Plan for today — stop watching GBBO (Netflix, now was not the ideal time to drop season 6, I have things to do). Finish grading papers. Finish grading mid-terms. (I’m so close to done — why is the last hour always the hardest???)
At 11, go take a look at some possible spaces (some in Scoville Square, probably out of our price range, one just south of the highway on Oak Park Ave). Feel drowned in choices and possibilities, but hopefully in a good way.
12 – 2, monthly Garden Club meeting; I’ll probably be late, but I do want to stop by, at least. Today’s talk — “A Rose By Any Other Name” — Jack Shouba, on “The importance of scientific names.” I don’t actually know anything about this topic! Would like to learn.
Then prep for evening monthly writing workshop, more grading, work on condensing my scattered maker space notes into something coherent that I can hand to people, instead of the 20+ page monstrosity I have now.
Maybe write a little? Last night, I started work on the Domestic Resistance book, cutting and pasting my running for office posts into one file. That’ll form the core thread of the book, I think, balancing that with the political trauma of the last two years, and the domestic makings (cooking, gardening, time with family and friends) that keep me sane.
I’m having more novel thoughts too, off and on, esp. as I keep reading Jemisin’s work. She’s so good with the world building and really thinking through rich cultural elements — I’ve skimped on that on this first draft, and rather than just plowing forward with the plot, I kind of think I want to stop, go back, and really layer that through. The book will get more dense, but I think that’s a good thing. I also hope to find room for more dialogue and scenes of everyday life. If I write a novel that’s mostly people sitting around and talking to each other, you guys are okay with that, right?
Awesome. Yes, Jemisin’s world-building is amazing!