Ryan Leeds

When I'm finished tonight, I should be about 10% done with The Clockwork Ghosts. It's been really fun to work on so far, but I'm not sure what the point of the dog is so far, except to make it a boy and his dog story. It really kind of makes me sad that the protag is male because who ever writes a girl and her dog?

I haven't gotten the desolate feeling of the setting down yet, but that's what revisions are for. I'd like to get to the point where I can introduce the female MC, but I don't think that's going to happen tonight. I merged a couple of chapters today to make it more readable, which seems to be working well. The flow is a little awkward, but again -- revisions.

I keep having flaily moments while writing this that I don't even know what I'd DO with a manuscript if I had one. I've been able to quell that some of that by telling myself that what you do with a manuscript is write it. And the fact that if I can actually finish this, I'll be able to write another novel more easily. Which will make going back to work on God Was Wearing Black a lot easier. I'd also like to sketch out the plot to Sparkle, but I don't think I want to work on it until I've finished this project.

Looking back at The Way You Whisper, I really want to figure out how to do the revisions on it. I love the story and the way that spirituality and relationships are portrayed in it. I love the fact that I've managed to write a scene with four characters talking at once. I don't love the rushed pacing at the end.

Tomorrow is Pride and I'm not sure if I'll be going. I have a ticket, so I may go for a bit and see if I can handle it. There will just be so many people and I have a lot of writing I'd like to get done on Saturday as I probably won't have a lot of time to write on Sunday with church and all.

I also need to transfer NINJA VERSUS PIRATE FEATURING ZOMBIES to my phone so that I can read it while I'm on the bus. It's not the greatest book from what I've read so far -- it thinks it's the most awesome book in the world, I think is part of the problem -- but it's been enjoyable.

A friend let me borrow a book that she got from the library, Luna. It's the story of a girl whose sister is in the process of dealing with her identity as a woman and going from open at night to going in public as a woman. It had a great way of pointing out the selfishness of embarrassment and wish that a loved one stay closeted for your own sake and had a realistic view of her sister dealing with that. I didn't like the fact that it harped on the Harry Benjamin Standards of care and some of the terms that Luna used to describe cisgender women and trans women, but I'm pretty sure the author is cisgendered and so may not know that much about the modern trans community.

It was nice reading something for once and it made me realize that I need to get a library card. In order to do that, I need to get more mail. (Anyone who wants to send me a letter is free to do so, but unfortunately it will have to be sent to my current legal name, I think, in order for me to prove residency. I will gladly privately share my email address with you.)

I never did recap my adventures on Disneyland. Needless to say it was a lot of fun and Space Mountain was an experience I'd like to repeat.

I finished my challenge. The pacing is all wrong. There are parts that need to go and parts that need to be padded. The ending needs more impact. But it's done. I wrote an entire story that broke away from my normal writing cliches. It is optimistic. It's completely linear. It centers around a healthy relationship(s).

Snippets will go in my writing journal (holymachines). This story needs a more serious rewriting than anything I've ever written, but I guess that's what I get for writing it in 7 days. It's currently 3,800 words and I'd like to keep it around there.

My goal right now is to get the first rewrite done in another week. Obviously I don't expect to fix the story that quickly, but I feel like I should be able to do a decent amount considering all the spare time I have. As long as I don't keep dicking around on the internet, I should be able to beat that goal pretty easily.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

I need to put a new challenge together! The last one was created by putting together three things I've never really written about. I don't write optimistic stories, I tend to write non-linear, and healthy relationships aren't my cup of tea.

If you're familiar with my writing, go ahead and suggest something(s) I should add to my next challenge. Or if you're not, challenge me with things that are generally difficult. I'll look at them and figure out what I should be doing next.





I really have no excuse not to try and swap between writing a story a week and rewriting for a week.