April 2025: Out of the Fire, Into the Other Fire

I’ll be honest: I don’t know how I managed to get through this month. Between two work weekends, a family visit, and all sorts of other shenanigans, it’s been a rough month—which is why that promise for snippets, sketches, and shorts was a dirty lie. Sorry about that! But honestly, deciding to switch over to a full-on hiatus was an excellent idea. Otherwise, no doubt I would’ve run myself completely into the ground.

In any case, we’ve made it past March and heading directly into April . . . straight for yet another busy month on the personal front, haha. Still, I’m determined to get back into the swing of things, one way or another, which means running headlong into draft 5.

Speaking of which . . .

Writing Update

As of this writing, we . . . sort of have an outline. I say “sort of” because we’re up to Act IV and gearing up for the final arc, which is to say we will likely not have a full outline when I’m diving into fast-drafting this week.

I’m not super worried, though. For one thing, this is the fourth outline I’ve tried to build while I was on hiatus (or “hiatus,” as the case really is). It’s also the outline where things feel the most solid towards the beginning, so at the very least, I have solid footing on where to start. For another, outlines are more like guidelines for me; I make them and then wildly ignore them as I start to change things on the fly. Ergo, even if I had a full outline now, in a couple of weeks, I’ll probably be reworking my plans for the entire back half of the book, based on some revelation I’d made six chapters in.

With that in mind, would I consider myself to be ready? Oh, absolutely not. I keep wondering if I’ll be able to pull this story off. The plans are a lot more solid now, and a lot more likely to address the betas’ concerns. But I’d be lying if I said I have full faith in the idea that the next attempt at this story will be The One.

Then again, that’s the thing about writing, isn’t it? You work with your nose pressed into your desk, and all you can see is what’s in front of you. Sure, that doesn’t necessarily mean that when you back up, you’ll see Art with a capital A. It’s more that you won’t make art if all you’re doing is worrying about whether or not it will be good art at the end of the day. And anyway, everyone should be allowed to make bad art once in a while. Bad art’s a learning experience.

Looking Forward

April
We’re fast-drafting Draft 5, meaning for the entire month, it’s a full-on sprint to get everything on paper. I’m aiming to finish a skeletal draft (dialogue, sketches, placeholders—oh my) by April 30. I’ve switched from Scrivener to Ellipsus for this draft, which will allow me to share my progress as it happens with collaborators (read: fellow writers interested in being critique/writing partners). If you’d like to be a collaborator, I’m still open for adding! Simply shoot me a note on Bsky.

In the meantime, pitch events are picking up again, with ChaosPit in full swing as we speak. Shortly after is 1stLinePit on the 5th, followed by PosterPit on the 19th. The latter two are completely new events to the Bsky scene, so I’m particularly excited for them (though ChaosPit is always fun).

May
Assuming I’ve finished fast-drafting, I’ll be diving straight into fleshing out Act I here. (If not, obviously, will continue to fast-draft.) And of course, I still intend on participating in QuestPit and WIPPit, as noted last month.

June
Drafting continues, but also? It’s Pride. It’s Bsky. There will likely be very queer writing events to participate in, and I will be there.

July
Drafting continues. No new writing events (that we know of, yet).

As always, thanks for reading! Don’t forget to keep an eye on Bluesky for minor updates between the hefty monthly ones.