Step by step

[foxinthestars]

For just over a week now, I've been trying to get into a good habit and have been going for a 20 minute walk after lunch. I already feel like it's doing me good, like I'm getting more energy and, unexpectedly, a little more confidence.

I saw The Secret World of Arietty yesterday. I can't compare it to the books, and it was more kiddie than what I'm used to in Ghibli movies, but still good.

On the story I was struggling with, I have continued to make slow progress. I think part of the trouble is that mission drift is setting in, and the original idea for this story was so tight and sweet I'm having trouble letting it grow like I should. The first two scenes I wrote were that short and sweet, but then they started getting longer until the one I'm trying to finish up is a Yuletide fic unto itself and has no good structural excuse for it. To balance the story, I think I would either have to rein it in here or build it out more elsewhere---and I realized that I don't actually have a "shovel-ready" idea for another Psychic Force fic after this one, so it would probably be best to put in as much of my headcanon as I can hang on this thread. It also doesn't help that, still haunted by my puritanical upbringing, I was reflexively shying away from the central character's sex life when I really shouldn't; there won't be any sex scenes in it, but I shouldn't have been erasing that from my snapshots of the relationships. At this point, I think I'm ready to accept the expanded mission, but I feel rather muddled.

The thing I still miss about the ex is the "beta reader" part of the relationship (however messed up that is). I do wish I had someone who knew me well as a writer and whom I trusted to have a look at this thing for me. But I'll be okay.

Comments

[smurasaki]

Walking is a nice kind of exercise. I sure enjoy being able to walk to and from work. Far better way to unwind than driving home, I've got to say.

Maybe the scene that ran away with you really is it's own fic?

[foxinthestars]

I've got a little country road out here, and I don't like living in the middle of nowhere in a lot of ways, but I can walk down the road and it's pretty peaceful and I get to see the little fish in the creek; I saw a couple of (I think) redtailed hawks one day.

With the scene, I don't think so in this case; the whole fic is a collection of scenes scattered through time and just collected around a theme, and that one was very much conceived within the theme. The one scene I really need to go back and flesh out, I had been dissatisfied with how little I was showing of the character it highlights, so I think it'll work out this way. I'm also trying not to hoard my energy and telling myself it would be better to write everything I think might go in and then give myself the option of trimming back.

[smurasaki]

Ah, yes. One can always edit.