Just a note to everyone who cares: this journal will be deleted as soon as I get Internet access back at home. The reason I'm waiting until then is so that I can get all the stories off here to store them on my computer, but after that, this journal won't have a point. I'll just discuss my writing on my main journal. No sense in clogging up LJ, after all.

Why am I doing this? I don't write enough to warrant having a writing journal. In terms of visibility, more people read my other journals than this journal, and anything decent will end up posted to my website in the end anyway. There's no sense in having a journal I don't use that often.

So if anyone gives a damn, any writing crap will from here on be posted on eternalism, or stuck on my website once I get it all nice and happy-looking again.

June 2

Though the Romance Novel challenge was supposed to start yesterday, I didn't get a chance to start writing until this morning. However, I made up for lost time by writing 4253 words, thus completing a whole chapter, and going a little way into chapter 2.

It's my first day of writing, and already I'm over 10% done. I think I've just scared myself. If I went at this pace, I could finish the challenge in a little over a week.

I likely won't, though. But I can write over my weekends, and before work after Griffin's gone (my designated writing time), so I can at least get out 1000 a day, at least, if I put my mind to it.

Words written - 4253 (10.63% done)
Month gone - 2 days (6.67% gone)

June 7

Blah. I was off to a great start, and now I've fallen behind. Boo. Need to get my butt in gear and do more writing before work.

Words written - 7785 (19.46% done)
Month gone - 7 days (23.33% gone)

June 9

Still need to get my butt in gear! I'm still behind where I ougbht to be! Oh well. I do have two days off coming up, and though I have to do a fair bit of housework, I know I can put some time aside and get some decent writing done. Fortunately, I'm not too far behind, and writing a few thousands words a day between now and next Tuesday ought to put me right back on track. Maybe even get me a little bit ahead of the game!

Words written - 9170 (22.9% done)
Month gone - 9 days (30% gone)

This journal needs a serious makeover. Seriously. I'm tempted to delete a whole load of the pointless entries I made, lump a bunch of the wordcount entries into one (for whatever period I was wordcounting for), and just generally clean it up. I'm tired of looking at journals with pointless entries, especially when I'm the one that wrote said pointless entries. There's far too much, "I ought to write" here, and not nearly enough "I wrote."

I'm having a slight mental block when it comes to plotting stuff for the Gryphon Riders stuff. I have two plans for it. One, potentially a trilogy, of the first Rider, and how the Gryphons were at an early stage. No telepathy, above average animal intelligence, but not something that can easily communicate with their riders. Well trained flying horses, for all intents and purposes. Somewhere in this trilogy, Crestevar and his unnamed-as-of-yet Gryphon end up doing something so that the Gryphons end up smarter and able to mentally communicate with their Riders.

The second set of stories takes place hundreds of years after that, after the Gryphon Riders have established themselves as an organisation.

My problem is that I feel like I'm taking too much Lackey-liberty and turning the Gryphons into Companions, which I don't really want them to be. New Riders are chosen when a Gryphon deems them worthy. They talk telepathically, and usually only to their Riders or each other. You see where the similarities are?

At the same time as I'm worried about pulling a copycat, I don't want the Gryphons to just stay as animals in terms of intelligence. It's essential that they have some form of mental communication, especially with their Riders, or else things will get insanely tricky to manage. I could, theoretically, leave them with sub-human intelligence but still give them the ability to communicate, and leave it up to the muddled human to figure out what the Gryphon is trying to tell them, but that makes too much problem for the concept of the organization of Riders.

It's like I'm trying to turn this into my own personal Valdemar, Collegium and all. And while that's cool, it's been done, and I don't exactly want to do it again. If someone reads this, I want them to read it because they like my idea, not because they like someone else's idea and mine happens to be exactly like it.

I could make the Gryphons the same kind of creature as the cortha, but that feels a little too dishonest to the cortha I've created. *chuckles* Srikar doesn't like that plan, methinks.

Of course, there's the other problem with the Gryphon Riders. I'd also love to write the Feylands stuff, which, in the present time, also has intelligent telepathic animals. It's like everything I write will have the same concept shoved into it. How much can I write before it looks like I'm writing with a beaten dead horse?

Ugh. I have too many potential projects swimming through my mind. Gryphon Riders. Feylands. Blood and Thunder. The shit with Rhyn and Faewyn that needs a serious going-over. And realistically, I can't focus on any of those until my craft projects are done, or else I'll spend all my free time writing. Not a bad thing in itself, but when I've promised crafts to various people, they need to come first.

Maybe I'll get lucky and have a flash of inspiration as I go to sleep tonight, or something.

Go me. I have the makings of a book. Not just a story. Not even just a lot of stories. A non-fiction helpful book that people may actually be interested in.

So what's there to do about this? Well, uh, write it, of course. *gets fingers in gear and goes to it*

Edit - 2872 words of me randomly babbling on about recycled yarn. Huzzah! I wish I could write like this all the time.

I have more research to do, on fibres, patterns, and instructions. Hopefully I can keep going full steam ahead with this project, publish it on lulu.com, and make merry bushels of cash . . . I mean, uh, get the word out. Yeah, that's it,

It's not a good sign when I try to log into this journal by using my work password. O_o Sorry, Self, but the password to this journal isn't "wyndham". It probably never will be, either.

Bah. I have the writing bug. The problem is I also have the knitting bug. So I can't tell what I'd rather be doing today at work. Fnerg.

Well, really, I probably ought to be writing. The more I write now, the bigger and better an update I'll have for my website when I get Internet access in the apartment.

However, I'm torn between working more on the alternate reality Little House fic, or that knitting ghost story.

Yeah. Can't ever tell me my interests aren't diverse. :/

I've figured out the best way to make money and still write.

Write romance novels.

The plot can be practically the same for each one, they don't require much thought, and some people just can't seem to get enough of them. I mean, there's a market for that stuff, even though they're all the frigging same!

Biggest problem with this plan? I'm not sure I could live with myself if I did it.

2294 words written tonight, in between my lunch and going home. Not bad, when one considers that I was also taking calls during that time, too.

A few more nights like that and I'll be on my way to banging out a semi-decent novel. Possibly at NaNo rate!

Inspirations for that unnamed story about Cameron and Steven and all those other folks whose story really ought to have a name by now.

Okay, so Katie left Steven for Mark, and they ran off together. Literally. There somes a part where Katie runs back to Steven for a one-night stand before she blurts out that her life is too confusing, it's not you it's me, and leaves for good. Well, mostly for good. She does come back a while later with some interesting information on a piece of paper.

HIV-positive.

See, after she left Steven for Mark, she also cheated on Mark, then dumped him, then ran back to Steven for comfort. She was infected during that little bit of cheating, and ended up passing the infection on to Steven.

Who, I must say, is not pleased to hear this. Either in the story or from my mind.

How I came up with this? Seemed fitting. Maybe it's due to listening to Will I, from the Rent soundtrack, on repeat. But someone in my head keeps bringing out a cold deadened feeling in me when that song comes on, and I finally traced it back to Steven.

This story was originally supposed to centre on the psychic element of all the people in that house, who were brought together by some old guy, for a purpose that was never made clear to me. Now it seems to be focussing in on their lives, and the psychic and supernatural element just seems to be in the background. Still there, of course, but it's not the main part of the story anymore. Seems more subdued, which fits the tone of the people more. They've lived with these abilities all their lives, after all, so really, they would have mostly adjusted, and learned to deal with them accordingly, and not make huge gigantic deals of it all.

However, this begs the question of how they got together in the first place. My theory? Complete coincidence. Cameron always struck me as kind of upper-class, so perhaps the house is owned by his parents, and he decided to live in it. There's enough room in the house to rent out rooms, so he does, which pleases his parents, and thus Michael arrives. The Steven and Katie. Then Mark. And then we have the whole initial group together.

It just happens to be coincidence that three of them have some level of psychic ability.

I thought that Mark was there because of a twin of his, though now I'm not so sure. He could just be the delicious plot point that makes Steven's story come alive. No point in giving him a forced story that isn't really needed.

Okay, so, Steven and Katie probably moved into the house because the rent was cheap, and it was somewhere they could both live together without it seeming too commitment-oriented (big mistake number 1, I suppose). Michael and Mark wanted to go to the nearby university. Cameron too, most likely. So that explains all of them. Huzzah!

Funny . . . The original main character was supposed to be Michael, but now I'm finding myself more attached to Steven. Wierd how that happens sometimes.

I have an idea for an alternate timeline fic.

This in itself isn't so unusual, except for the 'fandom' that I chose. Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie" series.

Yeah, you did read that right.

See, I've done my research. The books differ a fair bit from the actual timeline of Wilder's life, though I'm sticking to bookverse, to make it all easier in terms of researching dates and stuff. Now, this fic is tentatively titled "Turning Points," for the reason that there's a clear point in the story of Wilder's life that, if a different decision had been made by someone in her family, her life would have gone in a completely different direction than it did.

So I began, a little while ago, to list all the important things that happened after the specific incident in question, and tried to theorize how things may have worked differently using the alternate timeline. The result is amazing. At least, I think it is.

Do I feel weird doing real-person fanfic? Absolutely. I feel kinda like I'm poking my nose in where it doesn't belong. However, it isn't like I'm write real-person smut, and the people I'm writing about have been dead for years, and this is all just speculative anyway. Still, it feels a little odd.

I really have done my homework on this, too. Looking into various dates, origins of towns in certain areas (including some names of real people there at the time, to add to authenticity), laws, and so on and so forth. Here's hoping I can write something that can live up to the books themselves!

I do have to cross bookverse and reality in a few cases, though, just to make the story a little more interesting. (Well, interesting to me, at any rate.)

So I think I'll start a-writing Turning Points while I'm at work, just for fun. Lord knows I don't have anything better to do while I'm here.

So I have plans to write. Got a couple of ideas, even. The knitting horror story. Gryphon Riders. Finishing Angel's frigging Hell! Some odd little underworld kind of story that won't leave my brain. The untitled stuff with Cameron and Co. The story that takes place in the future even though it appears that man has gone technologically and socially backwards. Lots of little ideas that keep coming to me and peeping, "Write me. Write me!"

So isn't it typical that as soon as I go to write something, I lose whatever steam I had?

Ugh. Need to get motivated. I have a plan. It's a good plan, even. Basically, I grab a dictionary, flip open pages at random, and pick ten words. Per day. And I have to write something that incorporates those 10 words. It's a sound plan. I could base a community off this idea, if I so chose!

But as for tonight? Damn, I want to write. But I don't know what's worth writing.

Maybe I'll start the historical parts of the knitting story . . .

It's February, and that means I can finally start that new writing project I've had in mind. I've been putting it of until February so that I can see just how much I can work on it while I'm at work (which is really the only time I can get any good writing done).

This story combines a few of my great loves. Ghost stories. Knitting. Obscure and potentially made-up secluded civilizations in easter Asia.

Yeah. Props to the person who can figure out how I'm planning to combine these things. It's like, two can go together easily, but . . . knitting?

Yes. I'm damn well incorporating knitting into a ghost story. And I'll do it well. So there.

With that in mind, my shift is about to start. I'd better log in and get writing. :p

( The Semblance of Self. )




Damned if I know where the twisty wordiness came from. Apparently, riding the bus brings funny thoughts into my brain.

I mean, I can understand writing what you know, but why oh why does my brain suddenly give me a ghost story that centres around knitting?

I'm serious. Now, maybe I've just been watching Griffin play Fatal Frame too much, but I get the twisted feeling this story could work. Dream-shifting, knitting one's soul into a garment, past and present stories intermingling . . .

Yeah . . . I've completely lost it, haven't I?

Starting this coming January, I'm going to make an effort to do some writing every day. This won't be too hard, given that I'm now working in a place that offers Internet access, so I'll have no reason to not bang out a thousand words or so over my breaks. Short of being so tired that I fall asleep at my desk, or something.

Also, when I get home, I'm going to look for more user icons. I have the ability to use 6, so I may as well do so.

I will finish E Pluribus Unum, though I suspect that the only person who cares about me finishing that doesn't even know this journal exists. :p

I'm going to go back and delete some of the old and pointless entries of this journal, too. Stuff that I said I'd do but never got around to. I know it may be a heavy veiling of the truth, but I'm tired of making myself look bad by making plans and then not going through with them.

I will make an honest effort to rewrite the story with Rhyn and Faewyn. In my head, it feels cluttered and rushed. Almost DHB-like. (Drunken Hobo-Beard, for those who may have forgotten.)

Why am I making these resolutions? Because I'm a writer. Deep down, I'm a writer. I write, therefor I am. I have stories to tell, and I'll be damned if those stories have to stay in my head for another year just because I'm being lazy. It isn't fair to the character-muses that sit patiently in the back of my mind, waiting for their half-hour when I put fingers to keyboard and bang out something rough. Yes, I value my muses that much. If it weren't for them, I'd have no stories to tell.

I'll also make an honest effort to get back into certain fandoms, and write for them. Fandoms I like, then, obviously. Yes, that does mean Pokemon, for at least the overall world is fascinating to me. I may be the only person in existance who'll write Plague Tales AU slashfic, but dangit, I refuse to let that stop me. I have a Harry Potter fic dancing through my brain, so I will try to write that. FFX has the potential for tons of fics, and I will take advantage of that.

There is plenty of inspiration out there. I don't even have to look hard to find it. But from now on, I'll make a better attempt to not let it all slip through my fingers.

I will make a name for myself, and that name will be "Writer."

(I will also make a better layout for this journal. It's rather . . . boring.)

So, out of nowhere, a sweet little priest-muse named Coriad appeared in my head, and started telling me tales of his religion. Fascinating pieces, really. Here's one that I plan to turn into a tapestry one day, as soon as I get the supplies together.

( The Sin of Love. )

Oh, and I especially like the story that Coriad told about how Saint Barthel called a curse down upon all women, so that they bleed once a month. There are two different versions of that myth, Coriad says, and perhaps at some point, I'll tell them both.

(Note - The story of Rosmadh and Aiselis appears here as it was written in one of the holy tomes that Coriad has access to. If I were telling the story in my own words, it wouldn't be so . . . unemotional and detached. Just so's ya know.)

I think I've found some good inspirational music for writing. Vertical Horizon puts me in the mood to write, and it even gives me a vague feeling of what I ought to write.

I think this is good music for writing these folks. Finally, something good I can do with them!

If only I didn't have so much stuff to do already. Maybe once Christmas is over, I can start working on them. It's always easier when music brings to mind the characters.

The lyrics of an angel without wings can hardly fly (Angel Without Wings) strikes me as particularly moving.

*listens to the current song* Oh lordy . . . Oh boy, this just turned incredibly angsty. I think I need to write a snippet right now, before I forget.

Pandora.com.

Good music for writing stuff. Basically, you input an artist or song that you like, and this project will play that, plus search for more songs or artists that share similar qualities that you may like to listen to.

Given that my own computer is dead and I have no real playlist, this is a great thing to get me in certain moods, or just provide good background noise that's easy on my ears. I highly recommend it.

Doesn't seem to have some of the more obscure things that I like, though, like Within Temptation, the Mediaeval Baebes, or Red Delicious. Boo. But I am enjoying what I find.

Wow. I just wrote some serious smut! Possibly the best smut I actually think I've written, with the exception of the orgasm bit. Chalk that up to not having much experience with male orgasm, I guess, but really, that's the only part I'm really unhappy with.

Over 8k words now. Getting up there. One more story like that today, and I ought to be where I'm supposed to be for this time of the month. If I get to that point, I'll be 20% of the way there.

Yeah, doing a book of short stories is infinitely easier than doing one long story. Especially when my mind and attention span have been all over the place recently.

You know, for my next story, I'll probably do the rather controversial Erin/Jakob story, where the two are siblings. That one got amusing to play out.

Yeah yeah, not only do I write gay smut, I write incestuous smut. Occasionally gay incestuous smut.

You may burn me at the stake now.

72 words shy of 6k. Alas, I probably won't be able to get any decent writing done today, but I will at least try to get some brainstorming done for future NaNo stories. That'll help things considerably.

I've come up with a new term for crappy stories, too, ones that feel forced, rough, and unfinished. Drunken Hobo-Beard Stories. Why? Because when it's being written, or reread, it brings to mind the feeling that a drunken hobo rubbed his beard across paper, and out came words. These kinds of stories may require special lice shampoo to be turned into something decent come rewrite time.

I get the feeling that this year's NaNo will bring a great deal of DHBS.

So, I at least have over 2000 words. Not bad, but not good, either.

Fortunately for me, I have about 4 hours tonight where I have no plans other than to write my little butt off. Hopefully this will get my wordcount up some.

Figures, though, that as soon as I decide, "Hey, I'll write a bunch of similarly-themed short stories for NaNo, thus escaping the usual trap I lay for myself," my brain goes blank. Yuh-huh, I am devoid of short stories.

Well, not really. But none are springing instantly to mind right now, which means I may have to poke around in my brain for a bit, trying to dig out some old scenarios to turn into text.