Standing at a Crossroads

Here at DBCII, I have been working my way towards doing more fiction writing – like I’ve discussed in posts like this last Six Word Saturday. Doing more than just blogging; the blogging served a purpose of getting me writing again and frequently, made writing part of my daily routine. But the blogging is both an outlet and a means to an end – but it is not the goal itself.

Meanwhile, on Comparative Geeks I have been considering one of our ongoing features, Science Fiction Today. As I discussed in posts like my year-and-a-half recap, I have been giving this feature or category a lot of thought. I have a ton of ideas of topics to cover, and thoughts on how to approach them or at least get started. And the question is, do I just work this into the flow on Comparative Geeks? Or do something more with it?

This last week has been a tough one for me. Also a fun one. A full one. A busy one. Maybe more than a week; it’s been hard lately in general. Life; these periods happen. And in the midst of life, I have realized that writing is an element I can control, even if in only limited ways (for instance, I can write, but it does not inherently create readers).

So I have breathed life back into DBCII here, have been working to keep it going more consistently, to keep me going more. But this last weekend, the planning for a whole Science Fiction Today blog really came together for me. The thought of working through a topic each week. Of maybe approaching it like the Feminist Friday discussions have been going – introduce the topic first in the week, then introduce the inherent problems and why there isn’t a good solution. Then, like I’ve done in other Science Fiction Today posts, work through the hopeful thoughts – how the future could turn out far better for the topic, the Utopian sort of future. And then, the Dystopian alternative – maybe the topic is never sorted out, or becomes worse, what have you.

If that doesn’t make sense to you, I suppose check out a Science Fiction Today post and see! We haven’t quite done one in that pattern for a bit, but that was the original setup. I also argue for the importance of the idea behind Science Fiction Today here, and even just rereading that post, I still think I am on an important track.

So there’s only so much time in the day. Only so many projects I can take on. And I feel like I have learned a lot about blogging, about social media and community building. Have done a pretty good amateur sort of job of all of this between my blogs here on WordPress. But I think to really get Science Fiction Today going, I would need to devote a lot to it. For one thing, those post ideas above – I’d like to post at least 4-6 posts a week there. Work through the problem, do a wrap-up post, and maybe run all of that Monday through Friday; then on the weekend maybe do something fun like a movie or book or technology review; something related but not part of the direct connection for the posts.

And I would want to really tie in a lot of social media stuff – maybe reach out to groups talking about the topic, share memes and posts and things on the topic, really just kind of saturate and immerse in a topic. And I’d want to be doing prep work – to preferably be weeks or months ahead, and to be doing lots of reading – to be finding new examples, to be finding outside sources and discussions.

All of this would let me highlight and focus on science fiction, and the way that its musings and topics, as a whole, can help us think about the big problems, about “wicked problems” as they can be called. I think I would love it. To dig deep into the world of science fiction, and each week be holding up some treasure that it holds. This is the sort of blogging that could lead to a book, taking these topics and working through them in that format. But, a non-fiction sort of book.

So is this the sort of thing I want to be doing? Fiction or non-fiction? Blogging or noveling? I stand at a crossroads, and I don’t yet know what I want to pursue. After all, being able to write a novel will always be there, but who knows what the future holds for blogging? We could be looking back at it as a media fad in a few years’ time, or it will have changed so much I have to relearn where to start from. However, writing novels is what I have always wanted to be doing, and I now have the starting idea to at least four novels – at what point do these ideas and plans start melding, or disappearing, or get taken?

I don’t have an answer to my own questions here, but if you do, let me know in the comments below. I was going to work on rolling out some plans for this blog today, but I don’t think I’m fully at a point to know what those will be quite yet. Would you read and comment in a Science Fiction Today sort of blog? Maybe that’s the best question!