Guess who is behind? Falling behind seems to be a common theme for this challenge. It is surprising, then, that so many who do fall behind still complete it. Miss a single day, or only halfway complete a day, and all those words left unwritten spread across the remaining time. Miss a second day, and…

…and I have a story. I grouped together all of my story ideas and whittled them down, and down some more. Twenty, twelve, nine – all of a sudden, only one story really fit everything I wanted this year. Fantasy, here we come! A lot of my runners-up got ruled out because they do not…

I’ve tried not to put out a ‘life happened, so I have nothing new to say’ post. That is kept in reserve for when personal events become truly overwhelming, not just for accumulations of the ordinary. I could say where I am in writing, as I intended to when I decided to write these updates,…

My science fiction story is more than halfway edited so far. I found a scene which needs some of the events in it changed. To change what is already there to be something different yet similar, while fitting smoothly to what it flowed with before, is a new experience for me. It feels like it’s…

…and I am behind, as usual. I don’t care, I am still happy with my progress. My story is fun to read again. And editing this way is so much faster than a full rewrite. NaNoWriMo’s Camp events always feel less urgent to me, less stressful. No doubt this is partly because one can change…

Hello. I have found another book about my craft: Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande. It is from 1934, as near as I can tell, and it is not about how to write with good technique. She wrote it to help her students banish writer’s block. The book describes common problems and situations she has…

At last, the second draft of my science fiction story is finished! It felt a little odd to suddenly not have that go-to task. It is put away now, out of sight and out of mind until July’s NaNoWriMo event. I’d like to make a bigger deal about this being the one year anniversary of…

OK, I admit, I had to force the alliteration. Success! Almost. I have less than one scene to rewrite, and I will be done with editing the first draft! I’m a little concerned that this will be a difficult scene to get right, since there is so much dialogue. It’s basically a huge explanation. Still,…

At long last, I have reached a different section of my science fiction story. Progress is still painstakingly slow, yet steady. Then my friend suggested that I had been forcing myself to work on this for too long and needed a break. After some consideration, I chose to focus on other projects for this week.…

Since I last posted here, one of my confidants told someone else, a professional, that I am a writer. I was uncomfortable with that. The professional immediately asked if I had made any money from it, if I had published anything. My confidant correctly answered “No” to both questions. Because those answers are no, I…