It’s been a really good month, creatively. I’ve been slowly starting to build up my writing practice again (just on web copy this month, which… isn’t great, but it’s made me find the time to write, and get back into the habit of, you know, typing for extended periods of time), I’ve been working on specific skills in my drawing, and the weather is finally starting to get to a point where I want to go outdoors and take pictures. So that’s nice.
That’s the general. Now on to the specifics.
I feel like I’ve finally been making some progress with photography. I managed to get out for a couple of good photo trips (including one to a location I’ve wanted to shoot for years), and I’m really happy with some of the pictures.
So far, I’ve only edited two of… close to 100 (and you’ve seen them both). So that gives me something to work on in the next month. (In addition to the other pictures I’m going to be taking over the next few weeks.)
Of course, the semi-vacation that allowed me to get out and take photos I’m happy with also kind of interfered with some of my other projects, but I’m getting back to work. (And the time away probably did me some good.)
And I am now officially deep into NaNoWriMo planning. It’s… interesting. It’s still fun, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last. At some point (very soon), I’m going to have to stop just playing around with ideas and images and start figuring out what my story actually is. It’s shifted away from the original idea that kicked this whole thing off and back so many times in the last month, I’m not quite sure where it is anymore. I’ve got bits and pieces that might all be part of one story, or might be snippets of related stories, or might have nothing to do with each other. I think I’ve got my main character (mostly) figured out.
It’s good.
This time around, I’m making an effort to find ways of doing things that really work for me, rather than going with the same outlining techniques I used to rely on (and that never resulted in stories I was happy with). I’ve always been a bit conflicted about outlining, anyway; finding a new approach might help.
I just have to remind myself that I’ve got plenty of time. (But then I remember that five months isn’t really all that long, and I’ve still got one big puzzle piece that’s completely missing, and… yeah.)
I’ve got plenty of time. Really.
Reghan Skerry 