outlining and such; also work schedule grumbling

[edenfalling]

I poked at my chosen pinch hit prompt (plus my recipient's general list of wants and do-not-wants), and came out with two potential story ideas. As I unspooled each one a little, trying to figure out the structure and implications and stuff, the one I initially liked better kept getting darker and darker, until it didn't really fit the feel of the prompt anymore. (I still kind of want to write it, though. Just not now.)

So I am going, instead, with the idea that I initially came up with as a crack throwaway, but which upon reflection turned out to actually be surprisingly plausible and bittersweet. Plus hilarious. I mean, even the super-dark idea still includes a fair dose of hilarity, because reasons, but this alternate plot bunny works much better for that element.

Now I just need to firm up my scenario justification and think of a good opening line, at which point I will sit back and take dictation. (The beauty of this fandom is that once I get a certain type of idea wound up properly, I can basically just let it go and it will do the thing on its own. Meeting minimum wordcount is not the trick. The trick is making the story stop. *wry*)

-----

In other news, not only did I go in to Not the IRS three hours early on Monday, I will be staying four hours late tomorrow and going in at an as-yet-undetermined time on Friday, but definitely earlier than I was initially scheduled for.

This is partly an attempt to make sure there is always somebody on the clock who doesn't have a pre-scheduled appointment, so we can take walk-in clients, but also an attempt to reduce hours for one of my coworkers who is having a family crisis in slow motion and can't work their usual hours.

Anyway, I'm mostly okay with this kind of thing -- money is money, after all -- but I did want to see a movie on Monday, and possibly attend a public hearing on Friday, and clearly none of that is happening. *sigh* Maybe next week will be a little more relaxed.

Comments

[the_rck]

I know the difficulty of getting things to end and also the ideas that don't go where they're supposed to, so much sympathy on those counts. I hope the pinch hit really does unspool easily.

I also hope that the work stuff doesn't wear you out too badly. Money is generally useful, but, even temporarily, the time-money tradeoff can be exhausting. Much luck!

Oh, and Sky High is eating my brain again. I have an exchange assignment I need to finish that is in no way at all connected to Sky High, so I'm side-eying my creative brain right now. I've still got time on the assignment, though, so I don't yet have deadline panic to force me to focus.

[edenfalling]

It's not even the time spent at work that's particularly wearing -- I spend a fair amount of time doing nothing much between clients, so I can get a bunch of reading and writing done -- but the uncertainty, and also having to wear my "public" face instead of slouching around in the peace of my own apartment, is what gets to me. It's hard to plan around a changeable schedule, and I don't feel comfortable saying "No, I can't come in" when the reason is something like "I want to see a movie" and my coworker's reason for having to cut their hours is, bluntly, "My spouse is dying of cancer." :(

I should have more reliable free time again starting in late April, so I'd be available for beta-reading then if you have anything you want a second set of eyes on. :)

[the_rck]

I consider being out in public exhausting without adding anything at all on top of it, so I sometimes forget that not everyone is an agoraphobe. Anxiety is exhausting as is performative awareness.

I might have 50K words to throw at you by late April. I'm a little over 30K words now, after two weeks of writing, and this damned thing keeps growing. There's got to be an end, right? Eventually?

[edenfalling]

Yeah, I am not agoraphobic -- just strongly introverted, so even though I like people, I need time alone to recharge and it's frustrating to lose that at short notice.

Also, obviously, one can't read NSFW stuff at work. ;)

Everything ends eventually! And if you can't find a good ending, there is always the old Vulcan method, which states that two people are required to create a masterpiece: one to wield the paintbrush and one to hit the first with a hammer to make them stop fiddling and adding before they mess it up. *wry*

[the_rck]

::laughs:: I haven't quite hit the fiddling with it point. I'm still adding a lot of new paragraphs as opposed to changing that one comma and then changing it back and then changing it again. I am editing as I get better ideas because, over the course of 32K words of discovering the story by writing it, I'm going to find things that should have been there earlier.

My current intention is to sit on this one until you have time to beta because, although it's likely readable now, it will be so much better with your input.