I’ve expended a lot of mental energy on the beginnings of the writing process this week, as it seems inspiration has finally struck. I’ve been doing a lot of reading – a lot of research, and my bookmarks tab has been filled with references on Greek mythology, topographical maps of the Southeastern United States, the geneology of common last names for several countries, and population statistics for the counties of Kentucky. Perhaps none of these things really make sense laid out in a list, but they’re all coming together as individual parts into a workable plot that I hope someone will be interested in reading.
It has been a really long time since I’ve started something new. In my writing, I’ve always stuck to short stories and micro fictions that don’t span lot of words. It’s the inherent perfectionism and second-guessing I have as an editor that tends to stunt progress on anything longer than shorts. I will start writing with the entire story arc in my mind, jump back and forth with the scenes that come clearly to mind, and then later have trouble connecting them all together. I start changing things and write myself into a corner I cannot get out of. And then I abandon what I think is actually a good idea for far too long in a notebook or a Word document that I’m too scared to go back to because of my previous failure.
I know this isn’t the best way to write a story, I do. Which is why I’m trying to do it properly this time, plan it out, outline the thing and try to make it work with my habit of sporadic scene-writing. And maybe, since I’m trying to do better at sharing my process with people, it will encourage me to actually produce something they can read.
So, anyone interested?
In Quotation Marks 
I can really identify with your writing history and your new-found inspiration to approach a sustained piece of writing methodically. For nearly 30 years, the longest sustained story I produced was maybe 10 pages. This month, thanks to a methodical outline, I have conceived a trilogy of 3 short stories (25 scenes and about 16,500 words each) that I hope to develop into a script and a screen play with some help.
Maybe we could encourage each other on this stage of our journey. I’ll be following you, perhaps you could follow me.
I’m glad I’m not the only person who suffers from a disorganized mind, though I have to admit you have me beat in the maximum length – I tend to hover around 6,000. But I’m hoping with the proper outlining and character conception this story will take me far beyond that and encourage to take back up some other longer works I’ve abandoned.
But self-encouragement can only get one so far, so I will absolutely join you in your progress as well. Thanks.
Understand, I’ve only done over 6,000 once now. Time well tell. But, hope springs eternal.