Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Another Check-In

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Football ended last Friday for me, freeing up some time. The muse is waking up and stretching her wings.(I imagine my muse with butterfly wings, or on bad days, bat wings.) I still have to catch up with all the stuff I put off during the tumultuous end of the season. I suspect November will bring me back to being able to write a bit each day.

The real question is: what should I write. I've started two series. I'm about a quarter of the way into The Binder's Husband, but I'm not sure I want to work on that one. I might be a tad bit too jaded at this point in time to do it right. The themes and undercurrents I had planned for that one were related to specific situations in my own life. Situations that have since changed.

Instead, the story that is calling to me is the one I started on here. Some of you might recall Damian. I wrote some fictional posts with him as a character. He's darker than my typical protagonist (which is still to say, probably pretty light... I'm just not a horribly dark person), and I'm feeling a bit dark myself.

I didn't originally have a plan for a novel featuring Damian, but the idea has slowly formed in my head over the last few months. These would be shorter books for me (I want to shoot for 50k words instead of my usual well over 100k). I have (very) loose plots for 8 such stories. They'd be more like quick hour-long TV shows than full-length movie (at least in my mind).

I wrote a scene from the forming novel last night. I've done pantsing. I've done loose outlining. I generally write linearly. For these books, I may just write scenes, and then, like a puzzle, fit them all together later. For some reason, that sort of approach really appeals to me right now. It makes it really hard to scope the project though. How will I know when I've written all of the scenes, especially without a real outline? I'm not really sure, but that's part of the appeal as well.

To borrow a saying from one of my all-time favorite fantasy series: "The wheel weaves as the wheel wills." I'm not going to fight it. In fact, I'm just pleased as punch that it's still rolling.

I might share some scenes on the blog. Completely out-of-order, completely unedited. I figure, why not, and I'd love to get feedback. I guess we'll see how it goes.
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Weekly Check-In

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Despite my somewhat abrupt leave of absence from writing, I'm still trying to check in once each week. In my opinion, the worst thing you can do to a blog is leave it dormant for long stretches of time. Though the regularity of my content has waned, I don't want it to disappear entirely. I do plan to be back, and stronger than before.

I promised some more information once upon a time, and I'll provide a small bit right now. Apart from my Mom being diagnosed with breast cancer last month, I am also transitioning through a divorce. Such things happen in life, and one of my goals in therapy is going to be to develop a 5-minute version of the story that is mostly positive. I'm not quite there yet, so I won't relate the story. Still with the editor, so to speak.

Yes, therapy. Totally getting it. Totally need it. Totally wish more folks would make use of the many mental health professionals out there. Finding the right therapist can be tricky, but when you find the right one, the dividends are totally worth it. I'm a big fan of psychology and mental health. I think it's something we, as a society, tend to be ashamed of more than is good for us. Consider myself included in that statement. It was definitely a difficult step for me to seek help.

I suppose it feels like failure, but I know that's not the full story. Truth be told, I feel like I'm in pretty good shape given what has transpired. Mom getting cancer, divorce, even alone these can be difficult things to deal with. And I'm getting up, I'm soldiering through. I have a great support network (you guys included). My sense of humor may be somewhat cynical as of late, but I still have it.

For instance, I was researching Indiana divorce law the other night. Real cheery stuff, I know. But on this site were ads. Ads that I'm sure have some sort of targeting algorithm. One of the ads that popped up was for familial insurance. Yes, pictures of puppies, smiling children, and happy spouses. On the "fill out your divorce paperwork online" site. Ad targeting failure.

I did what most slightly unbalanced folks would do. I got angry with the ad, insurance, and the Internet in general. Then, I realized I was mad at an advertisement, and started laughing. So, yeah... therapy.

There's humor in everything, it seems.
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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

On The Personal Front

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For any of you that have been concerned about me on a personal level, I wanted to write a quick post to say that I'm doing well. Lotta stuff still going on in my life, preventing me from really focusing on writing, but I'm pretty optimistic that I'll be back in the saddle sooner rather than later. Adversity seems to provoke the creative mind, so I have plenty of ideas swirling around. I've even jotted some down.

I did whip out a personal post yesterday on my secret public journal. Talks a little more about what is going on (if you're curious) and also a pretty funny story about buying condoms. If that doesn't get you to click through, I don't know what will. :-).

Thanks to everyone that has been supportive. I will be writing more stories at some point, but the dream is still on hold for now.
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