#cpsacapstonejournal

finished up everything and putting the board together! time to get ready for artsfest!

I have been ASMing a show this past week, and have had very little chance to write.  However, as I discussed in our class check in, I have really been linking the new format and point of view, and it has really helped me hit my stride.  As I talked about in a previous reflection, I also really like writing in comic sans; it’d weird but it works.  The little writing I did this week flowed easily, and was very productive.  I have over 1000 words in my new document, and will soon hit the point where I can transfer what I had written previously into first person and add transitions to plug them in where they fit in the plot, so I think within a few more hours of work I hope to hit 2000 words.

I plan to find motivation on youtube by searching recordings of the pieces I’m working on, more specifically of my peers who’ve played my repertoire.  I also think I will orally present in both the showcase and artsfest, since that’s the most effective way to present my music and concert preparation ppt.  

In class today we talked with an Arts alum and discussed out progress.  I am glad I got to hear about how someone set up their arts fest and showcase presentations, and now feel a little more confident that I will figure out what option works best for my project.  I also got to talk with Eva about her editing questions and what she is hoping for from this process, and it helped me solidify what my goal is by and from Arts fest; I want to have the chapter done and at least lightly checked for grammar and spelling by then, and then use Arts Fest as an editorial session with people leaving comments on the first few pages.  Heather was helpful in suggesting that I do schedule blocking to find the time to do work.  I’m not sure I will use google calendar to do so, but I will try to block out specific times to work over break, as well as over the next few weeks find hour/two-hour chunks that I can find a place (outside of my room) to focus in a new environment.

All in all, I realized this method of practice was closely related to the Pomodoro method since I only had a set amount of time to finish the items I wanted to get to.  I enjoyed pushing my creative limits this way, since it forced me to be as efficient as possible.  For the next two weeks, I will probably expand my practice time to the normal 2-3 hours, but keep the same idea of urgency in mind day by day.  

Another factor that may or may not have helped was a strategy I had seen floating around tumblr and the internet for years but never seriously tried; writing in comic sans.  I do not know if it was the font alone that allowed me to progress more smoothly in my writing last night, but I did feel much less pressured to make it perfect.  Perhaps it helped; more research is needed.

Last night I took inspiration from what we had talked about, and felt more motivated that I had in a while to work on my capstone.  Sadly I did not have a long time to sit down and get a lot of writing done, and as always getting started was the hardest part for me.  However the strategies (and some productive boredom) sparked some great questions I asked for myself, and a lot of brainstorming for some characterization I had been struggling with.  Now I look forward to putting into effect some of the “constraints” I had written out to try to get past a little of my struggle with starting.