Procrastination

So, I need to stop procrastinating. I have been building a language, which is cool and was not - originally - procrastinating. But the language is now built, with the exception of a few words that I just haven’t figured out yet, and I haven’t moved on. It is time for me to keep going, and to work on the plot again.

In the meantime, I have been also working on crochet and knitting. Knitting is common around here, but crochet not so much. And yet, when I was in college and doing exclusively cross stitch, the first other textile craft I picked up was crochet. I fell in love with thread crochet especially, and have made many doilies in my life. (A few blankets too, but not with thread.)

One of the doilies that I made a while ago is the daisy doily pictured above. I made it for my mom one Christmas (I think). It was at least 7 years ago. Beyond that… no idea. But it was fun, and I might make another one, perhaps with a light green in the center instead of yellow.

This doily has been loved, and was recently discovered to have been cat-fuzzed. It was in major need of re-blocking, and since I hadn’t ever taken a good photo of it, the time had come for that as well.

I also had recently found an abandoned doily in the WIP basket. It looked sad and unloved sitting there all alone, with no other crochet projects to keep it company… so I finished it. The Berka Blues doily was cast off a couple of days ago, then blocked, and was unpinned last night. It turned out quite nicely, I think.

Also, Friday marks the end of the Summer of Socks. So, I have been working on my Mangotini socks. I think that I should easily have sock #1 of that pair finished in 2 days. (I could cast off now, but I want it a little longer.) At any rate, 3 socks (not 3 pairs - just 3 socks) in 3 months is slightly faster than I normally knit. I credit the patterns. Both Monkey and Cabletini (link is a pdf) are fun patterns to knit, and make the stitches flow.

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Suzy Bluezy

The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.
~Mark Twain

~*~

So, first thing’s first: a preview. I’ve been working on the world for the story I’m going to do for NaNo, and I’ve been working on the doily that I rescued from the hibernation pile. For details and pictures, keep reading…

Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting.
~Alan Dean Foster

This is the doily I found and rescued. It had been sitting around, neglected, for who knows how long. I do know that I didn’t start it in 2007. Beyond that, I have no idea.

But it’s a fun one. It’s the same pattern as the one I made my grandma for her 80th birthday. It’s a “Berka Shells” doily from Southmaid Timeless Doilies to Crochet (that’s a link to Ravelry, if you’re in). This one is done in a variegated blue crochet cotton. It’s fun, though I do usually prefer doilies to be in a solid color. The color changes don’t usually work with things worked in the round. But, this one is okay. Not my favorite color for the pattern, but still fun.

Suzy likes it, too.

Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.
~Dandemis

In the writing world, I have been world- and language-building for the story I am going to write for NaNo. It’s fun, so far. I’ve been using Holly Lisle’s Create a Plot and Create a Language Clinics, and they are working wonderfully. So far I have not gotten much of the plot worked up, but I have enough for the moment - especially since I want the language barrier to be part of the plot conflicts. Also, I’ve noticed (from my limited experience with language-building and from what Holly has said) that the way a language works can give you insights into your culture.

(Suzy really likes it. She likes it so much she tries to steal it.)

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In Which We Refocus.

And I try to remind myself that I want to be a writer. And that to be a writer means to actually write.

And not just on here.

I think that one of my problems is having too many projects going all at once. I have ideas in my head that have yet to make it to paper, ideas on paper that need more research before I feel comfortable or competent writing them, and ideas already on paper that need more work.

And I am having problems focusing on any one of them.

So I knit, or I read, or I do any number of things that are not writing.

Yet I want to be a writer.

I think that I have many options, but one is the most appealing right now. The options that I see working for me are these:

1. Research police work for S&A.
2. Research Germany for RS.
3. Worldbuild ITF.
4. Worldbuild CP.
5. Write any of the above without the prep work.
6. Edit SS again.
7. Quit.

That last is not really an option. Well, it is an option, but one I refuse to consider.

The one I like the best is just writing. Maybe if I get back into the SS characters for RS, I will come up against what I need to research in pieces, and it won’t seem like such a daunting task.

Besides, I miss them. I miss writing about the budding romance and the self discovery.

I miss writing.

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