Since the beginning of January I’ve been doing a lot of writing. And I do mean a lot. I’ve written nearly every single day between the hours of 1 AM and 6 AM. The story I started writing is one that’s been brewing in my mind for at least two years without ever actualizing because of life’s commitments. There was also the fact that I knew who I wanted my characters to be — I knew their names, their histories, and their present lives, but I could never figure out what the conflict in the story would be. You can’t have a story that’s just peaches and cream, right? A story without conflict isn’t a story.
Going back to when I started writing and posting stuff at 14, I don’t think I’ve ever began a story without knowing beforehand what conflict was going to arise. But I’ve had the writing itch for a while, ever since I graduated from university so I just decided to do it. On January 1st I put the pen to the paper and just went for it. So I started writing again and I realized that there was something I forgot in my long absense: you run into unexpected ideas. Halfway through writing the third chapter I had a grand moment of epiphany. The conflict came to me. It seems dumb now that I let myself sit on this idea for so long. All I had to do was start. And that seems so obvious now.
In my last blog/update in June, I noted that above all I have to write for myself. I have every intention of doing that with this story. I don’t think I really have much of a choice. I doubt that I still have an audience and even if I did, I’m not sure how interested they would be in reading this. That’s fine with me though. I am determined to finish writing this and have something complete again.
The writing kick I’m on may have been unintentionally encouraged by someone who recently read everything I have up on the site. Lana and Kieran are my favorite, I Could Have Lied is the one I’m most proud of, and Sitting, Waiting, Wishing is…still not completely posted. The person who read told me that SWW is actually her favorite and to please finish posting it. I know I’ve been saying for years that I’m going to get around to editing those last few chapters and finish posting it, but this time I mean it for real. Before she started reading, I’d actually decided that I was going to just take that story down. But then I went on the site and read all the chapters of SWW that are posted and realized, wow, I actually like the story. I guess even though I pay little to no attention to the site, there’s a reason I can’t let go of it after all this time. It’d be an accomplishment for me to see that story finally completed on the site.
I think I’ll be forever undecided on whether or not I should copy edit all of Lana and Kieran’s story. Before I started writing this post I was reading the chapters I have on the blog that have already been copy edited and I couldn’t help but think how cute they are. Is it wrong to think your own characters are completely adorable? I’m torn as to whether I should do the edit overhaul, or if it’s been too long and I should just leave everything be. I want the writing of all three stories to be to a standard that doesn’t make me cringe. It’s mostly Part One that I have a problem with, but there are spots in Part Two and Part Three I would like to fix, too. So I don’t know. But I’ll keep it on the backburner for the time being. It’s way more important for me to keep going with what I’m writing now.
Way back when, I made a couple of big site updates annually on March 12th, because it was the “anniversary” of the site opening all the way back in 2005. I will post at least a chapter of SWW and the new story on that day. Because I can and because I have to do this for myself. Maybe even a new layout!
