State of Affairs

[apple_pathways]

Note to self: you are not allowed to buy cowboy boots. You do not, in the strictest sense of the word, need cowboy boots. You have to buy books for school, and gas for the car so you can get to school and also to your job so that you can buy more books and gas. It doesn't matter that they're on sale and quite a good price and they actually have your size and OMG LOOK HOW GORGEOUS THEY ARE! None of that. Now put your debit card away, and move on.

Ahem.

So anyway, for the first time in a long time, I have an idea for an original (not fanfic) story. The more I think about it, the more I'm falling in love with the idea, but I'm a bit nervous about starting it for a couple of reasons:

1. To do it properly, I'd need to do some research; quite a bit of research, actually. Specifically, research on old Southern United States architecture, a certain type of insect, and a refresher course on literary symbolism. This is worrying, because I'm back in school this fall, and will be busy with legit schoolwork, and also because...well, it's not that I'm bad at researching; I have been selected to present my research in symposia before. It's just that I'm rather undisciplined, especially if it's just something for myself, and not for work or school.
   
2. As I mentioned, I think the story idea I have works best if set in the Southern United States. I do not live in the Southern U.S. I love the South, and I've travelled all over, but it's not quite the same. I'd hate to write something set in what's essentially another culture and get it wrong. (Although, on the other hand, there would only be a handful of characters in the story, and no real interaction with "Southern society".)
   

I really want to find a good writers' group to join. If I'm going to get back into writing, I'd like to do it properly with a real support system. Which begs the question: would it be taking on more than I can handle? History has shown I'm not the best at dealing with multiple pressures.

But the desire to write...SO...STRONG!!

Comments

[ladylovelace.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel any better, I spent half my life writing about a time I don't live in in a country I've visited once.

I would make the suggestion of doing NaNoWriMo to force yourself to get the words down - you can always edit later, right? It'll give you something of a support system for a little while that you can always back out of without consequences (I don't know how it'll be in your area, but here, the NaNo people are awesome and brilliant and it's like a month long party without feeling like you need another month to recover).

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to do NaNoWriMo; I even signed up one year! Maybe I'll give it a try, I'm just worried about trying to get out 50,000 words while still getting my schoolwork done. Thanks for the tip, though! That's a support community I hadn't thought of.