Reflections on Week Twelve

[Read the completed story here!]

I tried something very different with this one—instead of brainstorming internally and then summarizing the results of said brainstorm(s) here, I thought it might be more in the spirit of Unwritten Word transparency if I actually transcribed my internal process and posted it here (there was this one and that one and finally the other).

As you can see, I tend to ask myself questions and then either answer them or ask more questions around my questions. I don't know how interesting it is for you to read, but for me anyway it's a lot more productive than worrying over the one question in silence. Moving pen on paper or committing pixelated words to Giant Glowbox God (i.e., computer screen) somehow keeps my thought process chugging forward.

As for the story itself, I really don't know what it is. Do you? It's kind of funny, kind of meaningful in a larger sense. Look, folks: They can't all be pearls. The goal here is momentum. Perfect is the enemy of the good, right?

Next up: Week Thirteen!

Another Week Eight update!

Just a quick post to let you know that I'm still plugging away at the shapeless, ever-growing mass of words that is Week Eight's challenge. 

Because things have been hectic for me (two jobs, domestic responsibilities, social commitments, holidays, birthdays, Dragon Age: Origins...), I've had to find a more flexible way to write in the few spare moments I have. So when I'm home, I'll type up what I've written longhand and then try to write past that. When I'm away from home, however, I'll try to write at least two sentences from where I remember leaving off.

This wasn't a deliberate stroke of genius so much as simply what happened one day, but the end result was that, over the course of a week, I ended up accidentally rewriting the latest passage of the story. Later, when I discovered my mistake, I was actually able to combine bits and pieces of both into a paragraph that was stronger than either previous version. Voltron-style. I had been stuck on that paragraph, and somehow this process allowed me to find an intuitive way past it.

So anyway, it's coming along, and as a reprieve from longer works (and even longer waits between works), I think for Week Nine I'm going to try a microfiction week wherein I burn through one prompt a day, Monday–Friday. This will be a good excuse to build some momentum back up, and also to get some of the truly stupid prompts I've been avoiding out of the way. 

How's it going for you?