Lindsay Gurka

I’ve always been a pantser. A story will come along and if it’s a short story, I’ll sit there and write the entire thing down and watch as it bends and twists into whatever it’s going to be. I’m usually quite surprised at the end. But a novel is a whole different beast and I didn’t realize that until I started working on Table Six. I know how to write a short story, I can do poetry, but this like, 200-300 page monster? It looks impossible.

But the funny thing is, is that Tilly is in my head and she won’t go away. The story is boiling and spilling over and I just have to get it down on the page, but my brain is screaming for structure in a space that I typically don’t work with any. This demands some planning, some sort of plotting out of major plot points, at the very least, and some idea on structure with the acts and scenes and all that stuff.

Bottom line is I’m completely lost, but I’m finding my way out of the mess. I started to ease back into my writing habits with editing a short story I wrote years back. That seemed to have done it because I finished that sucker. I’m going to give it a couple days and one more edit before I post it, but that was exciting. And yesterday, I started a new short story.

At this rate, I’m not even going to question how or why my brain works the way it does, but it’s become apparent it works best in chaos and the more stories I have going all at once, the better. If I don’t have the mindset for one, I can just hop over to the other I’m working on, and maybe that’s my process. Who knows? I’m still figuring all of this out, especially these blog posts. I think it’s mostly to document my progress through developing a writing habit that’s consistent and work out the goals and next steps in all this, but that could all change from here on out.

You learn by doing, right?

Anyways…here’s a status update even though not much has changed.

Table Six
Page count: 2
Prompt 1 – Short story
Page count: 2 (sensing a theme here)
Coffee intake: Cut down to half a pot. Whoo!
Music: Anthony Raneri and Bayside. Can’t stop, won’t stop.
Books I’m reading:
1. The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpson (SO good, I just need more focus!)
2. In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt (almost finished but struggling)
3. Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
Games I’m playing:
Final Fantasy Tactics (FINALLY beat Weigraf!)
Hollow Knight: Silk Song

Happy Halloween!

Love, Lindsay