Struggle Months

Temporarily coming to you from western Maryland, where the late January arctic freeze resulted in some busted plumbing at home in my quiet little mountain town, which as of this writing has finally been repaired. Four weeks without running water made for some rustic living… My car also blew a belt a few weeks ago, stranding me in a not especially favorable area of Baltimore, though I did manage to drift into a gas station parking lot, so thank heavens for small favors and AAA. The car is now right as rain and I’m no longer showering at the gym, but if the month wasn’t a total loss, it certainly didn’t go as planned.

This seems to have been a struggle month for a lot of people. Nearly every blog I follow - including those in the UK - has eschewed their regular topics in favor of… let’s say Current Events.

It’s hard not to talk about it. I don’t fault anyone for freaking out a little, or for being angry or sad. There’s a lot coming out of Washington right now and the activity is intended to Shock and Awe.

Mission Accomplished.

Now that news viewing feels less like becoming informed and more like being forced to interpret crime scene blood spatter patterns, I’ve decided to be more protective of my mental space. Social media - including online news - is a reaction engine. Despite how we use it, its main goal is to trigger a response - happy, sad, angry, scared, click, view, buy, donate, vote. And I confess: I have spent time as an online rage machine. It didn’t gain me much and I’m trying to do better. I don’t want to add to it anymore.

Limiting my app usage and unfollowing accounts has helped tremendously. I’ve also been more selective with my news intake. I still scan a few sites, but take their reporting with bags of salt. Thanks to recommendations from some trusted bloggers, I’ve subscribed to the following feeds, which I’ve found to be reliably accurate, straightforward, and occasionally intriguing. None will change your mind or your morals, but if your daily dose of news leaves you feeling on edge or wondering what to believe, give them a try.

• 1440: News with context, not interpretation or speculation. No opinion pieces. Read it here.

• Straight Arrow News: News from the political middle, written with a just-the-facts approach without left- or right-wing pontification. Highlights news underreported or ignored by both sides of the news media. Read it here.

• The Free Press: High-quality, non-biased, independent, investigative journalism, with some provocative commentary. They focus on stories that are ignored or twisted to suit ideological narratives, and look for the truth, which both political fringes may find inconvenient. Read it here.

And now I’m torn between talking shit and keeping my own counsel. I think more silence and listening are needed, so for now I’ll do that.

Also in this letter:

• Posts from February 2025

• What I’m Reading

• WIP News

• A Parting Song

Monthly Posts
Two months into the year and my twice-weekly blog schedule is working out just right. This month, I found a feminist alternative to the Hero’s Journey and a craft approach between strict planning and writing by the seat of your pants. I examined character building with symbolism and motivation and shared an article from the Science Fiction Writers Association about leveraging economics to build a world, which can apply to more than only SF writing. And finally, I shared some advice on how to be kinder to your creative brain.

The Queen’s Path
Why Ask Why?
Making Use of the Scraps
Where Do You Find Your Scraps?
Are You Experienced
Things We Saved in the Fire
A Gentler Path to Consistency
The Economics of Worldbuilding

What I’m Reading

Hard to believe February turned out to be more dreary than January, but there it is. When I’m caught up in day-to-day life stuff, I don’t have the bandwidth for much more than Brain Candy, but I did manage to get through this one.

The kind of art-romanticizing story I would have devoured in my younger years and likely adopted as a worldview for three months, Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives is an epistolary novel told via the journal entries of a young Mexican poet and interviews with various persons who have encountered the founding leaders of a literary movement called the Visceral Realists. The novel follows the social entanglements of the narrator and the quest of the Visceral Realists to find the elusive poet who founded their group.

In general, stories told through letters and journals are a hard sell here, as are novels where the narrator is - despite being a 17-year old virgin - an absolute champion in bed, but the lively writing and passionate characters drew me in. A basic familiarity with various Mexican literary personages - which I lack - would doubtless increase your enjoyment. An excellent choice if you wish to appear worldly and intellectual at Book Club.

PS - Yes, I did think it was a murder mystery when I bought it. The down side of impulse buying.

WIP News
February was mostly a wash on the writing. I kept up on the blog and inched some other creative projects forward but didn’t make too much headway on my novel-in-progress. Blame the cold, lack of water, and my 21-year-old Jeep.

That said, I’m in the editing phase of the process. When I start a new project, Phase 1 is what I call the Barf Draft. This is essentially a nicer way of saving Shitty First Draft. I agree with the concept of the SFD, because no more than 1 in a million writers creates a perfect draft that requires no revision (and I think even those are stretching the definition of first draft…) However, no one sets out to write shittily. Many of us do write quickly to get our thoughts down. The Barf Draft.

I’m well past that stage and the final product resembles only the barest bones of the Barf Draft, even though good chunks of the fast writing have survived revisions thus far. I’ve also finished what I call the Writing-Writing. The Writing-Writing phase is nose to the grindstone time: drafting scenes, adding flesh, cutting detritus, getting the (mostly) right words in the (mostly) right order, building structure and pace, and layering sensory details, symbols, and motifs. Naturally, this stage takes longer, complicated by my habit of backtracking and editing when I spot problems or better ideas.

I know everyone says you shouldn’t edit while you write, but too bad. My brain won’t let me work on a latter part of a manuscript if I know an earlier scene needs to be cut or heavily revised, or if I need some foreshadowing. It can’t be helped. On the plus side, when I’m done with the Writing-Writing phase, I have a solid first draft. It might not be perfect, but it’s sufficiently polished for feedback.

I’m currently in the Kick the Tires phase. Are my scenes ordered correctly? Is my pacing solid? Do I have an actual story or only a series of events? Does the narrative add to the story or create an immersive experience, or is the description filler? Is the dialogue too on-the-nose and should I rewrite to add subtext and conflict? Is my protagonist’s desire clear or does he wander from scene to scene? Does he make things happen or do events happen around him?

This phase is taking longer than I anticipated, but that’s ok. It takes what it takes. Life got in the way too, and while I love kicking myself when I’m down, I remind myself to be gentler. In an ideal world, I’d be able to turn the Writing-Writing draft over to a trusted writing group for advice on what works and what drags, but I’m currently flying solo.

But that’s ok. I have everything I need.

A Parting Song
An ode to a melancholy February. Watch the video below or listen on Spotify.