Overdue update

Hey, internet. It's been a while. More than a year, but things have been busy.

Take heart, though, in knowing that I'm still writing, even if I'm not writing about writing. Or, at least, even if I'm not doing so here. I’m on Twitter, too, but though I talk about writing there, it’s hard to say anything substantive with that cotton-pickin’ 140-character limit. That's not a problem here (unless things have changed while I was gone), so I hope that means I'll be around more often.

Surprisingly, I’ve been writing a lot, of late. With finals coming up, I should be writing less, not more. But some things need to get written, even with deadlines looming on 3 separate projects. Besides which, it’s an hour on the bus each way, 3 times a week (four, next term) and writing is easier to do than drawing when the bus is in motion. In recent months, some of the best stuff I’ve written was on the bus, I think, even if some of it was in a fatigued, semi-conscious state.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing by hand. I don’t know if this is because it removes temptation (it’s too easy to check e-mail, or Twitter, or any one of a dozen webpages “for a second”.... it’s never just “a second”), or because it’s easier to progress without the weight of 400 pages on my shoulders, but it’s working. I tend to shift from one to the other anyway, but this time, it’s taking longer to shift back to the computer. Not that I’m complaining. I enjoy writing by hand. It’s a little more visceral than clacking away at a keyboard.

Story’s going places I never expected it to turn, which is always fun, even if the turns themselves aren’t that enjoyable (I’m killing off characters that I like, that I didn’t expect to kill, and that I don’t WANT to kill, but what’re you gonna do? That’s the story).

I’m not setting deadlines anymore. I always had trouble keeping them; even more so now that I’m in school. Now, I let things progress as they will. Oddly, they’re progressing faster than they did under a self-imposed deadline.

Beyond a vague notion and some half-formed ideas, I still don’t know where everything’s going. This worries me, but I guess that’s part of the fun, as well.

That’s all for now, I suppose.

Until next time,

Cris.