Subdued Intrinsic

Serious question, guys. Like, don't I remember writing a blog a few months ago?  Didn't I?

Life is weird.

Did you know I got a new job? Yup. I works as a Records Coordinator for a local university, and I love it there. Regular hours, amazing co-workers, great bosses, etc. It's been about 17 months, and still awesome.

I've reconnected pretty steadily (yay, Skype!) with a best cousin, and talking to her helps a lot with my stress/anxiety. She says it's good for her, too (yay, symbiosis!).

About this time last year, I dusted off Ye Olde Manuscript, and gave 'er a good polishing, and now I've picked up working on the sequel. It take a lot of emotional energy, but ver, very gradually, I am getting back into writing--never mind that my brain almost short-circuits at the idea of submitting anything to agents.  I also have the bones of a really cool book series about whom I'm called The Tragedy Trio . . . because nothing goes smoothly for those three. Their names are Ilen, Sparrow, and Thorn. Also, a flashy, dense book about a princess who isn't what people think she is, and her motley crew who get her where she needs to be . . . but that one is more upper middle grade. Still the language in it is lushly stylized, and I kind of love the book for it.

Husband, sons, cats, and bearded dragon are all well, thanks for asking! (You would not believe the growth ratio for all the male freaks of nature. Only Ava the dragon and I, females that we are, are stable in our size.) I'm still struggling with psychological problems, but it's pretty okay at the moment.

It's possible I've written this post so I could say I did (BABY STEPS, Y'ALL), or so I can hawk my wares so to speak, to wit:

The following will take you to my Wattpad, where you can read the newly titled, From the Stars, to the Stars all in one gulp, or bite by bite, as you prefer. And for a writer's sake, please COMMENT. Good and BAD things. It all helps. Your comments are basically Writer Kibble, and I am a Starvin' Marvin.

https://www.wattpad.com/user/AmethystAdams  Seriously. For reelz. Please.

Random Fact: I love bananas, but HEAVILY DISLIKE 99 percent of banana-flavored things. Same with chocolate.

Lately (and by lately, I actually mean a few years), I have found myself not only terrified of writing, but too scattered to even attempt it. This is not to say the feeling has gone away. It's just as bad, but a friend of mine asked me a question yesterday, gave me a piece of advice, and made me a promise.

Question: These ideas you have, do you write them down? Make notes?

Answer: Well, yeah, I do, but they aren't linear. I'm not sure how much good they do. It's not like they make sense as puzzle pieces that fit together. They're just cool snapshots of things that happen in the story. I do love the little darlings, though.

Advice: Then just keep doing that for now. Write down everything you think of until it all makes sense.

The Promise: If you die in some tragic accident before you get published, I will take all your notes and hire a ghostwriter for you, and get you published posthumously.

That, my peeps, is a friend.

As you can probably tell by the title, when it comes to plotting, I am what's known as a 'pantser'. Taken from the phrase, "flying by the seat of my pants," pantsers generally don't plan their stories in a linear manner. We struggle to summarize properly, and you're likely to see from us more of a bubbled web chart (like an investigation wall), than a nice, organized outline. Outlines hurt our brains, and likely our dry-erase boards.

This isn't to say we don't organize in our own way, but it's a bit more like trying to find a place to sign your name in someone's yearbook. Is there a blank space? Yes. okay, sign there. Does your comment having any reference to another signature, but there's no space next to that one? Sign your name elsewhere, and then draw a long, winding arrow between the two, for direction. It's a causality kind of thing. You link together like items as best you can, when you see the link in your head, but you have to record it on paper.