Fic update

[aadler]

 
Writing hasn’t been going very well lately. During my Iraq deployment I found a new gear when it came to turning out fanfic, and repeated that streak (improved on it, in fact) while I was in Afghanistan. Something about my circumstances right now, though — and a particular story that’s giving me continuing difficulty — slowed me to a crawl, with long periods of no progress at all.

Within the last week or so, however, a few things have happened that gave me fresh impetus:

1. I ran across an abandoned version of my online fic page, within which I had listed three stories I haven’t written yet but have been keeping on the back burner for ‘someday’. What I had forgotten was that I had given the unwritten stories working titles … and just seeing those three titles suddenly kindled in me an urge to get in gear and finish current projects so I could write those.
    
2. My daughter told me of finishing her ‘story’ that actually turned out to be novel-length. I still haven’t seen that one, but it added to growing inspiration.
    
3. I read over an old story of mine — only the second Buffyfic I ever did, actually — and was suddenly seized by an idea. I don’t need any new ideas, I already have enough to keep me busy for years, but you can’t slam the door on them when they arrive. So, another mark in the GO column.
    
4. Someone added me to their Flist, and while checking out the newcomer I found a collection of fic with some entirely fresh approaches. I haven’t had the time to read any of it yet (except for a few drabbles), but just the existence of something that opens new horizons has made me impatient to continue expanding on my own.

So, over the weekend I added 1,200 words to “Queen’s Gambit”, and will be doing more today. I let myself get caught up in too much other stuff, and likewise got fixated on minimum output. Can’t afford that when I’m dealing with a minor block. Sure, more is better, but if I’d been doing one page per day — 300 words — I’d be done by now, or at least close to it. As it is, I’ve passed the 10,000-word mark.

This one is resisting me. But I’ll get there.