January 2022

This month I worked on a few story ideas and started a new story inspired by part of a Simpsons episode and an old job I had at a donut shop. I tried to work differently than I normally do. I am what is called a pantser, meaning I write with an idea but for the most part from the seat of my pants. The other type of writer is a plotter and planner. I think most writers do what works best for them. 
That is not to say that as a pantser, I do not know what will happen in my story or how I'm going to get there, but nothing is official, and everything is up for change, and maybe the ending is not quite the ending I thought it might be. 
When I start writing, I have the basics, and those basics have played out so many times in my head as the idea spins around and takes shape. I decided to take the basics and expand on them a little bit. I spent more time taking the thoughts spinning in my head and putting them in some sort of order. I read up on plot and format. I tried to get everything major written down before actually starting the story. 
The result?
It's a much slower process for me. I love thinking about writing and surprising myself with a change I hadn't thought of earlier. So the story status is that it's not done, and I keep getting distracted by looking at my notes and adding them. I'm also not having as much fun with it as I wanted, so I'm betting as the story continues, I'll come up with something that throws all my plans out the window, and I'll finish it by the seat of my pants. I know this is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I only care so much. My goal was to push myself as a writer and learn more about how other writers do it. My main goal is to write a story that I enjoy writing regardless of how I do it. 
The other thing I've been working on is a plan for editing the stories I have already 'finished' and to finish writing some of the stories I have started or that I have in mind to write. I play my writing/editing to-do list pretty loose and grab whatever is closest and possibly easiest to work on. What counts closest and easiest changes every time I sit down to work on stuff.
The end result? Nothing is ever really completed. 
So I loaded up Scrivener and created a to-do list that works for my writing. 
I'm keeping it simple with a basic folder system

Inside each section, every story gets its own document so that I can keep track of what stage of writing or editing is at. 

I don't know if it'll help me accomplish more, but it's something.


Outside of writing or thinking about writing, I have been reading. I finished reading The Fifth Season, Book 1 of N.K. Jemisins Broken Earth Trilogy and have been enjoying Stephen Graham Jones novel and 80's Slasher encyclopedia My Heart is a Chainsaw, which I found out is going to be a trilogy as well. The next book, Don't Fear the Reaper comes out at the end of this summer. 



Here's an aftermath photo of the first blizzard of 2022 (taken while snowshoeing)




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