Pantsing

Over the past couple of weeks writing has... had become rather slow and difficult. I'd get up at 4 am, plunk myself down at the desk, and struggle to get a few paragraphs out. It was work, before going to work, and wasn't much fun.

I'd gotten caught up in worrying too much about choosing the exact right word, minding my commas, trying to avoid using so many "-ly" adverbs, etc. I was trying to edit while writing the story. This sounds great in theory but kills the mood in practice. It's difficult for me to focus on the characters, the scene, their conversation, and emotions when my mind is buzzing away with sorting out the mechanics of writing it at the same time. And, really, that's why I have a spell checker and bought access to tools like ProWritingAid. (And pester my readers to point out mistakes. You've all been drafted as Editors and just don't realize it! )

Pantsing is the solution!

Focusing on seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling what's going on in the story and just banging it down. Damn the plot line! Like rough clay thrown onto a wheel and pounded roughly into a pot-like shape. And it's working. The stories are flowing again and the characters are getting away from me and coming up with stuff I hadn't really thought about... not until their dialogue taps it's way onto my screen.

I'm about half-way (knock on wood) through the next chapter of Catch Me, cranked out a fun sequence for a 'Crystal Cotillion' in Honest Man, and I've added some new material to the re-write of chapter 3 of Daeling with Yt -- so much so that it'll probably get split into two chapters. That'll be interesting to figure out how to re-publish on FimFic.

Not much else is new. Had a nerve-wracking "not-really-a-job-interview-but-yeah-it's-a-job-interview" lunch with my manager's manager. I'll likely get hired on full-time next month. Now if only I could make my commute shorter...

Time for sleep.