But h, you ask me, you have recently surgically chosen to never be a parent. Why would you be reading parenting articles online. I answer, because I am surrounded by peers who have chosen to keep the world populated and also to keep facebook populated with articles about that endeavor. Occasionally I click on things so I can laugh at their misfortune later. This was one about how children are more confident, focused, etc when raised in nomadic settings and are responsible completely for their own schedules. So, because I am now an expert on this topic, having spent ten minutes reading and about thirty minutes thinking about it and comparing it to my own experience, I will write a sci – fi story.

I have about three paragraphs completed – and it has actual dialogue! I haven’t gotten back to it since Friday, I should if only to rough out the outline. 6 days ago

I have some progress to report on the writing front: I began. There’s this story, a fiction, a tale, a fantasy— which has been on my head for how long now? Anyway, I started it a few days ago. It is simple, in skeleton form and yet it is there: six pages to develop.
Question: how long must a short story to be? 1 month ago

567 words tonight. Not bad, my word count per sitting keeps coming up. That was only 20 minutes as well. I could write for an hour a night and get pretty close to a novel in 30 days.

I’ve been really out of sorts for a week. Hardly writing at all, either due to exhaustion or simply not being able to find my ass with both hands. I finally managed to do it tonight by finding a writer that was game for a bout of Word War (competitive writing, you both try to get the highest word count in the allotted time). The competitive element makes it a lot more fun for me to write the crummy first draft, and the magic of the internet means you can always find someone down for a game, especially one that makes them feel good about their evening. 1 month ago

Well, I’ve written about a page and a half, as opposed to the five that was suggested at the last meeting. Should be sufficient anyway. Getting started was difficult, and finding my sense of workflow was harder; I kept staring at the page or losing focus and doing something else. And I’ve barely written a full page in years so I’m satisfied with a rocky start. Especially since I like the way the story is building up already.

One thing I hadn’t expected was the difficulty of writing conflict into the scenes, even small conflict. I’m not at my sharpest tonight so I may have it easier in the future, but I think writing a dynamic scene will take some practice. 2 months ago

The first meeting of my writers group went well, the three members that showed up all have several things in common. A 4th man should be joining us next time, so we’ll see how that goes. Now we all have a simple first writing assignment to bring back in 2 weeks, 5 pages of whatever writing we wish. I’ve decided to begin a new story based on a short paragraph in my notes. Five pages should be adequate to start a good discussion about our respective styles. 2 months ago

Well, I have a proper writers group coming along now. It’s true that I’ve backed off on my initial plan to write a story by March 15th, but only because I thought this social approach to reaching my goal was more important than a deadline. Not to say that it’s not possible that I’ll finish a short story by then, but I’m going to focus on this instead until the meeting.

I recruited 2 people online (craigslist), one with a flyer at a local comic book shop, and one of my cousins that also writes. 5 potential members, and 3 that will definitely show up. The first meeting of our little cabal is this Saturday, at a cofee house in Redlands, CA. I’m pretty excited about it, really. A lot more than I thought I would be. Somehow belonging to this group validates my status as a writer, like getting hired for doing something you love, instead of just being a hobbyist. Also, I know that with even a tiny amount of structure, I’ll actually be productive. It’s my nature to find motivation through a ‘structured environment’. 2 months ago

I want to write a short story
I want to travel outside the United States
I want to have children
I want to have more friends 3 months ago

I’ve been falling asleep for a couple hours everyday just after dark lately. I think it’s because it’s winter, and because I don’t get enough sleep in general. I don’t normally dream during these long, late naps but tonight I did.

I dreamed that I was struggling to write a story, as I often do, and online found a link to an animated movie. I started to watch it, and it was the story I was making up. I knew because as I watched, the next thing I decided would happen would appear onscreen. It appeared to be a lovestory.

I think I could do this in real life with a recorder in a dim room… If I’ve relaxed enough I fall into something like a dream state… that combined with a sort of meditation might actually make storytelling this easy and exciting… I’ve been thinking it over for a week or two and tried it once, briefly… Maybe this is my unconscious mind trying to encourage trying it more thoroughly? 3 months ago

So my boyfriend is an artist, and we plan to create and publish a children’s book together. So awesome!

Our idea we had been toying with was a Justice Beaver series for little kids (yes the name came from that The Office episode). We had everything all planned out. But we worried about the legalities of using that term – so we have to rework it all and come up with a brand new concept. Feels good even to just be brainstorming.

I’m motivated. 3 months ago

The ghost-story fussing continues, though I think I have a good direction to go in now. Something a bit more unique than before. I may even begin doing some real (narrative) writing soon, at this rate.

I realized that the whole idea hinged on some simple questions, and an item central to the plot, so I did a “mind map” (look them up if you feel like it. It helps to clarify fuzzy ideas) of associations and random thoughts about it. There’s still some filling in to do, but I’ve got some definite direction now.

At this point I think I’ve probably put 5-6 hours into the idea, a lot considering how little I had through most of that. I kept exploring bad directions to take it in. I suppose that’s bound to happen sometimes when you’re trying to create a story out of a simple image or situation. Also my inexperience is a factor. I’d imagine I’ll get better. 3 months ago