2024-W15 EOW Report
Highlights This Week
- Started my new job. It’s weird to say that. But this is a full-time contract and that’s basically a job. I haven’t had a full-time job in 15 years since eBay. And this really has been the brunt of what I did this week. I mean, there were also a lot of significant things I’ll talk about under 4000 weeks that bore the same emotional weight, but time-wise this is most of it.
- With that said – fiction writing was severely sacrificed this past week. I think there’s going to be some time to adjust and adapt to the new homeostasis.
- So C-Chord went to their first rock concert on Monday. We saw Laufey at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. That was quite the experience. Grace Enger opened. And on Saturday, I burnt through Money Heist P5 (2021). I feel so empty now that it’s all over.
Project Status Dashboard
The following are ongoing fiction writing projects broken down to what stage they’re in. Legend in footnote1.
| # | prj | st | dr | ed | rv | fn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AURA | 1/6 | 1/6 | X | X | X |
| 2 | BECKY | 1/7 | X | X | X | X |
| 3 | FIRED | 1/14 | X | X | X | X |
| 4 | SATSU | 1/21 | X | X | X | X |
| 5 | ROBOT | 1/28 | 1/29 | X | X | X |
| 6 | MINOS | 2/11 | 2/27 | X | X | X |
| 7 | YOKO | 2/18 | X | X | X | X |
| 8 | STAR | 3/3 | X | X | X | X |
| 9 | BELLA | 3/10 | X | X | X | X |
| 10 | SAVED | 3/12 | 3/25 | X | X | X |
EOW Time Tracking
The following is based on logged productive hours using Timeular. Parameters and definitions in footnote2.
| TYPE | % | BAR |
|---|---|---|
| F | 4% | |
| X | 2% | |
| C | 82% | |
| P | 12% |
Not surprised by the steep precipitous drop in all things fiction. And as I wrote last week, perhaps tracking it like this isn’t helpful or useful anymore as my new role is essentially a full-time position and not a wobbly timey-wimey freelancing kind of life. I just don’t have energy to change the format yet. I’m thinking simply tracking if I put in the reps daily is a lot more useful indicator (a leading indicator, if you will) of whether I’m pushing fiction forward.
Four Thousand Weeks
| Wks Lft | HP |
|---|---|
| 1749/4000 | 43.725% |
So last week I was beat because I was hustling and trying to land this job. This week I’m beat because it was the first week of onboarding, training, and basically 7-8 hours of Zoom each day. And I know I shouldn’t beat myself up for not being able to move fiction forward. Like logically and rationally I know that. I just made some significant changes in my life. I get that. And also - let’s not forget that some unsettling revelations came out of another business interest, and ALSO, I’m pretty sure a two-decade friendship has just effectively ended, and yes, it’s been a very busy week, juggling new job, my one last retainer, and handling Zooms scheduled from a while back… But I’m still bothered. Rationally I know this is insane. Raionally, I know I have unrealistic expectations here.
Book Reading
- The game with Mary Beard’s SPQR (2015) right now is “will I finish it?” (as I’m at the 81% mark as I write this) in time for the Tuesday return date. I really think after a couple more books, I’m going to drop Libby/Library audiobooks and move over to Libro.fm. Libby/Library did its job. It introduced me to the world of audiobooks. I don’t need to keep playing their game.
- Finally crossed the 70-75% mark of Pride and Prejudice. Lydia eloped (or, more accurately was groomed and kidnapped, then held hostage for ransom… oh hey, maybe some idiot on the far-right will eventually realize this and put it on the banned book list, but we all know they don’t read, including the bible).
- Started my re-read of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005) because my eldest is writing an essay on it and I’ve been tasked by the wife to help.
Archive of all EOW reports here
LEGEND for Project Status Dashboard
- prj = project codename
- st = start date
- dr = 1st draft completed
- ed = edits (before beta/crits) completed
- rv = revisions (post-feedback) completed
- fn = story (or chapter) finished
The most important objective of the EOW Time Tracking is to ensure that productive hours are dedicated to actual fiction writing. This is to prevent excuses, distractions, and procrastination activities like… Using “I’m too busy with client work” as an excuse or doing unnecessary “fiction-related” activities (like consuming more craft education, excessive world-building research, and working on marketing stuff when I’m not even published yet!)
LEGEND for EOW Time Tracking
- F = Actual fiction writing work (drafting, editing).
- X = Activities related to fiction, but not actual writing!
- C = Paid client work.
- P = Business related work.