February rises like a phoenix…maybe

Plushie is still in his cage, I’m still spending a lot of time in there with him, and it’s still slowing me down, as is the loss of my morning routine (see the link for details). It’s unsurprising the last three days of January did not explode with productivity. I’d gotten very little of what I wanted done last month and that fed the fatalist sense there was no point in trying. February, however, has started off pretty well. I was determined to get some creative work done this week so I focused on rereading my first draft of Let No Man Put Asunder. It’s pretty good for one of my first drafts, with character arcs and story arc moving along well. I got about 30,000 words in; if I’m write, it’s after this chapter that things run a lot less smoothly. Still, I’m satisfied I haven’t been wasting my time. I also reread the feedback from my writing group and noted where I agreed with their criticisms, which I usually do. Fortunately there’s nothing they said that isn’t fixable, like a sense in one chapter the stakes aren’t high enough.

Beyond that I got in a couple of Local Reporter articles, one on Chapel Hill’s  plans for renovating some of its recreational facilities and a roundup on Carrboro’s town council meeting. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I posted about DC writer Bob Haney possibly mocking himself,  the overuse of old pulp villains and a sudden burst of reprints in DC Comics at the end of 1967. That includes Robin’s encounter with 50-50 Finlay, a story I found a lot of fun on rereading.Plushie’s still in his cage all of next week but I’m determined to get things done. Wish me luck, and have a great weekend.

#SFWApro. Art by Jim Mooney, all rights to images remain with current holders.