It’s been a long, long time since I really did an update talking about my writing and so here we are today. I’m going to talk about some specific projects as well as writing more generally. Let’s get into it.
Women Artists | Nonfiction
I spoke about this one very briefly in my post a few months ago about all the things I’m trying to juggle.
I’ve been doing so much preliminary work on this in the last three weeks. I created a spreadsheet to track all the women, their dates, locations, motifs, and research questions which took me a good week to do. To be quite honest, I’m nowhere near finished with it—it was a good way to just get things down and out of the way so I could try and focus on specific research more.
I’m so interested in all of these women that I just want to jump around and research them all at once. Obviously, that’s not possible but the spreadsheet is helping me note things down so I can circle back to those women I’m focusing on.
I have two research books right now that I’m reading through and they’re my focus points for the next two or three weeks. As I’ve mentioned in a few other posts, I started a new job this month so I’m trying to take it easy with my goals outside of that. I figure reading two books I’m already more than 25% through isn’t too much more of a stressor right now.
I’m really nowhere near being ready to write and I probably won’t be until the very end of this year, or beginning of next. For the most part, I enjoy the research part until I can’t find the obscure books I need anywhere for less than $3000 USD, but you know.
Fiction
I have not touched any of my fiction projects since the very end of June. My nonfiction has just taken all of my attention and I’m planning on rolling with that rather than trying to fight it. I know I’ll come back to thinking about fiction at some point, but I do not have the mental space for it right now.
Short Pieces and Assignments
I’ve been trying to write some short pieces just to keep that writing muscle working. It’s so easy to fall out of the habit and then it feels like pulling teeth trying to get back to it. I just posted about Aase Berg the other day, which was one of the pieces I worked on. I really enjoyed writing that and I hope to publish some similar things.
Of course, there’s been assignments to do as well. Both of my major assignments this semester were coming up with my own research projects, which is something I love doing, I’ve been researching about women and music in Ancient Greece for one of them and the artist, Ana Mendieta, for the other. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the research, but I need to get a move on with the actual writing.
That’s everything I have for now. These last few months have definitely been some of the most productive writing months I’ve had in a long while. Everything gets a little hectic from here, but hopefully I can still find time to research a little here and there.
Earl Grey Books 