Week of: 2.25.19-3.3.19

This is a test from my phone. Currently, I’m speaking into the talk-to-text function, and to see if it’s possible for me to write up a few bits of this while I’m on the road. Seems to be working just fine. No complaints yet. Let’s go ahead and say another line and see what happens. Again nothing.

Perfect. All I do now is transfer it over from Google Docs to WordPress.

Still trying to iron out specifics when it comes to my new computer and phone set-up. I reorganized all my apps into different folders, a little more categorized, and it’s taking some time to get used to.

Monday,

I’ve gotten into this routine with my homeschool tutoring students. Working from home is a challenge for first years because kids need to learn how to be self-motivated. Online school is a great option for a lot of kids, but if your child isn’t used to sitting and working for an hour non-stop, this can be a big shock to them.

To help alleviate the pressure on some of my kids, I began to implement a “Crawl-Walk-Jog-Run-Crawl” mentality for them. Basically, we take it easy on Monday. “Crawl.” Tuesday, we pick up the workload a bit more. “Walk.” Then, Wednesday the work increases. We do more assignments, do more homework, etc. “Jog.” Thursday is the toughest day. Final projects are given, writing prompts are assigned, and the largest amoiunt of homework all week. “Run.” Finally, Friday, we take it easy on ourselves to ease out of the week. “Crawl.”

I’ve started doing it too, especially with personal projects.

I live for stuff like this.

Neil Gaiman discusses how he numbers his pages, while showing off some handwritten parts for The Graveyard Book. It’s kind of an old post, but still, getting a look at a master’s craft is what I live for.

You know, it was just last summer I attempted to handwrite a book following this style.

First draft: handwrite. Second draft: copyedits asyou type it up.

I made it about ⅗ of the way through before I gave up on myself. Bad case of, “This-Isn’t-Good-Enough-ia.” Surprisingly, with my new, “It Doesn’t Matter” attitude I wrote about recently, part of me wants to finish the story.

I flipped through some pages recently. Wasn’t awffful. Possibly salvageable.

*looks at space on white board

Book Corner

Dragon Masters: Saving the Sun Dragon by Tracey West (Goodreads)

I enjoyed the first one so much, I needed to pick up the second one. I’ve been on a binge lately of these young reader books. Beginner novels made for 8-10 year olds.  Drake continues his adventures, learning to control his dragon, Worm. Unfortunately, one of the other Dragon Master’s dragon, Kepri, becomes sick, and they must fly all the way to not-Egypt to cure it.

What I’ve loved about the first two books, and it’s something I’ve learned, has been the briskness of the plot. While many YA books tend to drip in the beginning bits, spending too much time describing the protagonists long, silvery hair and the way the moonlight seems to bounce off it, this gets right to it. You only have a child’s attention for a few moments, and if something doesn’t happen, they will put your book down. Important lesson I forgot from the classroom.

Highly recommended to anyone with kids who need something fun and, surprisingly, sinister in their lives.

Friday, 3.1.19

Kind of came undone a bit.

Too much to do, and Friday is the only afternoon of my week when I don’t have clients. So instead of actively getting right to work, I played Kingdom Hearts III with my wife for a couple of hours.

Sometimes on your “Crawling” day, you need a full-stop.

Saturday, 3.2.19

It’s done.

We beat Kingdom Hearts III.

13 years is a long time to wait for a video game. Hell, it’s a long time to wait for anything. (Fans of hilarious internet joke, Half-Life 2, say hello.)

I can say with absolute certainty this was all worth it. Every fight. Every Keyblade slash. Every plotline resolution. This was Nomura saying, “Yes, this is a series built on silly rules and over the top emotions, but every single rule and every single emotion is going to sink into you. Give in.”

I’ve played around with the idea of reviewing things on this page. Maybe opening up a second blog to just put down some thoughts on things I watch. Story, craft, structure, and so one.

For this, I would need thousands of words to discuss.

Maybe.

disney kingdom hearts 3 GIF

Sunday, 3.3.19

Had a bit of a nervous breakdown today.

Not for any one reason. March is set up to be another crazy month. I had one towards the end of January, over a week that just wouldn’t quit. Today, I told myself all the things I wanted to do and began to immediately have headaches, shortness of breath, and a miniature panic attack.

It took a day of watching movies to cure myself.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Ant-Man & The Wasp

Coraline

Those were my films of choice. The first two I had never seen before, so that was nice. I forget the power of movies. How they, moreso than television or YouTube videos, can create a sense of world and place, taking you away. It was a good study and helped stabilize my mind.

Okay. Back to my freelancer taxes. They won’t finish themselves.

And that’s it! Take it easy on yourself this week. Remember, when you can, force yourself to crawl on Monday. It’s Monday. Who cares? No one looks at Monday after Tuesday, so giver yourself that time off.

Now Thursday? People need you on Thursday. Run, as hard as you can.

Thanks for reading,

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Contact: robertmichaelacosta@gmail.com

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