A Word Wenches Christmas and Blog Lists: Writing Projects, I Need An Intern, and Blog Tasks

Organization!

One of the things I used to use this blog for often was as an info-dump for upcoming writing projects, yearly goals, 30 Things I Want To Do, and so on. If they're written down, my brain feels less frazzled.

I've got three such lists today:

Simmering on the Back Burner Writing Projects (not counting items already started):

1930s father
1930s Springsteen
1920s hotel/class-crossed lovers
Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress
possible Lord Rochester romance
Seeing-colours dystopian


Blog Tasks:

Update all the photos in old posts
Compile posts 500 to today, the way I did for posts 1-500 during the celebrations for my 500th post
Related to the above, I'd like to keep track of all my book reviews (see intern list below)
Finish visiting everyone that came by on Blog Blitz Day and keep up with the blog roll
Re-sync with FB and tumblr and Ello and Pinterest
Consider adding tags
Prepare guest posts for Tolkienist, Tolkien Library, ROW80, etc.


Things I Need An Intern For:

Type up all of the scraps and scribbles where I've written my dreams
Type up and collate all my story ideas (the above list is only an indication)
Copy all my book reviews from the blog to Amazon and Goodreads (and vice versa, if necessary)
Add the 500+ books I've gotten since I finished the catalogue, including all items in pdf saved in emails and on the computer(s)

Create a filing cabinet with organized labels for all the articles/webpages/clippings/brochures/etc. I've collected over the years
(this and the next two items involve dealing with our massive pile of items in storage in Canada.
What does one do with about twenty copies of Melody Maker?)

Go through all the piles of "saved stuff" and extract every Folio catalogue, then make a comprehensive list of all the Folio books I want
Create a database to store every knitting pattern/recipe/good idea/remember to look up/quotes/poetry/etc. I've ever collected
Make a master list of books/albums/singles/DVDs I want, including all items in emails
Take care of my plants
Curate my Twitter: Unfollow all the spammers and collate my list of favourites into groups of items to watch, read, research, etc.
Also, figure out whether lists would be useful in keeping up with FB


And so on. There are always items to add to the list.

Time is running out on my main ROW80 goal - I've got half the ending for the short story written. Need to finish it and edit it and polish it before the SIWC contest deadline!

I read this great book this past week:

The Last Chance Christmas Ball



"Christmas 1815. Upstairs and downstairs, Holbourne Hall is abuzz with preparations for a grand ball to celebrate the year's most festive -- and romantic -- holiday. For at the top of each guest's wish list is a last chance to find true love before the New Year...

A chance meeting beneath the mistletoe, a stolen glance across the dance floor -- amid the sumptuous delicacies, glittering decorations, and swell of the orchestra, every duchess and debutante, lord and lackey has a hopeful heart. There's the headstrong heiress who must win back her beloved by midnight -- or be wed to another...the spinster whose fateful choice to relinquish love may hold one more surprise for her...a widow yearning to glimpse her long-lost love for even one sweet, fleeting interlude...a charming rake who finds far more than he bargained for. And many other dazzling, romantic tales in this star-studded collection that will fill your heart and spice up your holidays."

There's something cosy about reading stories set in a bleak, snowy landscape while outside its a warm August day. It's also fun to read an anthology where different authors' characters criss-cross each other through the different stories. All the characters in this collection are well-realised and the romances -- and initial reasons for the characters' troubles or hesitations -- were believable and intriguing. Some of the stories are sweet, while others are a bit more spicy, with some great banter back and forth between hero and heroine. My two favourites are the stories by Jo Bourne ("My True Love Hath My Heart" - this one is actually two romances in one short story!) and Jo Beverley ("Miss Finch and the Angel").

Did I mention that this is a Word Wenches anthology? If you're not following their collective author blog, do! They've always got lots of fascinating book and research and travel related information and discussions and images.

Are you thinking about the holidays already?

Comments

Hi Deniz - I don't know how you do any of it .. but I'll come to Geneva and be your paid (NB the paid bit!) minion for a while ... and read in my lunch hour! The Christmas anthology certainly looks a good bed-time read for a few nights ... the Georgian period is good to go ...

Cheers Hilary
Crystal Collier said…
I need an intern too. Almost hired one at one point. Some days I wish I had.

The holidays... Yeah, I'm writing a Christmas program for my church, so I've been thinking about them since June. So much to do...
Nas said…
Yep, definitely need someone to do everything I was supposed to do yesterday but forgot!
I could really use an intern as well!
sage said…
I could use a few interns! And Christmas can take its time in arriving!
Nick Wilford said…
That's one heck of a to-do list! I can see why you might need help. And scarily, Christmas will be here before we know it.
Hart Johnson said…
That scraps of paper compiling you want your intern to do? That is what I always end up doing coming up on a Wri-Mo--I have all my story notes in an Excel file and I find updating that and reading through it all is good prep for the next book. Often I pull one or two ideas back OUT and add them into my WriMo plot.
J.L. Murphey said…
Juggle, juggle, juggle! Unfortunately I am not the master juggler anymore or I'd help. You don't file story ideas??? I'm shocked.
Wow, Deniz!

Not only do I love your lists, I love the shape of that first one. It looks like a poem.=)

Holidays... Nope, not yet. You see, my anniversary is Sunday, and that's followed closely by my son's 14th birthday, early next month (HOW is it possible that the boy is 14, and bigger than me, when he was JUST BORN!?).

Just after that, the homeschool paperwork avalanche needs to be submitted to the school district...and then it's time to start planning for OCtPoWriMo and NaNo...THEN I can start thinking about the holidays...

But I love your idea of posting these lists, and that book sounds delicious.

Best of luck with these lists! =)
Oooh! I need an intern too. (Sadly, I am more likely to be someone else's intern at this point in the game... and without the perks.)

Your 'what needs to be done' list looks... intimidating. More power to you. I know a lot of it will be done quicker than it feels like it must. Here's to hoping it all is.
You still sound fairly organised... even without an intern. *sigh*
It doesn't end, does it?

Writer In Transit
Deniz Bevan said…
And this is without devoting time to knitting! The curse of being interested in all sorts of things :-)
Misha Gerrick said…
I'm currently trying not to think about the holidays at the moment. It just reminds me of how much I have to do before they're here. ;-)
Anonymous said…
It's not easy being organized. I also have a list of things to do.
Deniz Bevan said…
Someday I'll be one of those people that bakes fruitcake in September and makes jam and cans her own pickled veggies...