You'll never guess what I did today

I actually learned something from a How-To post!

Okay, I'll admit, I mis-used the Sad tag when I was labeling Summer. I think everyone who reads the story and knows what the difference between [Sad] and [Tragedy] knew this. I read Wanderer D's little thing about tagging and realized I was confused. Summer is not really a sad story in most senses. It's lighthearted, doesn't take itself very seriously, and in general isn't constantly trying to make you bawl your eyes out. No, rather, that would be a genre more aptly used to describe shortskirts' work, not mine.

So I bet you're all wondering why the crap I haven't been updating stories. I still find it incredible that the last time I published an update for either Summer or Direction was August 13th, since it feels like it's been a lot longer. In general, while I can make all the excuses I want about not having enough time and/or filling the free time life does give me with Tumblr and Homestuck (which I just started reading recently and am deeply enjoying), what it really boils down to is I'm at a point in both stories where I need to write chapters that involve a lot of social interaction (Pinkie's party in Summer and the first dinner at Flight Camp in Direction), and I'm incredibly nervous about doing so. This is partially because I haven't fully developed the characters I want to have Jack and Gilda interact with and partially because I'm not entirely sure how to write compelling dialogue between more than two characters (some may point out that I've done this with Lyra, Bon Bon, and Jack, but that was limited to two of them talking at a time while one of them stayed out of the talking for the most part). Eventually I'm just going to have to say "Screw it, I'm not a professional and I need to get something out there so I can move on to the more important parts of my stories," but that time hasn't happened yet.

I'm currently planning on doing some work on NaNoWriMo-ing, and I think what I might wind up doing instead of participating proper is just try to finish Direction since I had planned on using its plotline for my PoNoWriMo attempt (which, I guess, it was an attempt, but a very poor one). I really like the storyline of Direction, and it's kind of a fun one for me to write since I'm struggling with a lot of the same issues Gilda will struggle with over the course of the story. Hopefully the third chapter of that will be out Friday, though I'm performing in my school's play this weekend so I don't know how much work I'll be able to get done on it during school and while backstage. I'll give it my best shot, though.

Cheers, and thanks for sticking with me despite my inactivity.

--Ginge