interview + wishy-washiness

Fellow blogger and commenter here at ye olde blog, Reece Hanzon, did an interview with me yesterday, mostly about me and my writing. If you are interested in that, you can check it out here.

In other news, I am perhaps the most wishy-washy writer there ever was. Last week, I committed to writing the princess-peasant magical swap story. This week, I thought I’d write the time-travel adventure. Today, I’m thinking about a completely different story that I started on last year but never finished.

There are too many ideas bouncing around in my head and I can’t decide which one to pursue. And the biggest problem: they're ideas, not plots, not stories. They’re all so alluring, promising to fill that empty hole of not-writing, but they aren't right. Maybe I just need to stop worrying about writing and just let the right idea come to me. Trying to force an idea into a plot isn’t going to make things better for me, especially if I decide I’m not ready to write it. I’m not ready to write the princess-peasant magical swap story or the time-travel adventure. But what book I am ready to write remains a mystery.

Maybe all these failed attempts at writing a book other than the next Chroniker City novel is a sign that I should stop trying to write something else. Maybe I should write the sequel. I thought that maybe I would get burned out on it, but now I’m not so sure. Especially after reading Merrie Haskell’s The Princess Curse yesterday, I realize that having to wait long periods of time for a sequel (if there will even be a sequel) is really frustrating. I don’t want to do that to my readers. But at the same time, I don’t want to wait several books before writing a fantasy novel.

Like I said: wishy-washy. I’m probably the most indecisive person on the planet (and my husband can attest to that).

So it looks like I have a bit more mind-sorting to do. In the meantime, I have a few books that I’m definitely going to read this weekend and the following week:

A Tale of Time City – Diana Wynne Jones (the reason my blog post is so late this morning; I stayed up reading)

The Dark Lord of Derkholm – Diana Wynne Jones

How to Be a Pirate - Cressida Cowell
How to Speak Dragonese - Cressida Cowell
How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse - Cressida Cowell
How to Twist a Dragon's Tale - Cressida Cowell
A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons - Cressida Cowell
How to Ride a Dragon's Storm - Cressida Cowell

(I loved How to Train Your Dragon so it’s only fitting that I would purchase the remaining released books)

I also have other books that I bought several months ago but have yet to read. I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t seem to get into them. I want to. I paid money for these books. I would hate for that to go to waste. But it seems like they’re books that I should read, rather than books that I want to read. Maybe I should stop feeling so guilty about not reading them and just get around to them sometime in the far future. Or never read them at all.

Anyway, I hope you all have a grand weekend, filled with cuddly, rainbow things. Happy Friday.