Mid-Year Update - And I Suck at Blogging!

My first week back from vacation was a trying time. I think most of my problem is that I suffer from the same issue that Neo did in the first Matrix movie. Namely, the world I live in when I’m at work doesn’t seem real to me. The real world is the one in which I lie on the beach and drink fruity alcohol most of the time between trips to the men’s room, seafood buffets, and naps.

So, until Laurence Fishburne shows up with a handful of pills and says I can return to the ‘real world’, I think I’m going to just have to get used to the feeling like things are amiss.  

As it stands though, I have been trying to get back into the grove, not only for work and home life, but for online things and writing. I figured I should take a few moments and share some minutia that I’m sure no one is interested in… I'm sure everyone's thrilled.

First, I’ve come to realize over the course of the past year or so that I’ve been blogging at the expense of writing. I’m sure anyone who was keeping track of my online activities has noticed that since the end of the A-Z challenge I’ve been spotty at best, and non-existent at my worst. It’s just been me trying to find a balance that allows me to actually write, do artsy things, and not to mention hang out with the family, in the short time I have daily to do such things.

So, blogging has been on the outs, I’ve been posting some, but visiting infrequently. I’m going to try to be post consistently – twice per week – and then devote 30 minutes or so daily to visiting others. I know from experience that that might not get me around to too many places, but committing to 30 minutes is better than crossing my fingers and wishing for the best.

BUT – I HAVE BEEN WRITING, so all that extra time I’ve been freeing up hasn’t been a waste. And if anyone recalls, I had a lot of goals I posted at the beginning of the year regarding my writing. So, here’s my mid-year update: I’ve been doing a lot of short stories, and I’ve been submitting them to markets as I deem them to be appropriate… so far I’ve gotten only a ton of rejections, but at the same time, I’ve been submitting exclusively to the largest and most prestigious markets first, and working my way down from there. My goal was to write and submit at least a story a month. So far in 2012 I’ve written 10 short stories.

I have also been working on a novella with the intent to self-publish. Yay for me. I wrote it last year and thought it was pretty good then, but I was having this one little problem, I put it away for a few months and picked it back up a month or so ago. It was much rougher than I thought it was, but because I loved the story so much I decided that instead of chucking it, I’d do a complete rewrite. I’m in the middle of that now. It’s going much better…

I hope.

And finally, I’ve also been working on my Epic Fantasy novel – which I’m thinking might end up taking a year or so or working on it before I can even think of asking someone to consider critiquing it (and I don’t want to even think about how to go about that, it’d be a huge commitment to ask of anyone). That thing is more complex story wise than anything I’ve ever tried to write before - half a dozen viewpoint characters, each with his or her own arc, and a whole world history and magic system to develop. If the way the first draft is unfolding holds true, then this will easily be the two and a half times longer than any other piece of fiction I’ve ever written.

That’s a lot of words to put towards something you’re not entirely sure you can pull off. But whatever, I’ve always been a weak plotter and I think this is forcing me to make sure I am careful and meticulous with it. No better way to learn than to do.

And also, I think it’s something I would do even if I knew now that no one would ever be interested in it. It’s a story I feel like I need to get out.