Back of the Envelope

Well, I've finished that fanfic I told you about. Actually, I just finished the rough draft, but as fanfics are less involved than my usual stories, it doesn't require quite the usual number of revisions. So what do I plan on writing next?

To be honest, I'm not sure. I really want to get back to Fire's sequel. I keep saying I will, but I keep gettting distracted. Meanwhile I'm concerned about the Storyblogging Carnival. I don't have anything in the works that can go up in time for this next one, so you'll probably get something old. And if I'm going to make real progress on Fire's sequel, I may need to continue using old stories as Storyblogging Carnival entries while I work on that.

Well, you'll find out what I do soon.

You may be wondering what I'm writing these days. Despite my fondest wishes, I'm not writing the sequel to Fire. I keep meaning to get to that, but I keep getting distracted by other projects, not to mention that my inspiration for that project is still just simmering, and doesn't seem to want to boil. I know writing is hard work, and I can't just wait for the muse, but I also know from experience that if I try to force it I end up with a lot of junk. Instead, I'm working on something that is pretty light for me, but not really suitable for public consumption.

...

No, not in that way! Get your mind out of the gutter. What I mean is that I'm working on a fanfiction, a story based on somebody else's world and characters. It's something I rarely do, as I prefer to work in my own world and with my own characters, but as I said, it's light writing, and good practice in trying to get characterization right. It's based on a flash of inspiration I had for a scene I really wanted to see, but as I figured that the artist would not be doing it for me, I had to write it myself. Anyway, it won't make much sense if you're not familiar with the original artist's work, namely Maritza Campos's webcomic, College Roomies from Hell!!!, and also with the alternate universe appearing in this strip and really only discussed in the forum, but if you're interested, the story in progress is here.

Meanwhile, I'll put up Part II of "A Stranger in the Library" this week, and also see if I can dig up another story I've done for the carnival after that, a story which hasn't appeared online before.

Okay, I'm back from my trip. I got back on Tuesday night, but I was still recovering from my trip, so I didn't do any blogging before now. I'll try to have something interesting up soon.

Somewhat belated, but have a happy Fourth of July. I spent the day in DC, at the concert at the Washington monument, and then at the concert on the Capitol Hill lawn. It was a lot of fun, although there was an alarming lack of shade, and I'm pretty sunburned.

Anyway, a Slovak friend was very impressed with how Americans would go through so much effort to attend the concert, and how respectful they were when the national anthem was sung. His conclusion was that Americans must really love their country. That was something that I had always taken for granted. Doesn't everyone love his own country? Apparently not. While I consider myself patriotic, I'm not given to sentimental displays, but his comments reminded me that I really do love our country. Far be it from me to claim that the US is perfect, or that we're God's chosen people, but we do have something good here, and we shouldn't be ashamed to love it.

I'm here in DC now, staying at a friend's apartment and blogging on her wireless network. I'll blog a little bit as I have opportunity, but probably not a whole lot.