Another Shitty First Draft

coming right up. Managed just shy of 1400 words on my short story today. It's not going very well. It's growing a lot bigger than I wanted it to, which always seems to happen when I write short stories. But this one is very dependent on events that happened five years before the story started, so I'm slipping back and forth in time and that's eating up wordage. Most of it I'll have to seriously trim when it comes time to revise. I could easily see this story at novel length, but it's not a story I'm interested enough in to spend that kind of time with. And I'm already working on a novel, thank you very much.

I'm afraid I might end up killing this one before it's done. Maybe try to tackle it from a different angle. Right now it just feels like it's rambling. There's more exposition than scene, and the one scene I do have is mostly lame. Back to drawing board? I'll have to think about it.

Long Time No Shorts

This goes both for writing and my attire. Here it is, mid-August and for the past four or five days it's been nothing but gray skies and chilly gloom. Did I happen to mention I live in "Sunny" California. So I haven't worn shorts in a while. But that's not really what I wanted to write about. Today I plan to start work on that short story idea I've been kicking around. Got a little outline for it and I'm hoping to get at least 1000 words done on it today. Maybe more if I'm lucky, but I have lots of errands to run and all that.

Tonight is BN class and I'm excited. Looking forward to moving forward with the book. I like my outline; I like my characters. I figure I should keep running with this before the self-doubt catches up to me. Almost did the other day, but I've recovered since.

All right, it's off to work on the short. It's been some time since I wrote a short story. I was never very good at the form. Maybe I can nail it this time.

Another One Down

Finished my article today. I'd outlined it last night after finishing my plotting. This morning I sat down and it just flew. It's about 1500 words and only required a bit of revision...unlike the last Vision article I did with a final draft that bears only passing resemblance to the first draft. It was nice to do actual writing. Nice to know I can still do it. And though I never had much interest in non-fiction before, I really like writing articles for Vision.

Reading News: I had to stop reading T. Jefferson Parker's Where Serpents Lie to finishing my plotting, and right when it was getting good. It's a chilling thriller with a flawed and interesting main character. Definately top notch work. Thought at times the MC's first-person interior monologues can get a bit windy. But the story really cranks into high gear and the prose is smooth. Now I just need some time to finish it! Next on my reading list: Holly Lisle's Memory of Fire. Very excited about this. After that I'll probably read the next two books in S.L. Veihl's Stardoc series. I have got to know what happens after that nasty cliffhanger at the end of Beyond Varallan.

Plot, Plot, Plot

Almost sounds like a plane running out of gas, doesn't it. Which is how I felt while working on my plot last night. Man, I had things working out until I realized I'd mixed up a couple of important scenes, thinking they were the same, and thus watched my structure crumble. I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how to rebuild, but kept getting scrambled by my own thoughts.

After sleeping on the problem, this morning I tediously picked through what I had and after about a decade, finally figured out a way to fix things. Now I'm about halfway done and a lot has shifted since starting. I've already thrown out a number of scenes that make no sense and have a feeling I'll chuck quite a few more before the day's done. This means creating a cache of new scenes. But maybe it won't be so bad. I must finish this today, and Beth wants to get out of the house today, too. Which sounds like a great idea, but between my cough (slowly going away, finally) and my plotting, I'm not so sure we'll make it. Let us not forget that I still have an article to write. Looks like that's work for tomorrow.

Damn good thing I enjoy writing.

Done-Diddy-Done

At last, I have finished my plot outline. Oy, was that ever a pain in the arse. But I really like what I got. Had to work for it, but I like it. Somehow it all came together. Next job: Finish article!

'Nuf said.