing it with the intention of boring ourselves of it by Sunday. I’m enjoying our gaming, it’s a lot of fun and a perfect activity for the pandemic and upcoming winter months.

It’s still good to go home and sleep in my own bed again though.