September Writing & October Goals

[osprey_archer]

Happy writing news: I finished my short story for the m/m magical pets anthology! Both magical pets anthologies (f/f and m/m) will be coming out on October 15, and I’ll post links as soon as they’re available. I’ve been proofreading the f/f anthology and it’s got some amazing stories; so far my favorite is the one about the selkie.

Less happy writing news: I have written nothing since April and clearly I am never going to be able to write anything ever again. (Dramatic pause while I cast myself on a fainting couch.) Alas, alas, my doom is upon me!

And by nothing I mean I’ve written two short stories for the magical pets anthologies and a bunch of blog posts and ten Honeytrap extras and also a lot of words on a variety of novellas… So really what I’m complaining about is that all of those potential novellas are grab bags of tenuously connected scenes that are not coalescing into actual books.

Comments

[missroserose]

Congratulations on the finished stories!

Also, I feel you about the novellas. That's probably my least favorite stage of writing, when you just keep poking at the dang idea from different angles but it just refuses to crystallize.

[osprey_archer]

Just coalesce into a structure, novella! *cries quietly* Please???

[holyschist]

oooooh, selkies!

It's been A Year, so perhaps it is just taking ideas longer to properly crystallize?

[osprey_archer]

Yes, I think a lot of brain space that can usually be devoted to stories is currently going to "the country is literally on fire," etc. Which makes it more frustrating, in a way, because the horror of real life makes it SO much more desirable to just disappear into writing a story... while also making it impossible to do so. A very 2020 catch-22.

[holyschist]

I think also the changed routines affect things as well - I feel like I did a lot of my actual writing in coffeeshops and other public places, and without that space from my usual work/chores realm, it's harder to get into the right frame of mind? (I had a similar issue when I went from living in Colorado and doing a lot of long drives to...not...since I did a ton of mental outlining while driving, but that doesn't work in city traffic, which stresses me out like fuck.)

But mostly I think creativity is just a giant fucking struggle right now for most of us. :-( I have barely touched my watercolors since February, aside from a little leaf printing this summer, which isn't really painting.