Hi hello—
We’re doing blogs again. Yes, that is the new direction. No burying the lead. We. Are. Blogging.
Why? Well, it’s a combination of things. Not least of which is that social media is a drain on my creative health and overall icks me out. I’ve been running across a few disparate signs to follow this line of thinking for over a year now. So, with my move completed and life finally settling back into a routine, why not start the first of a new month?
With this new direction comes a slew of new expectations on myself, but the kind of expectations I like rather than trying to force myself to like IG or TikTok because they’re “trendy” or “where you need to be.” Hard no. I’m over it.
Instead, this website will be my new focus. For connecting with readers, sharing news, and providing the type of free content I’m not able to provide on short-form or visual platforms. We’re talking full-on stories, behind-the-scenes of the writing process, routine updates. The works.
So, this is the first in a long line of Monday Musings to come. I hope you enjoy the journey 😊
Writing Updates
Since we’ve been moving, writing has been scattered. However, I still managed to complete two flash stories and submit them to different markets around all the cardboard box chaos. And through doing that, I’ve come to appreciate the short style of flashes. Mostly because I can completely finish a thought/story within 1500 words. Who knew? That feeling of reaching the end so quickly and being able to edit through the prose with ease is unreal. I might be addicted… we’ll see. If I write a third one, we’ll know there’s trouble, ha.
Because I was focused on the flashes and moving, I haven’t touched A Series of Souls 4. I am unsure how to feel about it. I do miss it in some ways, but I also have a MAJOR edit to do. Pulling out a full character from the entire book sort of edit. So maybe I’m just procrastinating. But I’ve been feeling odd about ASOS for awhile now anyway. Like its not quite landing anymore. I don’t know if I’ve outgrown it or if there is a direction shift I need to make. Still not sure at this point. So, unfortunately, this one is on pause. 😥
What’s NOT on pause is experimenting with AI fiction writing tools. I’ve been focusing mostly on Sudowrite and Novelcrafter the last few days and am liking the story codex features of Novelcrafter the most. I’m able to build in entries and the chat feature is able to use those entries as context to help me brainstorm. A-MA-ZING. I was able to ask it questions about the world that I wasn’t sure about and it helped me solidify some details to complete the entry. Pure gold.
I have tried using it to help draft, but its not quite what I’m looking for each time and I end up scrapping it all anyway. It does help with figuring out what doesn’t happen, I guess. So I can fill in the blanks properly, ha. But as an outlining and story codex tool? Brilliant.
And the project I’ve been dumping into Novelcrafter is a new one. All the month of April I’m going to be working on it and finally releasing the first installment the first Wednesday of May, and every Wednesday thereafter until the first episode is complete. This is an episodic experiment. The story? I’ve been describing it as fantasy Doctor Who. Which fits because Doctor Who was the ultimate inspiration for my main character and the dynamic of Doctor and companion. So, if you’re into the magical, whimsical, or spooky episodes of Who, I hope you’ll like this episodic adventure. Keep an eye out!
Featured Fiction
With the move, I’ve been locked into random YouTube videos mostly here and there rather than a full show or book. But in between moving bursts and organizing too many shelves, we’ve been sneaking in episodes of Brooklyn 99. I’ve never seen it, and the comedy took me a couple episodes to full sink into, but I love it. Absolute classic in my head now, ha. I love all the characters and the humorous way they all bounce off each other. It might be a little generic, but sometimes simple and predictable creates the best comedic scenarios. We finished season 1 pretty quickly. Highly recommend if you like comedic shows in the vein of The Office and Parks and Recreation. Similar vibes with a very unique cast of characters.
Otherwise, I’m just trucking along with new routines, new home, and new ideas percolating every minute it seems for flash pieces. Maybe that’ll be my new thing. Who knows?
Anyhoo, I hope you had a good week, look out for more updates from me every Monday and Friday, and I will see you Friday for some behind-the-scenes action on A Series of Souls.
Talk soon,
Brittany
