Nurturing Wonder

First off, happy belated 8th anniversary to the Mars Rover Opportunity! I think it’s so very awesome that it’s still going!

Status Update:

OK, so I haven’t written since Sunday, because of going away for a trade show for work Monday through Wednesday, and being too darned tired to write yesterday or this morning… But leaving that aside, I think my first month has gone very well.

The first draft has 20,528 words, and while it isn’t *finished,* I have a good idea of how the last part of the story goes. So I’m going to settle for writing a summary of what happens next in case I come back to it later, and move on to the next one in accordance with my plan.

I definitely think I’ve learned from the experience of my first month, though nothing solid enough to really talk about. I’m looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring!

Planning:

Speaking of which, for February I’m going to try to pattern my writing as follows:

First week: Introduce the characters, the world, and the key problems, as well as complications.

Second week: The characters try to address their problems and make things worse, but there are hints of what the final resolution will be.

Third week: Achieve the final resolution and tie up loose ends.

Week four: Work on short stories, and maybe put one up for sale on Amazon. This’ll give me a chance to let go of the last long story and its pattern before starting the next one. It’ll also let me start building up a body of work for sale, for readers to find me by.

In fact, I think that’s what I’m going to work on this coming week, as January ends and February begins. I think I might take a fresh look at Changing Course.

I’ve been seeing a lot of short stories published as stand-alones for $0.99, and even bought a couple, so it seems like a more reasonable idea to me than it once did. What do you guys think? A decent way to put stuff out there for new readers to find?