Fiona Grey Writes

Writer of Fantasy. Wielder of Red Pens.

Tag: Paladin

Timelines & Deadlines

March 8, 2021 /

I’ve been dragging on a few items, for a number of reasons. Plot problems that I finally got unstuck on. Unmotivated after long days. Distracted by the garbage disposal leaking black sludge everywhere. That really good series I just discovered on KU. You know – life.

But I’ve got a couple anthologies that I want to put in for (and one I was accepted into, yay!), and some short deadlines. That puts a whomping push on book two, which is giving me more fits than book three, or the short story that comes in between them.

Or the other short stories that won’t let my brain go.

And if I’m not accepted, the external pressure’s off, but I’ll still work on the stories to release at a later date.

It’s not a bad thing, to have goals. We’ll see how far I can get. If nothing else, this should up my daily wordcount and rebuild the habit of writing. I’ve gotten sloppy. Even modest goals can help.

Sabotage

January 6, 2021 /

This story has been removed. Why? Because it’s part of the Professor Porter Saga and will be formally published in a revised form.

***

The final week of 2020’s prompt was from Leigh Kimmel: “A plumbing fixture suddenly stops working. On inspection, it turns out the cutoff valve has been turned off, but everyone denies having done so.” This was a tough one! I know nothing about plumbing. Neither, I suspect, do the ice fairies.

Mine went to Becky Jones and AC Young, who both wrote different and highly entertaining stories about goblins in the garbage.

Brains & Taxes

September 7, 2020 /

It’s the taxes that get me.

Oh, I know the steps I intellectually need to take, and know that it’s only fear holding me back. I can figure all of this out.

Beta readers, covers, wrapping up stories, ISBNs, copyright. I can take each bit separately, one piece at a time.

But I let the taxes hold me back, because that’s the point where it feels overwhelming.

So in the meantime, I trick my brain into continuing to make progress. Fine, fine, brain. You don’t want to figure out taxes yet? Well, it’s almost the end of the calendar year anyway. If you wrap up these stories and work on the rest of it, it’ll all be there in CY21. There’s plenty of time to talk to a tax professional. Start off fresh in the new year. You’ll have everything ready to go.

At some point, I know I’ll grow impatient. My brain is apparently comfortable with self-deception, even as I’m fully aware it’s ongoing.

Humans are weird.

Writing Cat has little patience for her human’s bizarre antics, but acknowledges limited impact upon food delivery.

Going backward

January 5, 2020 /

Very excited to have June and Peter’s story hit 68K yesterday. I was originally aiming for 90K, but think it might fit better at about 80K.

I’m an underwriter, so the first draft lacks sufficient description. Especially sensory and emotional description, from a quick analysis. All the things DayJob requires me to eliminate, of course.

But then I realized I had notes from early outlining stages at the end of the document. Over three thousands words of notes.

I couldn’t have gotten this far without those notes. I’m grateful I had them. But I wish I’d eliminated them earlier, because going backward is depressing.

A good reason to take a break and get some plot problems analyzed. Made it easy to get started today, and I’m back up above 68k again. Yay!

Edit: I’m calling it, because I’ve reached a point where adding to the story without setting it aside for a while will hurt it more than help. The story itself has been told; it’s just not shiny yet.

© 2024 Fiona Grey Writes

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑