I’ve been told I raise procrastination to an art form. Well, actually no, nobody’s ever said that, but I’ll get them to someday. More seriously, while I’ve been definitely doing more creation, I think a lot of it was getting some of the muscle back. And that’s not to say this is going to waste! I’ve got some great work done and I think that these things will come in handy later, but building these details just to build them has never been the best part of it for me.

Rather, my favorite part is getting the story put together. And it’s time I get down to business on that. I’m going to now be trying to put in 100 words a day on a story, any story. This particularly is going to go well with the release of the 4 The Words desktop app to track my progress.

But that leads to a separate problem…I have lots of ideas, but which story should I write? I have a number of ideas! And trying to decide where to put that time in has actually been part of the excuse I’ve been using! So I’ve decided that the simplest way is that I need to put in 100 words a day on a story, *ANY* story, period. Go as the mood takes me. I’m sure eventually one of the options will start to get more attention, but since this is my side gig, I don’t have to stick to one book for a deadline. And I can always cycle things in and out as I want.

So below, I’m putting a list of what stories are available on my buffet, so to speak.

• Three Pantheons: Nathan’s Story: This will end up a full rewrite. I’ve had an excellent idea presented that I could write it as journals or adventure logs for him of his actions, which will be a fun exercise. I’ll also be cleaning up any holes or plot issues and taking charge of the narrative instead of doing a straight adaptation.
• Spread My Wings: Vershaft’s backstory. This would focus more on his childhood and time at AGATE; if it gets finished, the sequel would be Learning To Fly. Vershaft on Ring Seven will probably be a side story.
• Diamonds in the Rough: Cyberpunk Lindsey and Keys story. I think there’s something here but I need to firm up details.
• Camping Trip: This has been rescued from the Cutting Room Floor; I have an idea what to do with it now and think I’ll restart. I have ideas for how to expand the narrative and keep it going.
• Possible “Winds of Change” focused coming of age story: Have an idea on this to get Patrick Altair a new spin as a character, but its going to need some sensitive handling. Kinda a “Big Brother/Little Brother” thing.
• The Grave Shift: This continues to take headspace, and honestly might make a fun collaborative project. Gonna cook some ideas around. To reiterate, it’s a mass transformation event in a large city following the emergency responders.
• Timeless Honor: This is basically an isekai, where Kawheek gets thrown to a Warhammer 40Kish grimdark setting and somehow perseveres despite it all as a mech pilot. More of a concept now.
• Natau Isekai: This has some potential, but I’d need to reconsider how to approach it.

There’s smaller stories here too, such as “Thenyr meets a Karen” or “Planetarium Date”, but I’m going to focus more on these larger things. Hopefully some of this will finally coalesce!

And as it’s now after 10PM, I better go get those 100 words done for tonight. No more excuses!

-Arrow