It has been a week of breaking things: laptop, portable keyboard, a bowl, and my ankle. Well, the ankle is just sprained, but it fits nicely into the spirit of the Week of Broken Things.

I am typing this with my new keyboard that I bought to replace my Logitech K380, which has been my best friend for years. But the new Logitech K780 feels even better to type on and I think it will be great to use when I write in the park. It’s a lot larger, but it also feels a lot more stable.

I am lucky that my laptop broke on Black Friday. I ended up snapping up a deal on the new iPad Air 4 with Apple’s new chip. This is what I’m replacing the laptop with. Steve bought me an Apple Pencil as a late birthday gift to make the new iPad complete. Apparently a bunch of other people also had the idea to buy a new iPad because mine is not scheduled to arrive until just before Christmas.

The one thing that is definitely not broken is my writing. I’m up to 23,000 words in the novel I’m fast drafting, which is not half bad for just a couple of weeks. The method I’m using has me writing a few bullet points for the chapter I’m going to work on the next day along with some notes regarding tone. Then when I write, I simple go where the writing leads me, using my bullet points as guideposts and a starting point.

This is working for me. Unlike outlining, it doesn’t kill the fun of writing. And unlike Writing Into the Dark, I’m not facing a blank page each day.

One other thing that has really improved my creativity is the Cold Turkey Writer app a friend introduced to me. At its basic level (free) it blocks out all distractions until I achieve my word count. (Or you can set it for time.) The premium version (just $9) also includes coffee shop or rain sounds, plus the ability to use a dark screen, which I prefer. I turn on the rain and just write for 500 words. Then I check back in with my writing partners and do it again and again.

I am also taking classes in Adobe Illustrator. The current assignments are on designing logos. I used the access to teachers who know design to work on my logo for Jeweled Sea Press, which will be the name I publish the Thule book under.

The ankle, which I injured hiking not running, is slowly healing. I won’t be running until it is a lot better.

Hope you are doing well this week and that nothing breaks for you.

Be well, friends!