Trying to Avoid Blogging About Not Blogging

I've been spending a disproportionate amount of time thinking about what my next blog post should be. I was treading dangerously close to the dreaded scenario of writing about how difficult it is to come up with something to put in your blog. But I'm resisting that, so far.

There are a few developments going on, kind of behind the scenes at the moment. I'm working on a couple of stories. One of them turned out quite well - it was one that I workshopped at the writing weekend I mentioned a while back. Just waiting to gather up some feedback, hopefully in time to send it off somewhere. Maybe here.

The other story is causing me concerns. I've worked out what happens, who the characters are, the main plot arc, a sort of subplot to fling in there as well. The problem is I can't 'get' the structure. I think it's going to work best if it's just linear, nothing fancy or complicated - and yet I still can't work through it in my head. This isn't something I've run into before, and it's proving very difficult to put it to one side and just get on with writing the damn thing, work out the details at the editing stage. It probably doesn't help that at the moment I'm only getting to write in short bursts, which isn't my preferred approach.

Ah, well. There are positive things on the horizon - I found out recently that the story that was accepted by The Battered Suitcase will appear in the Spring edition of the magazine. So, I'm guessing it'll be out around March/April. Also, the story that got shortlisted for the H.E. Bates is going to be in an anthology published by the Northampton Writers Group. It's reassuring to be heading into the new year (Yikes - that suddenly seems very close...) with a couple of pieces on their way to being in print already.

So, good news, mostly. I'm sure the story that's giving me grief will straighten itself out before long and I can build up enough momentum to get to the end of it. Then I can get on with the job of working out whether it's actually any good or not.