It's progress!

I'm very proud of myself. Well, not really, but then I always did have unreasonable expectations of myself. So you could say there's a part of me that's very proud and a part of me that's not so much proud as...waiting, impatiently with toes tapping, for me to catch up to the expectations.

I've been working this week. Oh, it's only Tuesday and I've only gotten my research done and gotten myself ready to write, but it's more than I've done for ages. The best part is I don't really need to be working this week--I've budgeted so that I can start next week and make my obligations. However, I really, really, really want to take advantage of a sale going on with the local symphony orchestra next week without damaging my savings, so I'm writing enough articles that I won't have to dip (and will actually be able to bank some of it.) I should give myself a cookie for being so good, you know? I've also started work on another fiction project--this time to see if the software I got for the cheap this past year actually works as a writing tool. I tried using it before, but I used it on an old story idea. I had a bright, shiny, new idea come to me last week (in a nightmare--I find them the most inspirational ideas) that I thought would make an idea guinea pig for my project.I wonder if the program will work better because I've not fully fleshed out my story in my head yet--there are logistical details and characters still showing up at this point--or if I'm just not novel-length writer material. I'm going to put this under the heading of "oh, now we're going to see what she can really do", and just roll with it.

Anyway, I got started on that, too. I've made progress--not a lot, but it's progress. I'd guess I spent about three hours actually working yesterday (between the articles and the new project.) Of course, my critical side is saying if I were a real writer, I'd have all four articles done and half the novel, too, and it'd be much better than what's in the computer right now. I'm considering telling my critical side to get stuffed. It's such a pain in the left butt cheek sometimes, you know?

So, aside from the writing hysteria going down, I've also caught a cold. I'm not really whining (this one isn't anywhere near as bad as the one I had the first two months of the summer), I'm just explaining. Drippy nose, taking a nap every three hours because my eyes start to cross if I don't...yeah. It's been like that. The fact that I'm upright and functioning (when there really isn't a major call for me to be) is amazing. Cookies, hell, I should give myself some credit. I've never been good at doing things that needed doing without there being a sharp, pointy stick pointed at my backside; two projects voluntarily started in one day, when I'm dripping and aching and sleepy? Yeah. That's progress.

And the finish of my one and only Christmas knitting project has me thinking about what I'd like to tackle next, knitting wise. I mean, my stash is huge. I've got miles and miles and miles of luxury yarns available to suit my every knitting whim. I've even got a mile or two of absolute crap yarn available to me. The possibilities...do I go for the sweater I keep promising myself I'm going to knit, or a shawl--which is what I've wanted to knit since I first picked up needles and was the real reason I got into the craft to begin? Cast on a new project, finish up some UFOs that are languishing in the Cedar Chest of Yarny Goodness so I can have the needles back, or frog the bastards, take the needles and start something new anyway?

See what I mean? Decisions.

I think, I think, I think... I think I'll do a Multnomah, extra large, in either this:

Or this:

both of which I have in sufficient quantity to make two of the pattern as written. Or I could use neither, find another project that will use all the yarn as written, or make one up on my own.

Gah. See what I mean? Decisions.

I'm going to go make myself some soup now. Chicken sausage, leeks, potatoes and some baby carrots. I'll let you know if it pays off.