Write, damn you!

I am back in the writing groove a bit.  After a long period where I struggled to get a single paragraph of fiction created, I have had three days this week where I have produced over a thousand words in one sitting.  For me, that's huge.  And from the FB comments of a lot of writer friends, it would be pretty huge for most of them too.

Some of my longtime followers may recall that I am working on a Sword & Planet story for a spec anthology being edited by Scott Oden.  After a couple of months of having no inspiration for writing it, I finally switched my idea to a first person narrative, and changed my viewpoint character, and suddenly it all clicked.  I like this take, and am already 2400 words into a 10k word story.  With a full outline, and defined characters, I think I should be able to pound this out quickly.  At least, the first draft of it.

Related to this story, was my aborted first attempt.  I had plotted it out, and presented the plot and first couple of pages to Scott, only to have him (correctly) point out that I didn't have any S&P elements, and that it would make a fine S&S story, or even alternate history.  Well, now that I have switched tracks for that anthology, I took the old draft, changed the names, and started setting it up as a S&S tale.  I think when I finish it, it will be on par with REH's "Phoenix on the Sword."  It's that kind of story.

As I previously noted a couple of posts back, I am also working on a Military Sci Fi story.  Did some work on that, and it's coming together nicely.  Though I can't decide what length it will be.  I guess I will just write the story to its logical conclusion and let the length be determined by that.  Either way, it's actually a little low on my priority scale right now.

Which leads me to academic writing.  I have a research paper due in a couple of weeks.  I have started on it, and have a good outline, the sources, and the thesis and opening paragraphs written.  The cool thing is, I am doing it on the early life of King Agesilaus of Sparta.  And the research will drive directly into the writing of the historical fiction novel I have planned for him.

Some days I think I will never be a "real" writer (at least how I perceive that title).  Then I have a week like this, and I start to think "I can do this!"