(Writing) Today's Creative Cleanup Report:

I went through 341 old notes and cleared them out.

I’m left with just 25 strange, uncategorized ones, too random to bother sorting, so they’ll live in their own little corner for now.

While doing this, I listened to “When Worlds Collide” by Powerman 5000 on repeat.

83 full plays, and the 84th just started.

(Single-track loop mode: the closest thing I know to a productivity time warp.)

All those notes didn’t just vanish, they’ve been distributed across my next book projects.

My first two books: Stories That Move and Embracing the Flame, are finished.

Now the question is what to tackle next.

I keep thinking about the children’s story I’ve been outlining.

It’s almost fully formed in my mind, and honestly, I think I could write it in a week or two.

There’s something appealing about clearing it from my head and moving on.

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Here’s a peek at what’s on deck, with working titles and current word counts:

The Creative’s Guide to Conquering the World — 37,039 words

Sick Kid (memoir of my childhood heart condition) — 35,385 words

AWOW5T (unannounced self-help project) — 79,120 words

Slimy (another unannounced idea) — 26,849 words

Dear Son (letter to a child I’ll never meet) — 105,399 words

Rootberry (entertainment memoir spanning two decades) — 206,668 words

Fictional medieval fantasy project — 37,471 words

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37,039 + 35,385 + 79,120 + 26,849 + 105,399 + 206,668 + 37,471 = 527,931 words (GULP)

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One track on loop. Hundreds of notes sorted. Thousands of words waiting to come to life.

The work never really ends, and I wouldn't have it any other way...

What are YOU working on? What breakthroughs are you experiencing? Or, where are you getting stuck? Let's discuss...