What I learned

[dampscribbler]

So, the first writing day of the year didn't go that well.  One of the problems with my short story was the ms itself -- I'd typed it into Word 2010, which is new to me (I'd been using Office 2003 for a LONNNG time) and so the formatting was all wrong (the defaults are for block style, WTF?)  So I thought I'd figure out how to get the format right.  Should take a few minutes, right?  Try over 90 minutes.  Sigh.  And now that I've "learned" how to do it, I need to use it again and again a few times over the next several weeks to make sure I don't forget it.  

Oh, Microsoft.  Why???????????

Technical issues aside, I still didn't get much done because I'm struggling with the question of whether to just "fix" a few weaknesses in the story, or to re-write it as a novel.  I keep approaching it with the intent to just revise, but as soon as I start reading it I want to re-write it.  Is this over-attentive perfectionism, or a legitimate desire to bring something larger to life?  I keep telling myself the "answer" is to do both -- re-write the short story *and* write the long version, but I can't quite find the energy for it.  I think I'll start writing it long this week and then see if I have any desire to fix the short story or not.  

Oh, and something else I learned is that when I say that I will turn off TweetDeck, I should actually do that.  I'd forgotten that promise to myself, and then wondered why I wasn't getting much done the first hour of the day yesterday.  Duh.

Today, sadly, is about getting more dental work done and running errands.  Tomorrow, though, will have more room for writing in it.  Yay!

I'm also looking forward to responding to Jo Knowles' invitation (I'm several days behind on that, ah well) and setting my own intention for 2011.  

Happy Thursday, all!

Comments

[wordsrmylife.livejournal.com]

I totally hear you. I so do not understand why Microsoft has to "fix" things that weren't broke to begin with.

There's no harm in trying something. Linda Sue Park said something along those lines years ago at a conference I attended. Go for it!

And good luck at the dentists, etc.

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I had really come to trust Microsoft, too, as they'd not done anything rash in such a long time. This is almost unforgiveable. I wonder if anyone writing for the business pages ever calculated how many hours of lost productivity this new version of MSOffice resulted in? Millions, no doubt.

Things went well at the dentist, we delayed the part that will need Novocaine for another 4-6 weeks (yay!) and just did the easy stuff. The downside is I was didn't take M's violin with me to be re-strung because I figured I'd feel numb and dopey, so I missed that opportunity and have to do it tomorrow. I can live with that, though. :)

Time to start scribbling. Longhand, as first drafts tend to go best that way. :-)