NaStoUpdate-- Week One.

NaSto, up to this point, has been going relatively well. Got off to an uneven start, but then kicked into serious high gear for awhile there, which is why I haven’t posted in a little while (I know the fans are devastated.)

I fully recognize, btw, that these NaNo or Sto or Blo or whatever posts are done entirely for the benefit of the writer, not the audience, so I will not feel bad if you skip this one. You’ll still be counted as a blip on my hit-tracker, so actually, I’ll feel great about it! BUT… come back soon, because I do plan on starting a series of posts in a day or so on what I consider the Three Commandments of Short Story (and Really All Story) Writing, and that ought to be worth a good peek, and possibly some derision.

Back to NaSto. I’ve done pretty well. I’m a little behind, and right now I’m seriously dragging, but most of the behindedness is due to the fact that I dragged on Day One and skipped Day Two entirely. Most every other day I’ve been writing more than my daily goal, I just haven’t quite caught up yet. All in all, I've been pleased with the extent to which its made me just write, no matter what, and I think alot of what I have written is pretty decent, which I didn't expect.

I’ve been writing on a number of different stories. One story I have actually completed, though this was not a real, serious developed story, but more of a world-building piece I did based off of one of Carrie’s amazing ideas, intended to show her the thought it inspired in my mind. Other than that, I’ve been working on a few different pieces, a couple old, most new, and now I seem to be hitting a wall.

I’ve reached a point in each one where I’m done doing set-up and world-building, and now the plot really needs to unfold. That’s my weakness-- plot. Pretty big weakness, unfortunately. My natural tendency is to run screaming for the hills now, because plotting is hard, but instead I decided to make this post, which is both utterly procrastinatory and moderately productive, so that I could say I did something even though I didn’t.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and have a new idea for another start, but the fact remains that at some point I’m going to have to sit down and figure out what the hell these stories are about. Once I do, the juices should start flowing again, and we can get back on track. I am going to try and squeeze out some words today and tomorrow, but with work, I’m probably not going to get the serious committed thinking time till the weekend, and cursed NaSto marches on without me!

[insert continued whining here]. Okay, enough of that. I have to go to work anyway. By popular demand, I present you with-- this word meter! TA-DA!

5264 / 25000 words. 21% done!

And I promise to update it no less than once a week. So enjoy! And if anyone wants to talk plotting (or knows what happens next in a story that involved Heart, Hands, and Head drinking scotch on a porch overlooking a giant red rift with bad thoughts pouring out of it), by all means, share!