Writing Plans, Blogging Plans, Just Not Here…

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve blogged here. I had plans for posts heading into the new year, had notes and outlines, had drafts started even. However, as I’ve found before, the first thing to give when I don’t have time is this blog. I’ve at least kept the Wordless Wednesday posts going… my simplest Feature. Well, mostly.

[tweet https://twitter.com/dbc_ii/status/576064521476796416]

As you may have seen on Comparative Geeks, there are big changes coming in my life. Which means that even there, I will be doing less blogging in the coming months. Am I falling out of writing?

And then today, the day when I would be posting my A to Z theme, instead I have to say – I really don’t think I’ll have time to do A to Z here. I even have the list of writing topics ready to go. But it’s still one thing too many – and I would prefer to put the time into trying to read and interact with other bloggers doing the challenge.

So I am helping with the A to Z Challenge on the blog I contribute to, Sourcerer. And I am running half of the challenge on Comparative Geeks as well, and that’s what I’m most excited about. The theme we’re going with is Science Fiction Today, something I’m excited about. It’s a theme I’ve wanted to put more time and focus into. I wasn’t sure how I would, but this seems like a great way.

Looking for more A to Z blogs? Here’s a nice combined list of some folks doing the challenge. Want more on what my planning is? Read on!

Fiction Writing

I have not stopped doing fiction writing. I just haven’t been doing any in a visible way online. I’ve had a few thoughts on how to approach it.

Short Stories

For one thing, I definitely was noticing that I move from one project or idea to another. I think a lot of people do this. And I seem to be using up a lot of my discipline to keep up with my blogging rather than my writing.

However, I had enough different ideas I was brainstorming that I realized what I really needed to do was write all of them. As short stories. That way I could have an initial draft, maybe even a marketable final collection of them. And it lets me jump project to project in a way that would still be productive.

Writing Contests and Grants

I’ve also been researching in-state writing contests and grants, places I could submit some stories. And writing short stories works perfectly with this! I like it. And if something gets published, that just helps everything get going.

Graphic Novels and Non-Fiction

I’m in the middle of reblogging the posts I wrote about this, but at the recent Alaska Library Association conference I was able to see graphic novelist Kazu Kibuishi talk about his process. I learned a lot.

But it also got me thinking about the fact that some of my stories would work a lot better as a graphic novel, something I already had in mind. So I grabbed myself a notebook, and started drawing.

Yep, it definitely has been a long time since I’ve drawn… Although Kazu talked about the advantages of an author/artist telling a singular story with a singular voice, I may need to turn to an artist to tell some of the stories I would want to.

However, I have another thought. After I got published for the first time this month, I have realized that the first things I have to work with, the first writing to get done? Would be non-fiction work, something related to the blog.

But then, why not combine both of those things? Why not a non-fiction graphic book? I think so! My other plan during April, therefore, is to get more of my ideas in line, and to see if I can figure out a visual plan.

Blogging

I think that all our guest posts are going to grow what we’re doing with the blog, and things are only going to get better from here. But that also leaves me busier than ever, there or on Sourcerer contributing. This blog might be pretty much on hiatus, but my other activities are going strong!