Ira Heinichen's Blog, page 62

Day 3,798: Five Alarm

Wasn’t expecting it to be a long work day today, but it was! In a good way, I suppose.

Started with the first great outlining session I’ve had in a couple weeks. Had several very, very good ideas, one after the other. And then work was busy, but at just the right times, so I was able to go and run a couple errands in the middle of it. And then podcasting was a good time, too, even though the movie wasn’t really. Alfred trying his hand at another comedy; it hasn’t worked for him yet, to be hon...

Day 3,797: Cooper’s Nest

I saw two new kittens this morning. Brothers, I think. About six months? One of them was suuuuper friendly and would have come right up to me if Snacks hadn’t been right there and immediately went to regulate on this poor baby. This is his backyard, after all.

It totally messed up my morning writing. Sigh. Whole day was a bit off, honestly…but then I took a brief nap after work and kinda reset.

I need to bear down on this outline. Get this shit done. I can do it. I can. Just need to put in...

Day 3,796: Three Hours

Twas a three-hour day today. My goal. Whew. All I really did was point out the big holes still in my outline…but at least I know where they are. That is still helpful.

Helped Liz with an audition. 8 pages! But we got it done in an hour. She’s in a groove at the moment. Wouldn’t be surprised if she books it.

Coops has a little something going on with his eye. A stye, maybe? Or his tear duct is clogged? Not sure. It’s bothering him a bit. We’re taking him to see the doc on Saturday. Sweet bo...

Day 3,795: Proper March

A zero day today writing-wise. Sigh. Lots of moving parts right now to waking life. No excuse, though…except for fatigue. And that what I’m working on right now is hard. That’s the plain and simple truth of it. Outlining. It’s hard. For me. Maybe it’s easy for other writers. Maybe it’s easy for you. But for me, this is where all the big questions need to be answered, where the events of the book and the character arcs all must be mapped out. It’s the lynchpin of writing the book, for me. This is...

Day 3,794: He’s All Done

Day one of the new OmniFocus reality. I did good with it. Real test, however, will be if I stick with it when the whole thing goes sideways, which is bound to happen sooner or later—the stretches where the schedule has to go out the window for a week or two because work or life got hectic. That will be the true test!

I have holes in my rough outline for book 5, and I need to plug them before I move onto the detailed outline. Sigh. It takes so much brainpower to come up with that shit. It’s ha...

Day 3,793: Edison

Making this a quick one because it’s almost bed time and I want to establish a new routine of using my omnifocus app every night before bed to plan out my next day in terms of all the little stuff I need to get done. The big stuff, too, but it’s the smaller stuff I struggle with.

I’ve gone through stretches of using the app to really great effect; the last time was a couple years ago. Really helped me keep on track of stuff. But, then I get more on top of things and I let the rope slip. I’m o...

Day 3,792: Ghost Tapes

Had a really nice day with Bear today. We had lunch with one of her friends from USC—he’s about to get married! That was really nice. We then went down to Chinatown from there, and she got cake slices from a cake shop she really loves, and then went to a tiny Japanese stationary store + coffee shop that was super cute and she’d been wanting to visit for a while. She got a really nice pen for her journal, and some other cool stuff.

It was home from there, a nap, walking the dogs, and then hang...

Day 3,791: Hot Europe

Hitch is hitting a stride. Hasn’t all come together yet, for sure, but I know he’s taken a leap in that I’m starting to look forward to watching his movies each week. They’re tipping from intellectual exercise into “movie” territory. They’re becoming entertaining. It’s cool.

Super late. Time for bed. But…a good day. A really solid week in terms of getting up on time, putting in the writing hours, reading, and working out. A really good week. I think I’m turning a corner, too.

Night night.

Day 3,790: All Too Well

Tired days. The time change is hard, but the new daylight hours are invigorating. I wouldn’t say I’m refreshed or particularly energized, but they do suit me.

I wrote. I read. I got Netflix work done. I yoga’d. I went to Costco with Bear and we got the groceries we were missing. Took a quick nap. Worked and wrote a little more. Walked the pups. Ate dinner and watched Taylor Swift with Bear—her Eras tour concert film just dropped on Disney+—and then read some more in bed. That last bit always ...

Day 3,789: A Step

I lost a week on the front yard project last week, and I nearly lost another this week by not doing anything on it this weekend. I fixed that today. I started moving the big, heavy stuff. There’s several inches of mulch in the front planter-thing, several inches of earth underneath that, and then the concrete retainer blocks will need to be moved as well. It’s heavy, hard work. But, if I can break it up into small stints, I can do it all myself. I made progress today, and it pleases me to look a...