Writing Today, Interview Tomorrow

I managed today to write a first draft of a story I had been outlining this past week, which is a nice cap to writing work for the last week. Now it needs a little break for me to come at it with different eyes, and the revisions can start. I like the overall structure of it and I think the characters came out well. It needs a few structural changes that I can think of now, and I am sure a good half-dozen other ideas will come to mind once I start in on it. But that also frees me up to start working on the next outline will the first story simmers.

The more I write, the more I feel like a cooking analogy is helpful for me, even though I tend not to cook more than simple dishes. When I make a dinner with, say, three dishes to it, I have to prepare all the initial dry ingredients, get the first dish to a point where something is baking or boiling, and then do part of the next dish. I move back and forth as each dish gets to a point where I am ready for it again. I have started feeling the same about my writing. Some things are at an outlining point, then when the outline is ready I can write a draft. Then the draft needs to "bake" while I start the next outline, but I also have to remember to get back to the first story before it becomes a burnt mess. Good cooking and good writing require a common mentality.

I also have a job interview, of sorts, tomorrow morning. It is a contract job in arrangement and possibly cataloging, though I am not yet clear what scope the contractor has in mind for my work. It would be a nice break in my daily work routine, however, and something theoretically higher paying than my current cataloging post. I am thinking contract work can be a good way to get established in Madison because a number of individuals and smaller institutions apparently send requests to the Historical Society for individual help. With a good referral, I can perhaps acquire more of these contracting jobs. No benefits would come from them, but I could get a decent wage and possibly have more time to write. And in the end, that feels like the most important thing.