Tag Archives: plot bunnies

February 18, 2022 · 10:00 AM

A Plot Bunny Has Spawned

It’s been a not-too-bad sort of week. Writing has been going well, and last night I got a text telling me that I was cancelled for today, so, since Monday is a school holiday, I have a four-day weekend, which I sincerely hope will be more productive than last weekend was.

So, four days of work this week, a four-day weekend, and four days of work next week. Not so good for the paycheck, but hopefully good for knees and hip. (Let’s just say that school buses were not built for comfort.)

I have no plans to leave the house except to go pick up Demon Dog’s pills from the vet later today. (He has to be sedated to get his nails trimmed, and last time he really fought the anesthesia, so the vet decided that needs pre-sedation sedatives. He has an appointment for Monday morning, which is my only other planned excursion into the outside world.)

(As an introvert, the outside world is vastly overrated.)

I might spend some time this weekend in search of lost objects. The Onyx Sun printout, for instance, and my fingernail clippers. Anyone care to take bets on which one I find, if either?

And I really should do something about the chaos in my craft corner.

Hmm… I think I’m seeing a new plot bunny off in the distance. A magic user of some kind who can never find what s/he is looking for, but always finds something else interesting while searching.

Because I need another plot bunny…

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April 9, 2021 · 8:42 PM

Rabbit Holes and Other Shiny Things

Every once in a while I get curious about my family history. Lately some friends have been talking about genealogy and their family histories and I’m afraid I’m about to go down the ancestry.com rabbit hole. I’m trying to resist, at least until this month is over, but I made the mistake of opening the website this evening and playing around a bit and…

Well, let’s just say that I can resist everything except temptation.

Fortunately, I have to get up early for work tomorrow morning so I won’t be diving in any deeper tonight as I have a lot of work to do between now and bedtime.

Writing-wise I’ve made a tiny bit of progress, but not much. Still, any forward progress is good, right? I wonder if I can write 20,000 words on Sunday to get caught up?  I could take my laptop with me tomorrow and do some writing at work as there’s a lot of down time, but I do have a notebook in my crochet bag that I can use to hand write for hieroglyphic transcription later. And I know from experience that I’m unlikely to use my laptop if I take it, so I think it’s going to stay home.

I’ve been fending off a new-ish plot bunny that is so far nothing more than a title, but the pushy little thing is growing fast. And another new plot bunny popped in this evening based on a comment that a friend made. (I’m thinking it may go Steampunk, whereas the first one is probably going to be urban fantasy or paranormal. Maybe.)

I don’t have time for this! Just keeping up with my ever-changing work schedule is a full time job. (The joys of agency work – my schedule for this past week changed at least four or five times and it’s already had two changes for next week.)

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March 12, 2021 · 7:44 PM

Buses and Bunnies

Story ideas come from the strangest places.

Today, for instance. I picked up a shift doing a school bus ride-along with the student that I was with last school year (until Covid shut the schools down).  The bus leaves from a different garage this year and has a different driver. I got there early (as I usually do) and settled down to wait.

Fifteen minutes later than we were supposed to leave I asked the dispatcher if I’d missed the driver somehow. (Unlikely since he can’t leave without me.) She said she hadn’t seen him and called him but he didn’t answer the radio which she thought was odd, so she called his cell phone, with hers on speaker.

He said that since he only had one student today he wasn’t leaving until 7:15. The dispatcher said okay, that she hadn’t known he only had one student, and that the nurse was asking and he got snarky and said “I’m tired of these damned nurses.” She ended the call, looked at me, and said, “He’s a grumpy butt today.” (At this point I already had a somewhat more colorful description in mind…)

As I was leaving at the end of the day I said to him (in the sweetest, most pleasant voice imaginable – a clear danger sign to anyone who knows me – ) “This ‘damned nurse’ will see you next Friday.”

And now I want to write a story using the “damned nurse” scenario.

Because, you know, I don’t have enough plot bunnies…

And now my internet is being wonky again (it rained last night but was sunny all day today) so there might be another bunny brewing between a phone repair person and customer. Or maybe not – this internet cutting out and coming back multiple times during/after rain is getting old.

But I have bigger problems than either of those to deal with so I’m off to research toilets. (And I hope no plot bunny hops out of one.)

 

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January 25, 2021 · 8:22 PM

Over Booked

No, this has nothing to do with the overcrowding on my bookshelves. (Although it would be appropriate…)

It also has nothing to do with my ever-growing list of Works In Progress and Plot Bunnies. (Although it would probably be even more appropriate…)

No, this time it has to do with scheduling.

I know I always give myself a bigger list of things to do than any thirteen people could accomplish, but now I’ve gone and overbooked myself for Friday.

I had made (tentative) plans to go to my mother’s to get help with that damned waffle stitch scarf (that looks more like a lumpy pancake than a waffle), but then I realized that the month is almost over and I have to get my car inspected. No problem. Inspection, trip to my mother’s, done.

But when I was entering the inspection appointment into the calendar on my phone I realized that Friday is also the day of my second Covid vaccine and now I need to be in three places at once.

Meanwhile, as far as writing and such goes, I am making progress. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless. I fixed up the scene that I thought I’d already put into Book One of the Academy of the Accord series and hope to get it inserted before the week is out.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that I make my goals too big sometimes, and then they feel overwhelming and don’t happen. Like “Enter changes to Onyx Sun.” That’s a big project. I think I need to reword it to “Enter changes to one chapter of Onyx Sun every day.” That’s a lot less scary.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that I really need to stop and make an outline of some sort for Song and Shadow. I have no idea what’s going to happen and only a vague idea of who the Big Bad is and even less of an idea about how the reveal is going to go.

And while I’m working on the outline I should start a series bible.

*sigh* Here I go. Overbooking myself again…

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January 18, 2021 · 7:10 PM

Bits and Pieces

Of paper, that is.

I need to clean out my computer hutch because it’s a total disaster area in there, everything keeps sliding out, and I think there may be some sort of new civilization arising from the papers that have ended up behind my computer monitor.

My current solution to the problem is to drag it all out and put it in a box and then go through the box, sorting it into categories like:

important papers
novel notes
plot bunnies
character names
and so on

Why don’t I just sort as I pull it out?

Good question.

For one thing, not everything in there is paper, just the majority of it. Getting the paper all out of the way lets me see what else I’m dealing with.

And a box is a lot more portable than my computer hutch. I can take it all someplace where I’ll have more room to sort it all out into piles. This is especially important because I have no idea how many piles I’ll need.

Plus, currently, every time I pull out one piece of paper half a dozen more avalanche along with it.

The ultimate goal (aside from pretending to have an organized life) is to move some of my writing stuff over here instead of having scattered wherever it currently is. I especially want my Plot Bunny/WiP binder over here so I can just write ideas in it instead of on scraps of paper (which is part of what led to this mess).

I’m also seriously considering not replacing my PC, but just getting a new laptop. That would free up a great deal of space. I’d have the slot where the PC sat before its power supply went kaput (fortunately the hard drive was salvageable), I could get rid of the monitor which give me more room in the hutch itself, and I could get rid of a lot of cords, the PC’s speakers, etc.

I think I just talked myself into it. (See? Decluttering space helps declutter the mind. And it helps clear up creative blockages too.)

So, that’s one current side project. If anyone has any great ideas for taming paper clutter, I’d love to hear them, especially if they’re ideas for keeping it tamed once it’s conquered. Meanwhile, if anyone needs me, I’m engaged in an archaeological dig in my computer hutch.

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June 25, 2018 · 10:53 PM

I’m Building a World!

(Man, if those words don’t give you a god complex I don’t know what will!)

So, anyhow, I did some world-building this weekend. (See what this series of blog posts is doing to me?)

Not for my Camp NaNoWriMo project, mind you, (although I did work on its outline a little) but for an idea that’s been kind of kicking around on a back burner for a while now.

Settings are usually my weak point, but that’s what this one started as – just a setting. No people, no plot, just a place.

The place now has some people (well, two named people) and a history and a (main) religion. And the start of a story line. (There are people in the story line, too, but they don’t have names yet.)

Unfortunately, the story line probably isn’t enough for a novel so I’m still not sure what’s happening with the whole idea, but at least it’s a start.

And even more unfortunately I think there are two novels set there – one back when the place was new and one later, after things got codified a bit more. And, actually, it would lend itself well to a series of short stories.

(No, it doesn’t have a name. The working title is Sanctuary. (Or Haven or Refuge or Oasis. Apparently I can’t make up my mind.)

As much as I want to start working on this story (because it’s shiny and sparkly and oh, look, a squirrel!) I don’t think I’ll start writing it yet. It needs some pretty intense world building.

The city (or whatever it is) is a melting pot of different races and nationalities and cultures and religions and what-have-you, and I need to know about all of them.

Will the reader know about all of them? Probably not. At least, not all at once.

But I need to know.

And for once I would like to have everything settled and sorted before I start writing.

Just to see what it’s like.

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January 22, 2018 · 7:01 PM

S.A.B.L.E.

In the world of counted cross stitch (and probably other crafts) we have an acronym of S.A.B.L.E., which is Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. In other words, there’s no way we’re ever going to stitch all of our charts in this lifetime. After spending several hours last night trying to organize my plot bunnies I’m beginning to wonder if there is a similar acronym for writing. If not I may have to invent one.

I’m not at all certain that I’m going to get this project finished tonight. I might be able to at least get the rest of the ones that I have printed off put into the binder, but as I was ,working on it last night I kept thinking, “I know I started writing this,” which means that there are more lurking somewhere.

The question is, “Where?”

And I’m afraid the answer might lie in my Plot Bunny Bag, so I have the feeling that tomorrow (my day off) I’m going to drag it out and see what horrors may be lurking within it. If you don’t hear from me on Friday I was eaten by a rabid plot bunny.

It’s really frustrating to know that you’ve written something and then not be able to find it, and I have several starts like that. Hopefully, though, with the binder of starts and ideas that I’m making, from now on when I run across something like that I can put it in there and keep everything together so there’s no more of this.

But meanwhile…

 

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January 19, 2018 · 9:59 PM

Current Status

I remembered that it’s Friday! And I remembered that I write a blog post on Fridays! My new not-so-evil day job is doing wonders for me already.

I was off yesterday and didn’t do much except go out for lunch. Today has been a stay home and chill day, which I desperately needed.

As far as writing-related stuff goes, I started setting up my notebook for story starts and ideas. I work afternoon shift tomorrow, but night shift on Sunday and Monday, so in preparation I’m printing off the stuff that I have on the computer so I can get it all put into the binder.

I still haven’t found the concordance for The Academy of the Accord, but I have found one more place that it isn’t, so… progress?  I’ve also verified that it still isn’t in three or four places that I’ve looked previously, just in case the gremlins put it back where it wasn’t.

(On a brighter note, I think I found half of a pair of Crocs my roommate was missing, so I’m pretty sure the other one is in that general vicinity somewhere.)

And in the “Why do I do this to myself?” category, I signed up for InCoWriMo – International Correspondence Writing Month. It’s a challenge to write a letter a day for the month of February. (Or a note card or post card or whatever.) Because… sanity is overrated?

 

 

 

 

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January 15, 2018 · 12:13 PM

Halfway to Nowhere

The fifteenth? Already? The month is half over already? And my goals for the month are… not halfway done. Not even halfway started.

*sigh*

I do have two days off in a row coming up, though, and then I’ll be starting to work some night shifts so I’ll have time to write with minimal interruptions.

(Now, if I can just convince gmail to let me access it from a strange computer. I appreciate the added layers of security, but sending a secret code to my cell phone when I work in a jail where I can’t have said cell phone isn’t very helpful.)

Anyhow…

That “sort of” plot bunny is growing by leaps and bounds. I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing, given the current state of my pile of projects, starts, and novels I’m ignoring.

Another major (although not as high priority as the Academy of the Accord stuff) is to organize all of those projects, starts, and novels I’m ignoring. I think I’ve settled on putting them all into a three ring binder, organized alphabetically by title, working title, or some kind of word combination that will give me some sort of hint as to what it’s about.

I think that’s going to be another good project for downtime at work, maybe on evening shifts, at least until I find the concordance for The Academy of the Accord so I can get back to work on it.

(Some people need to find themselves. I just need to find my stuff.)

 

 

 

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January 8, 2018 · 10:02 PM

I “Plumb” Forgot

Even with a planner I forgot that Friday was Friday. In my own defense, though, I was more focused on the weekend and getting water back in the kitchen, since we haven’t had any since around Christmas.

That got fixed on Saturday (major all day project) but in the process something happened to the drain pipe so he had to come back on Sunday and fix that (another major project).

Seriously, I’m lucky to remember that today is Monday.

Not much writing has been getting done. I did start on a flash fiction piece for a contest but it hasn’t gotten very far and I have no idea where it’s going.

And there’s a new plot bunny of sorts nagging me.  (“Of sorts” means “Two main characters without names, an antagonist without a name, and no plot other than some background info on the three nameless characters.”)

So, yeah. It’s not going to be an actual WiP for quite a while. (She says with hope in her heart, but a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.)

Of course, that brings me back to trying to figure out how best to sort and organize all of my projects and ideas. I think it’s going to work best to have a three ring binder with lots and lots of pages. I’m not sure whether I should alphabetize them by title (or working title) or just number the pages and set up an index, though. Probably alphabetizing would be best.

I still haven’t found the concordance for The Academy of the Accord. I keep finding places that it isn’t, so sooner or later I should find the place that it is. (Shouldn’t I?)

So, so far I’m not doing well at all on monthly – or yearly – goals. I need to buckle down and do stuff.

Do: my word of the year.

 

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