Et tu, Muse?

Hello friends. Have you ever gotten near to the end of a project, and all of a sudden every other project is super interesting? Or, in the case of my current brain, all of a sudden, there are new ideas everywhere. I’ve written more new things into my idea file in the last week than probably the last six months combined. Why do we do this? (Or maybe it’s just me?) While I’m close to the end of my revision (we’re firmly in Act 3 now) I still probably have at least a month more, maybe two. And that’s only going to get longer if I get distracted by every shiny thing my brain finds for me. And, holy cow, my brain is actively searching for shiny things. They’re everywhere. And you know that if I gave in and actually switched to one of these new projects, my brain would also give up on that one, or try to redirect me to something else, or decide now is an excellent time for a fanfiction hyperfixation. (oh no, I’m giving myself ideas.) Is this normal? I know other writing friends have this happen, but arguably no writer is normal, so this is a terrible litmus. If you too get distracted in the home stretch or find that you’re actively sabotaging yourself, what do you do to counteract it? My current technique is to tell myself that as soon as I finish my revision I’ll dedicate a month to chaos, where we…

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Building in Procrastination

Heya, friends! I hope everyone enjoyed Across Worlds with You! (And if you missed it, all nine parts are now available in the freebies section!) Here we are, mid-February, about a month and a half into the year (which is a little crazy if you think about it). Last month I talked about why I thought everyone tends to be so productive at the beginning of January as well as my goals for the year, which including adding in side goals in reading, art, and video games and whether or not I thought that was going to be a bad idea. And now that we’re six weeks in, I’m going to say–I think they were a good idea. I can’t always concentrate on my big project. I’m not sure anyone is actually capable of 100% focus on their main project at all times. I’m tired from work, or I only have ten minutes before I need to go do something, or my brain is just fried in general. What I found last year was that when I hit these times I tended toward binging YouTube or playing hours of Minesweeper or something along those lines, which was frustrating because I was not doing what I wanted to be doing and also wasn’t enjoying my time doing whatever it was I was doing instead. So what I’ve found with the addition of the side goals is that instead of defaulting to the dumbest thing possible when I can’t work up motivation,…

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Across Worlds with You, Part 9 (Final) by Kit Campbell

Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6Part 7 Part 8 Across Worlds with You, Part 9Kit Campbell “Okay,” Theo said for the fifteenth time. “So, just for the record, we might die instantly.” “You said that already,” Will said. He should be worried about potentially dying instantly, but for some reason he wasn’t. Maybe his brain had gone back to the psychotic episode theory. Maybe he’d bought into the whole prophecy thing. Or maybe he innately trusted Theo’s magic. Or just Theo. Anyway, Theo or his magic hadn’t led Will astray yet. They were standing in yet another waystation. While Theo opened the gate—was he getting sick of opening gates? Had he ever opened a gate before he’d come to save Will?—Will stared around at it. This one was a light blue stone, almost like turquoise or aquamarine. Who had created the waystations? Why were they all subtly different? Or maybe they weren’t there at all—maybe it was just how their brains, or Will’s, at least, perceived it. He should ask Theo what he saw. Although not right now. The blue of the gate opening illuminated the corridor in front of Will, bringing it up to daylight levels. He turned to find Theo packing his supplies back into his bag. They’d packed the amulets as well. “Okay,” Theo said yet again. “Let’s go over this one more time. I’ve enchanted these”—he indicated two new, different amulets in his hand—“to block the Darkness’s powers so we can walk through it without…

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Chaos and Snow

Good morning, friends. Look at me, posting when I am supposed to and early in the day (pay no attention to the fact that this month’s installment of Across Worlds with You was a week late, and purely because I spaced it completely, not because it wasn’t ready). Despite time being arbitrary and all that jazz we talked about last month, there is something a bit magical about January, isn’t there? A feeling of potential, that there’s so much that could be done this year. I think it lulls you into a false sense of security. Sure, you can get a ton done in January! You have plenty of free time! The holidays are behind you (though not completely behind me, as the Christmas tree still needs to be moved to the basement), there’s potentially a bunch of days off of work for less prep-intensive holidays, sometimes it’s below zero for days on end and the whole state gives up, things like that. Add in the general feeling from the cultural zeitgeist that you can do anything because it’s a new year, and it’s really no wonder that everyone crashes in February. That being said, I am having a great January. This, too, is a false sense of security. Because I can already see what I’ve done. Traditionally I set a bunch of goals–writing goals, reading goals, art goals, video game goals, health goals, etc. Last year I cut them all out except for a single writing goal (finish a…

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Across Worlds with You, Part 8 by Kit Campbell

Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6 Part 7 Across Worlds with You, Part 8Kit Campbell Destia’s foot was a shriveled husk, the skin gray and dead. Like the life had been sucked out it. The life had been sucked out of it. Will buried his head in his hands. Theo had sent them straight back to Helstena before leaving Will and Destia to talk to the Council. The Historian had arrived shortly after, helping Destia to a safe place for her to sit. Destia hadn’t said a single word since the gate had closed. He was really messing this up. Other people were getting hurt because of him, and despite them retrieving the amulets—well, most of them—he still couldn’t actually do anything. Why would the prophecy have named him? The world was doomed. The Historian sighed and stood, coming over to join Will where he sat on the edge of the terrace, staring out at the world he was soon to destroy. “Good job,” she said, not sarcastically. It took a moment for Will to parse the words. “Good job?” he echoed. “Destia could have died because the Darkness can somehow figure out where I’m going.” “She could have,” the Historian agreed, “but she didn’t, because you pulled her to safety in time.” “She wouldn’t have even been in danger if it wasn’t for me.” “Oh, well, now that’s not true.” The Historian groaned as she lowered herself onto the ground beside him. Closing her eyes, she took a…

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2024 Looms

Good afternoon, friends. It is so cold in my house that it’s hard to type, so that may be my cue to go elsewhere (and get coffee). I had such grand ideas for today, my friends. And then I got distracted by…I don’t even know. I went to the gym, came home and took a shower, read forty pages of a book (Guards! Guards! at the moment), and then…who knows. Something. Being cold, perhaps. I have a to do list app on my computer called Today, which is lovely because you put what you want to do on it, just for the day, and then it deletes everything so you start each day with a clean slate. I use it in conjunction with Todoist, which is my main to do program, because sometimes seeing what you’re behind on is only discouraging. HOWEVER I am getting ready to retire this particular computer because it’s ancient, so I did spend some time looking for a Today-like app to download onto my phone. Which didn’t work, I don’t think. I’m trying Microsoft To Do which in theory should only show me things due on the day I’m on, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to know for sure. If you know of one, let me know. All this is a very roundabout way of saying, oh my god, it’s almost the end of the year, when the hell did this happen, and how do I get it to stop. At this…

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Across Worlds with You, Part 7 by Kit Campbell

Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5 Part 6 Across Worlds with You, Part 7Kit Campbell Despite being hyperfocused on listening, Will heard no sign of the dragging, hissing sound he associated with the Deathcrawlers. Of course, he’d always come across them in built-up areas—areas made of concrete, and stone, and asphalt. They probably didn’t make the same sound if they were crawling through flowers. Despite that, they made it to the town across the field without being eaten or whatever a Deathcrawler actually did when they caught you. Theo, once again, sped up as they approached the amulet. This one ended up being embedded in the back wall of an inn. Destia distracted the innkeeper with questions about the safety of her establishment while Theo plunged his hand into the wall. This amulet was silver with a deep blue gem. It, like the last one, went into Theo’s bag. “Are you going to stay or not?” said a particularly frustrated innkeeper. “I’ll have to check with my employer,” Destia replied. “Come on, boys, duty awaits.” Back outside, the fog was more obvious. And definitely getting closer. “Does it normally move so quickly?” Will asked. Theo had gone pale, though that could have been the drain of the spell. “I’m not sure. We had it mostly contained by the time either you or I were born. I don’t know what it was like at the beginning.” “It swept in from nowhere,” Destia said, her gaze distant, remembering. “It liked wooded areas…

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Can We Not Have Drama

Good evening, friends, how are you doing? I’m mostly okay–I’ve worked on my revision every day for two weeks, which is probably a record in recent times. I’m making excellent progress! Hopefully. Or maybe not. Sometimes hard to tell in the middle of a revision whether things are getting better or just getting moved around. Everything would be going swimmingly if we could just have a little less drama, if you please. Why are humans like this? Why do people come along and see something and be like, “ah, yes, I’m going to ruin this”? The big drama of the week is the Nanowrimo drama. I’m not going to go into details, because it is upsetting and a pretty big deal, but you can definitely find stuff if you’re interested in that. And having Nano tarnished by this sort of thing is upsetting, because I, like many people in the writing community, have done Nano many times and feel a sort of nostalgia for it (even as we continue to do it). It’s kind of like having your childhood ruined. Aside from that, there’s been drama in the volunteer organization we do with our children. As happens more often than not, there’s one parent who has decided they know better than everyone else and is determined to yell and bully until everyone else gives up. Most of this parent’s ire is currently directed at my spouse due to a misunderstanding, and instead of acting like a functional human being, she’s…

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Across Worlds with You, Part 6 by Kit Campbell

Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4 Part 5 Across Worlds with You, Part 6Kit Campbell “They’ve got to be tracking Will somehow,” Theo said around a mouthful. They were back in Helstena. Theo had managed to close the gate before the Deathcrawler had gotten through, but it had been with shaky hands that he’d opened a gate straight back to Helstena instead of going back through all the waystations. The amulet had been put somewhere safe and guarded, and now Will found himself eating dinner in one of the nicer houses in the village, though he’d not followed whose house it was or why they were feeding him. “That’s not good.” Destia ripped a chunk of the loaf of bread on the table in front of her, not actually seeming concerned. Will glanced down at his own plate, where he’d only managed a few bites. What was not good was how the amulet hadn’t responded to him. If he were the one from the prophecy, and the amulets were the key to stopping the Darkness, that was a major issue. Or he wasn’t the one from the prophecy, everyone had been wrong all these years, and they were all going to die. He tried to muster the thought that he was having a psychotic break, just to see how it felt, but it rang empty. His brain would never have come up with all this on its own. “Or,” Destia said, “maybe the Darkness was just lucky.” Theo stared at her…

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Chronic Stress

Hello, friends, how are you? I’m actually pretty decent, today at least. We’re taking a few days to just rest. Nothing planned, nothing in particular, just chilling and not worrying about anything. Well, in theory. In practice, my spouse has had two work meetings he hasn’t been able to get out of, the kids have whined about being bored, we had a miscommunication about how long to spend on an art project versus making dinner, and I’ve spent about four hours at the pool, which is a lot of pool but I suppose isn’t too bad. (May also have gotten sunburned. Whoops.) I’ve used the non-family time to read 75% of a novel and 60 pages of a nonfiction book, finish revising a chapter and start another, and take a nap (which was not terribly successful because everyone kept coming in to bother me, oh well). And I am purposefully not thinking about anything that’s been giving me anxiety lately–nothing related to school or volunteer commitments, nothing related to the basement flood or the tornado, nothing related to my furnace failing, nothing related to upcoming conventions. Will I have to think about all those things tomorrow? Oh, absolutely. Dance classes, a book study, an email to the other volunteers, choir practice, the furnace people and the landscapers, my neighbor whose wife just died. But those are for tomorrow. Today, we let ourselves relax. Today, we find joy and comfort where we can. I can’t imagine the chronic stress that we…

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