Fresh Flours
It’s March! Can you believe it? The onset of 2020 has been productive in terms of writing; to briefly recap: January into mid-February, I knocked out around 15,000 words, completing Part One of my story. During the last two weeks of February, I took a break to celebrate my birthday and relax.
Sidebar: my mother advised me that I should not have stopped my momentum, ha.
A little bit of construction never hurt nobody.
The kid was drained. Writing a memoir is exhausting - I cried a lot of tears, mentally click-clacking back through 2011 and 2012.
I turned 32.
It’s not a milestone year - I’m not making a big deal of it - but yeah, I’m a little bit older and hopefully a tiny bit wiser.
The improvement I continue to make is not a total surprise: the high of the new year is often a big push, propelling me forward into karate kicking the goals I’ve set. Most people feel similarly.
It’s keeping those goals at the forefront, year-round, that seem to be the hard part.
I find it helpful to create new habits – small things that I do daily or weekly that help in moving me toward my overall goal.
I use my insomnia as launching point: oftentimes, I wake up at 4:00am, 5:00am – instead of laying in bed, staring at the wall like I normally would, I get up to start my day. I might do a quick yoga routine via YouTube, shower, make a pot of coffee and write some before work. I will typically block out an hour and a half before signing in, and chunk up to two additional hours after work depending on what I have planned in the evening: dance class, friends, cooking etc.
(Note: this works for me because I work from home).
I manage between 500 - 1000 words per day and feel pretty damn good about it.
On Saturday mornings, I get up between 6:00 - 7:00am, start my usual pot of coffee and write until around 10:00 – 11:00am. I stop for a lunch break or a brain rest and start my second session around 2:00pm, going for another hour or so.
Sunday’s I keep for myself as a general “catch up” day: hair wash, grocery shopping etc.
I’m super excited about the structure that I’ve been able to put into place for the story: the way I’m organizing the narrative makes it fluid to write. Everything – as is true for memoirs – is in chronological order.
I’ve divided the events into parts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
There are certain elements of the story that I have left to finish for the end [as in, I will finish it during the editing process]. I keep it open because a) it needs further/intensive research –
When I start getting into the particulars of my stroke [the medical minutiae involved] I have to dig through a lot of my own documentation. I want to make sure I am using the correct terms, analysis and such.
The time for digging through that is not now – there are boxes upon boxes of paperwork in my closet when I’m ready.
I want to get the story out in full and fill in those details, later.
b) whatever I’m writing may be too heavy for me to process and ultimately interrupts the flow in a way that is disruptive to my creativity.
In those instances – there aren’t many in part one – I still need to work through them.
When I say that, I mean, I have to run it past my therapist. Writing helps, but so does she.
As of now, I’m moving around in Part Two. I created chapter outlines before my two-week break and have constructed a road map to follow. Chapters 6 - 12 are gritty, so I decided to start writing some of the more lighthearted fluff that begins in chapter 8. I’ll back it up to 6 and 7 when I’m finished, diving into relationship rigmarole thereafter.
The dating stories I have to tell are edifying, depressing, sexy, heartbreaking, interesting and fun. I had a very robust dating experience in Minneapolis and although every involvement cannot and will not be present in the book - only the ones of true impact and relevancy, especially since the book itself is not solely focused on my dating life - I think it’s important to discuss the challenges that come from dating with a disability in your 20’s.
Spoiler: it makes you much more vulnerable.
The end of March signals the end of first quarter: with that, I can honestly say, I am very proud of the progress I’ve made and can’t wait to rev up for quarter two!