Stories are a way of life

 I'm gonna go write a background story for a character's mother 'cause these two main characters in a story idea have the coolest parents ever. (I already wrote one for one of their fathers. And re-reading it today, I was surprised how engaging it was. It's weird, when I re-read my writing now it's actually...good??)

I've been wanting to try to write 400 words every day in Wild Moon, White Tree (rather that my earlier count of 100 words per day) but I've hit a mild anxiety attack right now, so I'm leaving it at 186 words today.

Also, I finally finished a short NoH story I'd been letting sit for awhile. And it actually seems good. Like what's up with that? It clocks in at 6,600 words.

Because I am not one for creative titles.

Any kind of journal-like blog I have will usually change a lot as time goes by. I doubt this will be an exception.

Anywho:

Yesterday I finished typing up my NaNoWriMo from last year. (Yay!) It's still really, really, really rough, but I kind of love it? Like I don't know if that's the OTGW influence or because I really love the main character or the atmosphere (yay! colonial USA New England setting). Or maybe it's all of it. Anyway, I have a soft spot for it. I probably won't think about getting published for awhile. I have enough other things to work on.

Today I wrote some more in my "Tales of the Moon" which is my (hopefully last) attempt to complete Wild Moon, White Tree my mythological demon and moon lineage story. My goal is to write 100 words every day. It's going pretty well. Even if I forgot yesterday. (I've been having low-key bad days). But I DID write 444 words today. I thought it was pretty.

I'm also working on trying to finish some "Nights of Heroes" short stories. Cause I love a lot of those characters. I have one completely done, one that needs a final edit, one that needs the climax and some cohesion, and two that need to be written. Actually, I've discovered that it's a lot quicker for me to write if I have a clear idea of what I'm writing. For example, I just wrote a short story (3,500 words) in two days but I knew precisely what would happen. The first NoH short story (5,500 words) I finished way back in November I wrote in three days. Again, I knew what was going to happen and what the conflict was. I wonder if that's what it is. Having a precise idea of what's going to happen AND what the conflict is. In the case of the short story (5,800 words) that needs a final edit, I actually had it done, but when I re-read it, I realized the plot (which had Riding Hood allusions) wasn't working. So I rewrote a huge hunk of it. And then I re-read that and I decided there was a scene that didn't work and rewrote that. And that's where I am now.

To expand a little on what I mean about "having a precise idea", it's the difference between writing (in an outline): those character meet vs said character bangs into said character after slipping on ice. One gives me a scene, a way to focus on description and action, a way to write the scene from the character pov I've chosen.