July 2014

Hello! Here I am again, writing to you on a hot and humid day while sitting in front of a fan. Feeling...well, other than overheated, fine. Except...

What am I doing?

I have once again neglected to do anything I promised to do back on May 16th, a date which now seems like an extremely long time ago. What have I done since then?

I have been at my job, I've made some new friends, and I've been spending time with family and friends, as well as wasting some time watching TV shows, and then more work, etc. What I have not been doing is trying to get "The Travelers" to come back from the dead. It's as if I think it will write itself, which might be more likely at this point than my actually getting to writing some. I fully expect most if not all of you to wonder why on earth I don't just go and work on it rather than sit here and write apologetic blog posts.

The truth is, I'm not sure why I don't.

I did have some ideas for it; I think I am in a rut. I always want to work on stories, but half the time I have writer's block.

At this time, I feel that I may need to step back and consider who I am as a writer, who I have been, and where I should and want to go. Obviously, during the semester, I spend most if not all of my time writing papers, a decidedly different type of writing. Consequently, my academic and critical writing has improved drastically. My fictional writing? Hasn't improved as much. I feel a need to keep searching for my identity as a writer and be open to changes and inspiration. This is not the death knell for "The Travelers." Rather, I am finally starting to come to terms with the fact that I am in a writer's rut at the moment and I need to experiment and try to get myself out of it.

In an attempt to keep the blog alive, I would like to try to get some good conversation going in the comments: I'll introduce the first topic, but feel free to introduce your own/message me.

I'd like to hear about one of your favorite books. What is it, who wrote it, why do you like it. Is there anything you don't like about it? How's the writing? Are the pacing, characters, etc. well developed or not so much? You can address any of these questions or any others; I'm hoping for all of us to be introduced to some new reading ideas.