Ad libitum

In music, the term "ad libitum" means exactly what it says on the tin: do this freely; at your discretion; improvise. And if you're wondering where "ad lib" comes from, it's this term. This is how I have ended up structuring things here on this blog. I manage to write blog posts irregularly. I see my last post was from the end of August, though it doesn't feel that long ago to me.

I wanted to get more in depth on certain topics (by the way, "in depth" takes a hyphen when it directly modifies something else, like an in-depth look or an in-depth study, but is open when it is not modifying; did y'all know you'd be getting copyediting tips on this blog? Me neither.) like story structure and something I'm starting to call story kinesthetics or story physics, but I am still under several deadlines, and this is a procrastination exercise, so I'll keep it brief. Update-wise, BITTER MEDICINE is off on its copyediting journey and will hopefully return soon. I left mistakes in. This might come as a shock to people who know me, but I am not at a place where my time is so unclaimed that I can do a full copyedit on my book.

I did, however, hand a partially filled style sheet to my editor because I have fiddly language usage rules and I don't think a copyeditor would pick up on the pattern, as I myself have not been consistent in my use. That's how language works, really. I set rules in BITTER MEDICINE to mirror code-switching as best I could. Code-switching itself doesn't follow a strict rule set and is instead determined often by speaker comfort, situation, audience, etc. I live in a city where folks code-switch all the time, and it's fascinating to me when I am considered in and when I am considered out.

At any rate, October has been one deadline after another. I had planned to take November for NaNoWriMo and December to finish Key & Vale, the next manuscript (untitled, as most things are, so Key & Vale is the project name, the same way "temp agency" was the project name for BITTER MEDICINE), but October has seen fit to push rudely into November, which means no NaNo for me. I'll be catching up on slush reading, reading for crit, and finishing my draft of Key & Vale before the end of the year. I speak it aloud. I put it into the universe. So mote it be.

Next year should, barring something disastrous, be a better year for blogging. If I increase my output by 200%, that still means only eight posts instead of four. So I think I'm doing pretty well. But seeing as I have the memory of a squirrel (do I have the memory of a goldfish, or are stress and sleep deprivation having a negative impact on my ability to form short-term memories?), I want to put out ideas for blog topics in future, as the Brits say.

Here's the short list. It's short not because I have no ideas, but because my brain is empty.

• ​Non-3-act structures. Here's my short tweet thread on it: twitter.com/itsamia/status/1450455773050511363. This is likely a series because I want to talk about Western structures specifically.
• The study of classical music and eurhythmics especially and how that's informed my writing process (this one is gonna be a long one and potentially too personal to put on a blog . . . hmm)
• Big 5/Big 4 and how corporations are approaching the breaking point for their rank-and-file workers. If you've been on Twitter spaces, you'll already know what this is about, and maybe this just needs to be a tweet thread instead of a blog. I cannot talk specifics without violating contracts, but I'll see if I can find a workaround. In short, there's reasons why the folks publishing so desperately needs are not flocking to publishing. I'm sure there are other blogposts about this.
• I have been told I should do a blogpost on vanity caps, which hurts my heart. If you're asking if posting about vanity caps hurts my heart or if vanity caps hurt my heart, yes.
• Something something writing process? What's inspiring me? How I self-edit? I think, of all the things I could write, detailing my own process is likely the least interesting.