What an April

This April has to have been the strangest one so far. I have managed to get some writing done but I don't feel nearly as productive as usual given the homeschooling and yard/house work we've been doing. But I was able to submit a short story to a contest and begin the next story I pulled from the main outline. This month has also, strangely, been fodder for a post-disease story I had floating around in my head. I'm not sure it will ever get written but I feel the current situation does give a great impression of how people react to a pandemic. No reactions are good or bad, they are all just how people are.

Back to the short story, progress has been slow. I pulled out two characters from a larger outline because I wasn't sure they were really needed to drive to the story forward. At the same time, it seemed a shame to lose that point of view and that story arc when I could write them up and submit them to contests or even give them away at some point in a newsletter. They are also good practice to go through the entire writing process, and feel that sense of gratification for finishing something quickly. I will get back to the novel, and hopefully with two fewer view points, the story will be more streamlined.

I did not participate in Camp NaNo this month, but I did join a cabin and discord for the comaraderie and the support that only other writers can provide and it has been very helpful. To everyone else you has participated, I do hope you had fun and managed to get some words on the page. Any amount of words are a win so make sure you don't short change yourself, or the process. Forward motion is the only way, and that is why I am plowing forward even at a slower pace. Sure I know I could have had more words, but beating myself up for something when I managed to get some words done, is counter productive. I shall move forward as best I can.

I need to run through another set of edits on the short story I finished last month. I have given it about one month of rest time. I am hoping all goes well and that I can submit the story. Next month's blog post will likely include a short excerpt, probably just the first paragraph, so stay tuned.