Avatar photoSteven Savage

Steve’s Update 2/4/2018

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Here’s my latest update!  With my move done and that insane January out of the way, I will get back to regular deliverables.

So what have I done the last week(s)?

  • Moving: Is done!  Now there’s just settling in.  And unpacking.  We’re taking a few weeks to do this.
  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: I sadly did not do more editing, but did work on the outline for the final plot changes – and I think I can do them in one go.  I actually want to get this to pre-readers as I’m a bit tired of editing it!
  • Writing: I did start a new blog series on Agile and creativity you’ll see this week!  This will mark my return to doing more creative advice stuff outside of writing.
  • Cover Work: I’ll be doing a cover for an interesting cookbook – not sure if I’ll start this week, but hope to give you an idea of what’s up once I get the tap!

What am I going to do this week:

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Returning to editing.
  • Writing: I’m going to work on my Agile and creativity blog entries.

General

  • Still recovering from the move, so I may front-load this month with more mundane tasks and then go do a lot of my creative stuff in a wave.
  • My commute should give me time to write (it’s easier to take a train over driving) so let’s see what that does for these projects . . .

– Steve

Steve’s Update 1/28/2018

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Here’s my latest update!

So what have I done the last week(s)?

  • Moving: Well, the move continues.  Actually most of it is done.  My goal is to finish it – and get back on top of all of my projects.  So far that’s promising.
  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: I actually got back to editing.  There’s two major arcs I need to work on, one of which will involve some noteable rewrites to enhance characters.  However it looks very good to be ready for pre-readers end of March.  However publication is probably September.
  • Long-Term Planning: I’ve been working on my long-term plans, more on that later.

What am I going to do this week:

  • Move: Well, that’s obvious.
  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: I hope to do more editing.
  • Writing: Going to aim for some blogging as well.

General

  • My long-term writing planning is shaping up.  Largely it’ll be upgrading some of my small career books, a few smaller books (probably including Way With Worlds minibooks), and starting a book on Randomness and Imagination.
  • For Seventh Sanctum long-term I want to work on new generators, of course, but also some resource pages.

– Steve

The Wash

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Yeah this isn’t a post about Agile per se, or writing, or anything.  It’s about life.

Sometimes you gotta take a wash.

I got sick (ironically from going to the doctor’s for a checkup where I was otherwise fine).  That was a pain, but my roommate got a new job, meaning I got to move in with my girlfriend earlier than intended.  It turned into a synergy of illness, surprises, and more.  Pretty much most of my projects had to go on hold.

At first I was annoyed with that, like I had to keep on schedule.  But the truth is we all have limits, interruptions, and more.

So I took a wash.  I set aside everything but the move and life stuff, did what I could on my other projects, and didn’t beat myself up.  That felt a lot better.

Sometimes you just have to take a wash.  Sometimes things can’t get done.  Living with it and doing what you can is important to adapting and keeping your sanity.

We often get taught to follow a schedule as if it’s a commandment, to feel bad if we can’t do what we planned.  We’re taught to self-flagellate.

Nah.  Sometimes you gotta take a wash.

Of course next month I’ll be back at it and I have some projects planned out to a year from now.

 

– Steve