SEA – 139, HoC – 1241, and fun with genetics

I’m getting used to the tiny increments I’m doing for SEA. Part of me is chomping at the bit, wanting to start working on the computer and really getting big word counts on it. But I don’t have time for that right now. But it’s nice to just do a bit each day and feel like I’m still connected to the story.

I have such an archive of unfinished stories and I know that, no matter how good or bad they might be, how much I enjoyed the world when I made it, I won’t go back to them. Too much time has passed. I’m not the person who created those stories in the first place and I don’t know how to bring them up to speed with me. Mostly, that’s okay, because my old projects (I’m talking back in high school) were awful and should be abandoned. But there are a few that still call to me. Maybe some day.

But I definitely don’t want to create any more abandoned projects. So the small daily work lets me stay in it enough that it feels like it still belongs to me. And when I get through some of the big work I have coming up (NaNoWriMo, anyone?), I can create some time to really dive into SEA.

On the subject of big work, HoC is coming along well. I’m working on a combination of character development and plotting for the season. I have a strong sense of my beginning and ending points, which means that I can write the first episode even as I’m still developing. But once I get into the meat of the plot, I’ll need to have at least the core story points pinned down. I have space set aside for side stories, though, so I’ll still have room to play as I go.

I am also spending a painful quantity of time looking up only marginally helpful information about cats. Coat and body genetics are a big time sink at the moment. But the research about cat culture is generating many useful ideas. This, if you will indulge me for one gorgeous Stephen Fry-esque moment, is when the brain makes fantastic leaps of logic, irrational brilliance coalesces in a corner, and a story starts to spin itself together from moist and fluffy goodness.

I do love my job.

P.S. Before I forget for the third time, there is, obviously, no Working Review this week. I’ll be posting them every other week, so the next one will be out Sept. 23. Good night.