After taking Mythology & Folklore last semester, I have a better idea of what approaches do and don't work for me. Possibly the most notable thing I learned is that I need to have a couple of days to stew over the readings and let the idea for my retelling percolate for a bit. Last semester, because I was doing the readings on Monday and Tuesday, that meant waiting until early Thursday morning to sit down, pull all my thoughts together, and get something down on the screen. But sometimes that didn't work out too well—like the time my Internet connection decided life wasn't worth it took a flying leap at 11:30 AM—and it was kind of stressful besides that.
So. This year, it might be fun not to do that.
I'm addressing that by scheduling the readings for the week for the Sunday before they're due: that'll give me more time to think about how I want to retell them, and also free up some time during the week for other assignments.
I'm also commuting this semester for the first time, which means I want to plan my days out so I have plans for the time between classes and the tools to tackle those plans. My main goal for the semester is finishing up this draft of the novel I'm working on, do revisions, and then send out query letters by the end of the school year or early summer. That means buckling down and churning out chapters faster than I have in the past; recent writing classes have taught me that I can actually write much faster than I'd always thought, but I need to have a clear idea of where each scene is going—in other words, I need an outline. I don't like feeling shackled by outlines or anything, but I have found them pretty useful as loose roadmaps, so my first step is to finish my outline so I can set clear goals of 1-4K words per day, depending on my schedule.
I ended up reading all the articles, but the two that struck me the most were "The Important Habit of Just Starting" and "The Myth of 'Too Busy.'" They were both excellent reminders of what I always know but don't always necessarily keep in mind: that little snatches of spare time add up, either for you or against you, and that a lot of things that clutter up everyday life don't actually matter—and they especially won't when I look back years from now. They're just filler. I've actually bookmarked both those articles to my browser homepage, and the plan is to reread them in the morning when I wake up and crack open my laptop, so I can keep that jaw-set determination at the front of my mind.
I'm also attempting a thing this semester where I take my usual to-do list and section the tasks off into time blocks. With timers and everything. I might decide I hate it and end up nixing that, but I've heard some people say it helps them a ton and they love it, so it's worth a shot.
After all, it's like the Narrator says.
This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.
Image Credit: "Tyler Says:" by Jamiecat. Source: Flickr.
I like that you can learn from the past and work forward. I also think it is a good idea to do the reading the Sunday before, because it gives you more than enough time to collect your thoughts and come up with something to write about. I love the picture that you added. Our life is ending one minute at a time, kind of crazy to think about! I hope that your plan is working for you. Good Luck on the rest of the semester.
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