Hello again, dreamers.  I didn’t accomplish anywhere near as much as I’d intended last week, but my ultimate goal was to begin easing my way back into writing, and I did that much if little more.  Much remains to be done this week, and NaNoWriMo is fast approaching.  That being said, here’s what I’ll be up to this week:

Short Fiction

At long last, I’m getting back to the basics, and enjoying the experience.  Short fiction was what started me off on all of this, and it’s nice to be back where it all began.

One of the hardest aspects of revisiting projects that have languished is remembering where you were.  I’ve found that if it’s been even a week or two I can usually open a file and pick up right where I left off.  Longer than that, and it can be difficult to remember precisely where I was headed with an idea.

The problem I’m facing now is compounded by the fact that, over the past year, I’ve gotten into the habit of starting and completing short stories over a matter of several days.  Overall I’d call that a positive development: I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can churn out stories quickly.  Unfortunately, it also means that most of my outstanding short fiction projects have been untouched for over a year.  At least a few of these were really good short story ideas; as such, I’m loath to simply abandon them.  To that end, I plan to spend the coming week conducting an audit of sorts: reading through my outstanding projects to see where I left them, and whether or not I can proceed.

It will be tedious, to be sure, but I believe it’s necessary.

Butterfly

Speaking of stories I’ve come up with recently that took off, I do have a project I’ll likely complete by the end of the week.  Butterfly is a psychological story of sorts, inspired by a famous quote from the Chinese philosopher Zhūangzi, about a very vivid dream that left him questioning whether he was a man who’d dreamt of being a butterfly, or a butterfly who was dreaming of being a man.  This is one of the most original story concepts I’ve come up with in some time, and while I have much older projects that deserve attention, I really want to follow this one and see where it leads me.

The Pioneer

As I said last week, I really want to take some time and review my work thus far on my work-in-progress.  To that end, starting tomorrow I’ll begin reading through what I’ve written, in preparation for resuming work on November 1.

This will be my third year on NaNoWriMo, and I’m really excited to take the opportunity to resume writing on The Pioneer in earnest.

It may not sound like much, but no doubt I’ll have my hands full this week.  I’ll keep writing, you keep reading, and as always, dare to dream. – MK