Life maintenance
😐
I didn’t fix my sleep schedule, but I did take a break from pushing myself to work on things. This week I’ll do some invoicing and look into some purchases that have been waiting.
Productivity
🙂
My flashcards for Gregg Shorthand are working better than I expected. Each day’s review is only taking 5 to 15 minutes, and I’m actually using what I learn in my blog drafts, which I write in shorthand for practice.
Writing
:thinking:
I continued some research on plotless narratives. My impulse is always to probe the boundaries of whatever I’m learning about. So while I love the books on writing craft I’ve been listening to, when I hear that X or Y is essential for an effective story, I wonder. On this question I’ve been focusing on the idea of plot and collecting categories and examples of stories that minimize it. So far I’ve found slice of life, vignettes, sketches, and whatever is covered in Narrative, Interrupted. I’m looking forward to studying some of these at some point. Chekhov comes up a lot, so I might start there.
TV
:head exploding:
I was caught completely off guard by “Subspace Rhapsody,” season 2 episode 9 of Strange New Worlds. It’s a polarizing one—I’ve seen some angry comments. But in my opinion, it took what could’ve been a gimmick and made legitimate science fiction out of it, in the process advancing several character arcs. You’ll think I’m exaggerating, but it truly gave me a new appreciation for the characters, the cast, the show, and the power of music. It affected me so profoundly I spent a rather weird day or two with raw emotions floating at the surface, and I’m still pondering the episode a week later.
