Time squeeze

This new temporary for a few weeks work set up has put a dent in my productivity. Getting up earlier to squeeze in a bit more doesn't seem to make that much of a difference. I have to pack up around 11.30 to head out to the office so...not ideal.

Next week I'm the only one covering office work but managed to negotiate doing mornings every day but only until lunch time. Still a total pain but better than being stuck there all day. At least I get a better chunk of time when I get home.

All change

Popped over to the Corner Gallery at the weekend. Can't believe it's been so long since the evening opening do! Everything's been changed around, more new work on the walls and a couple of my pieces have been getting some repeated attention but not quite the decision to buy.

We had a chat about colours and poses and the idea that folks like dance figures but not very obviously dance figures. I kinda know what she means. A simple ballerina pose would probably hit the mark with some people - like the blue one above. I'm quite happy to play around with style, poses and colour schemes so maybe I'll do something a bit calmer and more classical. Will take a couple of different ones in at the weekend if I get one of my in progress ones finished.

Edit, edit and edit again

My writing piece still isn't done. I shoved in everything I could think of then chopped out any repetition. Still much too long. Took out some stuff that maybe wasn't on topic. Took out some more. And some more. Rearranged some paragraphs. Rearranged some more. Tightened up some sentences. Still longer than I want.

It's like making a jigsaw from two boxes. You sort what you think makes one puzzle then realise you've actually got two. Now you can split them off and have a second ready to do later. Then it's down to assembling the pieces of one area and moving them to the right quadrant. Lots of testing of shapes to get one that fits perfectly.

I love jigsaws and writing has the same kind of mental satisfaction from trying to put something together. You have to remember why you chose a subject and what you want the reader to take away from it. The task then, is to keep checking the focus is where it should be and getting rid of anything that dilutes that. That can mean adding in content at the same time as you're trying to take it away. But the more you do it, the more you clarify what you want to say. Sculpting is a bit like that too - what's the pose and the finish? How much detail and how much painting? Is the shape more important than precise anatomy? Discuss.

Someone said write what you want to know about and I suppose that's true. You think you know what you want to say but that means sorting out in your head and on screen, precisely what that is. We get so easily distracted it's not until you try to gather your thoughts like this that you figure out what's useful and what isn't. What matters and what doesn't.

The result can sometimes be a surprise. I have drafts of topics with bits copy/pasted for ideas or data and sometimes I've read a snappy paragraph and wondered what the source was until I remember I wrote it! The bits I wouldn't have credited myself with are some of the best things I've written. Also, some of my drafts are cringey super-bad so it pays to be very critical of every word! Having gone over this piece a thousand times, I'm glad it's had this process. Will I ever be confident it's not total rubbish? Probably not!