Well, I’m still working on posting consistently on a specific day every week. One day I’ll get there, but I keep letting it slip my mind. However, practice makes perfect, and perseverance leads to success.

The next couple of weeks will be full of fun stuff as I report on my experiences at the Summer Writer’s Symposium and Fyrcon this month! My goal is to post as soon as each conference is over so that my thoughts and feelings are fresh. Hopefully I remember to take some pictures.

I’ll also be working more on my steampunk novel once July arrives. By the time I enter my last semester at Weber State, I want to have a few chapters ready for my novel writing class.

A quick update about the short story I’ve been working on: the first draft is finished! Right now, the working title is Strictly Nightlife. Since I am turning in this story to be critiqued by my chapter of the League of Utah Writers, I’m going to have to work hard and spend the next couple of weeks redrafting and cutting. I know I’ve got to cut quite a bit before the story is likely to get accepted into any journals or magazines.  From looking at the guidelines from lots of magazines and journals, I’ve learned that the sweet spot for a short story word count is about 2,000-7,500. Right now I have what would be considered a novelette, which is salable, but not as much as the traditional short story.

Although I’m ecstatic to have made it over the hurdle of the first draft, I know that I’m going to have to work extra hard to see this through to the end. I love creating stories, I love creating character, and I love creating new worlds to explore. But I don’t always love writing.

Let me explain.

When I get an idea for a new story or character, I will disappear into my mind for hours at a time exploring and smoothing out any story-related wrinkles. I’ll then have a burst of creativity where I can write thousands of words in one day. Then, day three, four, five, and so on roll around. My moment of inspiration wanes, and I’m suddenly slogging through words, barely making my word count, dreading sitting down at the computer to work. This happens for a myriad of reasons, but it does happen. For a long time I hated admitting it because I thought, “I’m a writer, I’m supposed to love writing.” I was concerned that there was something wrong with me and that maybe I wasn’t meant to do this.  Thankfully, it turns out that not only is this not true, but that other writers suffer from this as well.

I don’t always love to write, but I do always love to have written. I love the feeling of holding a story in my hands; physical and present, yet I find myself struggling with the process even though I know the reward. Often I have to push myself to finish a story, and this one was no different. Thankfully, that’s what a first draft is for, and hopefully I’ll be able to reignite the excitement I had at the beginning and turn this draft into an even better story.

Like my new struggle with developing the habit of posting on the same day every week, I have to get my butt-in-chair-hands-on-keyboard and write until I reach my goal. Slowly, but surely, I’ll get the hang of it, and the payoff will be priceless.

Although this statement fits me so well, I didn’t come up with it. The idea of liking to “have written” while not always enjoying writing is one that I heard on the podcast Writing Excuses (I highly recommend this podcast for writers).

Thank you for taking the time to read, and check back for more exciting updates!