November Writing and December Plans

[osprey_archer]

Did not get much writing done this month. Feeling discouraged about writing in general, to be honest. I’ve been struggling to write (so many of this year’s writing posts are some variation on “didn’t get much writing done this month”!), and my royalties are considerably lower than last year, and it’s all very frustrating.

I have decided that for whatever reason I am simply not Ready to write Sleeping Beauty, so rather than continuing to bang my head against that wall, I’m going to set the project aside for at least a year, probably more, it seems optimistic to imagine that I’ll be able to stand the sight of it after a mere year has passed. I remind myself yet again that Ursula K. Le Guin had to sit on Tehanu for eighteen years before she was ready to write it. Eighteen years!

Have been noodling on a couple of projects but who knows if they will come to anything.

***

Anyway, in years past when I have been struggling to write, I have found prompt memes really helpful. (The Time-Traveling Popcorn Ball originally grew from a prompt meme.) So I thought I would post one!

Tell me a little about a winter story I haven't written, and I'll give you several sentences from that story.

Winter doesn't have to mean holiday (although it certainly can!). Think snow, icicles, hot beverages by toasty fires, sledding and sleigh rides and being trapped by blizzards and unfortunate incidents involving holly dryads.

I will write ficlets for most any fandom I've written before (Captain America, Queen's Thief, various Sutcliffs, American Girl... I haven't actually written a Biggles or Worrals fic before but I've been thinking about trying) or for my own books, or for a completely original story.

Comments

[osprey_archer]

"What did you do in the winter," Jessarat asked, "in the far north on the banks of the Cheresen, where the night lasts most of the day?"

Innis didn't answer, and Jess thought he would not answer, and perhaps it was a waste of breath to talk when there was so much ground to cover, and hard walking as they crunched along through the thin crust that had frozen over the snow. But then Innis said, "We told stories around the fire. The long sagas - those are winter stories - always told when the sky is dark and the flames flickering. We would crack nuts - you always save the nuts to crack in winter; it is something to do with your hands; w would flame dried fruits in brandy, and snatch them out of the pans, and suck our burnt fingers and brag about the grand things we would one day do..."

He paused, gazing over the fields with the snow all blushed red as the red sun sank low. He tossed his head like a restive horse, and said, "What will you do in the winters, when you've conquered the banks of the Cheresen, where the night lasts most of the day?"

"I doubt we'll make it so far."

"You're a diplomat." The growing dusk tinged Innis's face blue. "You're right, though. Winter will save us. If anything can."

[oracne]

This is fabulous. You are such an excellent prose stylist.