Good afternoon, everybody!
It seems temporal dislocation is setting in early (or just again) this summer vacation, hence the delay in today's post--that, or I'm spending more time in my own head than is generally considered safe :) . In keeping with that possibility, and the generally relaxed and musing state I've been been in the past few weeks, I present as this week's song Imagine by John Lennon (Usual copyrights apply; I own nothing!)
As with so many other moving, eloquent songs, when exactly I first heard this one is unclear, though that hardly matters. It may be a bit cliche or repetitive to call it such, and to say that it's always left a profound poignancy and hope after every listen, but plenty of others have said the same, so I suppose I'm in the clear :P . Whenever I've felt blocked during a writing project, or just down in the dumps after an especially brutal day of classes and/or work, this song has always brought me to a calmer, more reflective state of mind, made such burdens seem far less important, and given me the step back often needed to go on with the project at hand.
Came perilously close to several blocks on my What-If Bloody Relations this past week (mainly from day-job fatigue and other stressors), yet the draft is still on track and moving forward at a decent clip. One of the biggest potential hurdles is my relapsing a bit into word count above all else; this draft could easily reach 50K word count (the standard for novels) before being finished, and so I began setting daily word quotas, which I'd stopped doing after my "restart" last fall due to the additional stress and disencouragement they brought on. Therefore (and though I know it sounds like a smoker's or drinker's excuse :D ), I'll be giving up the "quota fix" after tonight's writing session, and focusing more on just getting the draft done, as opposed to how much of it gets done each day.
In other writing-related news, my freelance editor and beta-reader profile is now live on Upwork.com! I'll be seeking out work on the site this week, but am also accepting recommendations or offers there and by personal request; if you have a project that needs proofing or a read-through (for a reasonable fee, of course :) ), or know an aspiring writer with such, post any and all details on my FB, Twitter or Wordpress pages! I'll also be posting a call for Discarded pledges in the Promotions forum on NaNoWriMo.org later tonight; if you're a fellow Wrimo, or just feel like spreading the word, view and pass the link on to friends and family!