I'm still here! And writing again.

I had kind of an epiphany last month, where I realized that I was shooting myself in the foot trying to chase the market, constantly trying to find the fastest way to $ell my work. It's like trying to hit a moving target - the "quickest way" to getting paid as a writer changes every couple of weeks, it seems, at least in my perception, so I end up with a lot of half-finished projects that are "no good anymore."

So I decided instead of trying to write what I think will get my career going I'm just going to write what I'm going to be glad I wrote whether it sells or not. For example, the fact that no one ever bought KoD doesn't bother me. Its very existence, and the process I went through in writing it, and the way it developed me as a writer, makes the writing of it worthwhile. So I'm focusing mostly on writing the fantasy novel that's been rattling around in my head one way or the other since I was 13 years old. I have no brilliant plan as to how it's going to make me wealthy, but I don't really care. It's the thing I'll be sad if I die before I finish, so I'm just going to get started. The research and preparation involved is immense, but it's a labor of love.

Writing what you love can have unexpected side effects, too. I'd long since given up on the literary short story form, but yesterday out of seemingly nowhere, I wrote this piece that is basically the inner thoughts of one of my KoD characters during a pivotal scene. It came out much better than I'd expected, especially for something I dashed off in a single day (not counting the months of painstaking research that went into KoD itself. I've gotten nothing but good reviews on it so far, so I'm trying to seek out people who might be a bit more critical, before I start submitting it various places.

Brief update.

Just realized I haven't posted in many a moon, so I thought I'd give a brief summary of where things stand. I'm about halfway through a romance novel and starting a new screenplay. I hope to enter Nicholl again this year, though my offering won't be nearly so impressive this time around. My main focus is in writing a couple pulp romances and hopefully getting a first sale this year. I just moved into a great new place, which has given me a new lease on life, pun intended. Life is good, just far too tranquil to make for good blogging.