Day 3 Aug. 28, 2015

The Writing:

I got about an hour in, which is amazing considering all the stuff I did yesterday. It brought me a little closer to finishing my horror short.

When I started rereading to get back into the flow of the writing, I realized that I had written it in first person and I didn't really care for it. I think that because it's based on a personal experience, the first person was making it too much like a diary entry, rather than an in the moment even that it should have been. As an experiment I rewrote the first page and found that I liked it much better in third, so I shelved the first person and did a quick rewrite in third person.

Some might think I'm a hoarder for keeping all of my half written or rewrittten work and I suppose others might see it as memories of failure and wasted effort, but I look at it as evidence of my practice. I've read somewhere that it takes 10,000 hours of concentrated practice to become proficient at something. By hanging on to all of my work, regardless of it's quality, I can get an idea of how much I've practiced. I believe I'm floating around the 400 hour mark when I compile all the work I've written, still a ways to go to get 10,000.

Non-Writing:

Jet lag disrupted my morning again, but it is getting better. I feel that in a few days and with some serious effort to stay awake during the days and sleep at nights, I'll get over this. I met my wife at the mall and we wandered around for an hour or so, she was looking for a curling iron, but we couldn't find one. We stumbled across an open air book market being held at the local notre dame cathedral. I browsed through for a while and found several I'd like to read, but I really need to learn French first if I were to get any enjoyment out of them.

Later we watched a movie and then went out and hung out with some of the other students at a local bar. While my wife and I aren't drinkers, it was fun to spend time with others and see the Poitiers night life.

Here is a picture of me at one of the stalls in the book market, my wife is taking the picture.