I've pretty much finished the cardigan I was knitting as I worked on the last book. I like to have a craft project running alongside the 'big' writing projects because there are times, in the middle of these six to eight month writing periods, when I find my brain and eyes are too tired to read or watch anything but at the same time I'm too wound up to sleep or relax.
So that's when I knit...
The bulk of the big pieces (back, left & right fronts, sleeves) got finished around the same time as I submitted the Rose Apple Tree draft.
And yesterday I did the button band--
I should be able to finish the buttonhole band tonight, then all that remains will be to assemble all the pieces--which should be a pretty straightforward process. It'll still take time and careful positioning and stitching, but it should be 'easy'.
Which was pretty much how I wanted to work my NaNoWriMo project (which I still haven't started yet).
I had some difficulties with logging into the site but that's just an excuse because I'm having more difficulties with putting together the ideas I've had.
I'd intended to 'pantster' this project as an exercise over November. It's not how I normally write, but so many people say that's the only way they can write, and I wanted to see how it worked. Also, because I always have so many ideas I want to explore, I thought I could just braindump and get 50,000 words towards the next project.
Only I'm having trouble figuring how to link up all the ideas I have!
Frankly, it's a mess!
What I'm ending up with is kind of how my knitting projects would turn out if I just started knitting to try out new stitch patterns or new needles (which has happened--I love the bamboo needles I got in Bristol last Crimefest and have been trying them out) but these little sample stitch things don't add up to anything usable any more than my 'great' ideas are adding up to the next book.
So I'm stepping back to try to work things out. Which is also why I'm knitting even when I'm not tired now!
Right now I feel like I can't immerse myself into any other projects because the Rose Apple comments/ feedback/ edits will need to be attended to as soon as they come in. Which I'm kind of looking forward to doing!
Overall, my November is a great place to be in, with the bulk of the year's writing done and new project ideas to play around with!
With the book deadline met, I'm using also using this time to reset and reboot and catch up on my reading.
Which is why I've finally had time to read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and I really really LOVE it! I hear it's been filmed but I'm not sure if I want to watch the show given how much I love the book.
(I've been visualising Calvin and Elizabeth as a litarary versions of Sheldon and Amy from the Big Bang Theory so part of me is afraid of being disappointed, no matter how good the film version is)
And I've gone back to attending weekly pilates and yoga sessions and doing yoga at home as well as swimming and walking on the other days, so I'm feeling really good.
Also, the Singapore Writers Festival starts this weekend. I'm not speaking, meaning I can enjoy it and I'm looking forward to it without dread this year!
I hope everyone else is having a peaceful, productive and wonderful November too--however the American elections turn out. Oh--and I just want to mention something a visitor said (not sure if she was joking) about Lee Hsien Yang seeking asylum in the UK--
'He's kind of like your Prince Harry, isn't he--'
I think that's the best way I've heard it put so far!
Anyway, we wish him well (without mentioning the property assets he still owns here while claiming to be broke) and hope he turns out better than Amos Yee, that other asylum seeker who ended up (in prison) in America!
Happy November everybody!
Wow, I’m exhausted just reading about your plans, Ovidia!
ReplyDeleteThirty years or so ago, a friend who was well known in the knitting world taught me some of the basics of the craft. I found it relaxing amid the stresses of a fast-paced NYC litigation practice. I once brought my knitting to one of my law firm’s partners meeting, I sat through it quietly knitting away. No one said a word about it, but the looks I received seemed more alarmed than inquisitive. I assumed they thought I'd lost my mind—but those who knew me best knew that was something I’d achieved years before.
At the conclusion of the meeting, one of my fellow name partners came into my office and shut the door. He burst out laughing. Apparently some of our more junior colleagues thought my knitting was intended as a sort of Dickensian Madame Defarge message to them on their futures.
So much for trying to be a more relaxed, gentler Jeffrey. :)
I love the idea of you as Madame Defarge, Jeffrey!!! But yes, knitting totally works better than fidgeting or nail biting... :)
ReplyDeleteMy writing is my stress relief to the other job. One of my editorial notes is 'were you in a bad mood when you wrote this scene?'
ReplyDeleteI want to leave a laugh-till-tears-come emoji here but can't figure it out... oh dear--but at least it's no longer the old days when bad mood writing meant the paper was scratched through!
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