A month to write wherever I want, huh? What’s funny is I don’t necessarily dream of writing in other places, or fantasizing about my ideal writing place. I’m such a creature of habit and disassociation that I can write anywhere, as long as I have my writing file in front of me. Laptop, desktop, doesn’t matter. I just need a word file.

Hell, I’ve written by sending myself emails before. I’ve also written bits and pieces in the bathroom on my phone. Frankly, I need to start doing that again.

But that’s beside the point.

The point for me is that I’m not overly concerned about where I write. For a lot of people, the expected answers will be places like:

• Beaches, Mountains, Riversides - wherever a nature view will suit their temperament.
• Museums, Art Galleries - where inspiration is only a few steps away.
• Coffee Houses/Cafes, Busy Plazas, Tourist Locations - where people-watching is abundant
• Totally Secluded Place - where there are zero distractions

I totally see the draw of all the usual answers, and to be fair, my gut response is going to be in that first and fourth category. Probably a secluded mountain cabin with a view. Maybe a stream nearby, of possible.

While I would absolutely love being in that kind of place and situation, assuming my needs would be met for a month via grocery delivery or whatever, I don’t feel like it would do anything for my writing. Sure, I would revel in being steps away from a gorgeous view, but like I said, my writing happens wherever I am, regardless of location.

The biggest draw about this question for me is the promise of a month to just write. The time is what I need, not an ideal location. That would make the biggest difference. Frankly, being in a place I really want to be might be more of a distraction, at least at first until I got used to being where I was.

I guess what I’m saying through all this is that I’m not one of those creatives who has specific wants or needs, or who dreams about certain atmosphere for that ideal creative juice flow. Some people have a routine to get their brains in gear, and that’s fine. The point is to do the making. 

For me, can I just have a fully all-expenses paid month at home, complete with housekeeping and a good cook, so I can focus on writing? 

Thanks!

P. S. - I mean, I’ll take that month in a mountain cabin with good weather and a view if the offer is on the table. Thanks again!

This is probably going to be a short post, but it's been a while since I did a mental check-in, and it's past time.

I've been struggling, and it's against the same villain we get in a lot of Dungeons & Dragons campaigns and in other things in general:

Time. Scheduling.

The last couple weeks have run me pretty ragged, and it's not really showing any sign of letting up. Carving time to write, much less stream, has been super difficult lately, and I'll admit I'm stressing over it. I'm still treading water, but I'm not swimming the way I want to be, to keep with the metaphor. I briefly had a week or two of blog posts ready, but those got taken up pretty quickly when I wasn't able to do more writing than picking at the Criminal From Birth sequel.  Writing a blog post doesn't usually take too long, but I'm not always in the mindset when I have the time. And that's not even considering I'm trying to keep my Patreon afloat with new material. So much has stalled, and I knew July was going to be like this, but it's just hard to be going through it.

I'm not licked. I'm not giving up. But I am very much aware that progress on a lot of my projects has gone from streams to drips, if not flat out turned off altogether due to time constraints. I'm trying to get more time when I can, but the problem is a lot of it is coming at the expense of my having any down time, and that's a recipe for severe burnout. I don't want to have that happen again.

I guess I'm asking you and myself to have patience. My best is what I always put forward, but 5 minutes of "best" isn't going to turn out the same as 75 minutes. I may be making good words, there just aren't many.

​Love you all!

This is the final part of my series of posts on my outline process. I call this Draft Point Five, because by the end, I end up with a thorough map to my story that can function as a sort of half-first draft. Less an outline, more of a sketch.

Anyway, so what we’ve ended up with after the last post is a whole lot of bullet points detailing the arcs of the main plot and probably a lot of characters. These bullet points have been organized into a comprehensive road map of the plot. Now we’re going to flesh things out a bit, make this road map a whole lot better. If our bullet points are the basic directions, we’re going to turn this into a full live-GPS tracking, to keep with that metaphor.

For an example of how this grows, we’ll use an old outline I was working on for a YA dystopia novel I’ll probably never finish. It’ll at least offer some insight into the process.

For this book, I ended up with this for my 7-point outline:

Hook- July 19. Mal's sister leaves him to go to the institution as she's supposed to. It's time for her to have her ruling emotion removed. Mal is now left completely alone, at age 14.

PT1- Mal's tracker goes off (on May 2), marking him as one day truant. But it shouldn't go off for another year. He runs. He's caught and is taken to the institution.

P1- Maybe having Anticipation gone isn't so bad... until he ends up in danger, perhaps in a physical aptitude exercise. Probably a situation involving Avis, where she gets the better of him. Badness in their rivalry. Really sucks to have it removed.
MP- You know what, if they're going to make me an adult a year early, then son of a gun, I'm going to be one. Accepts he can't stop what they did to him. No escaping, so can only move forward.
P2- Assignments disappear- all that's left are military and ONE other posting.

PT2- Learns he's had not one, but 2 emotions removed, Anticipation and Fear. Suspects Lachlan, lowest point. Mal depressed, nothing is going right. Badness with Avis, Baron, Joy, Lachlan, etc. Not having Fear ends up saving the day. DETAILS!

Res- Has to have something to do with anticipation. Maybe the last line of the novel is "In just a few more months, my year will be up and I'll get my first assignment. I'll be free of Dr. Wilkinson then. Four months. I can wait." Don't have him reach his next birthday yet. The paperwork/ policy change that makes him stay at the institution for another year needs to be the inciting incident of Book 2!

Yeah, this was planned to be the first book of a trilogy, and I was planning out the whole trilogy’s road map, hence the Book 2 reference. But anyway, this covered the basic plot. I did write out interpersonal conflicts between characters and expanded those a bit to make 3 to 7 conflict arc bullet points for those character conflicts. When assigning them to separate overall plot points, I color coded them for each character to make keeping track easier. So each of my 7 main points had a list of character points in them. I’d write them out with a number for that conflict’s order in its own arc.
​
Then it’s a matter of logically trying to combine plot points into chapters. Keeping it to one or two major moments in a chapter outline keeps me grounded and moving forward, while keeping me from trying to cram too many things into one scene or section. The first eleven chapters, which was about a third of the finished plan. So this takes us roughly through PT1 and partway into the P1 area of our whole arc. 

Below is the text from above, lacking the color coding.
1- Mal tries to prove he's man enough to care for himself and fails. Some sort of stunt in front of sister and her friends, all a year older than him. Joy views [his failure] as him trying to escape being left alone, actually considers trying to dodge takers and not report when it's her time.

2- July 19. Mal's sister leaves him to go to the institution as she's supposed to. It's time for her to have her ruling emotion removed. Mal is now left completely alone, at age 14. Kirk falsifies Joy's results (unknown to her) to make Fear the one required to be removed.

3- World building- see the world through a suddenly-alone Mal's eyes. Suddenly pays more attention to what's going on, updates on the war, maybe hoping for glimpses of his parents. Mention of the McIlwains and/or Avis's birth parents. Keep sight on Anticipation, see his heightened susceptibility to it.

4- PT1- Mal's tracker goes off (on May 2), marking him as one day truant. But it shouldn't go off for another year. He runs. He's caught and is taken to the institution.

5- Arrives at the institution. Immediate teasing of Mal because he's "just a kid" and is definitely whining like one. Baron is a part of this, though a small part. When he appears at the institute, Joy views it again as a form of trying to remain dependent. Can she never be free of him? It's a double-edges sword for her and seems a bit of abandonment for him. He doesn't get the welcome from her he expects. Baron tries to get her attention before Mal ever shows us, so he's shunned when we first meet him. Then he learns Mal is her brother.

6- Begin physical training. Explanation of job board and expectation that all will be required to serve military at some point due to war efforts and must be in peak physical condition. Majority of military jobs are physical rather than administrative or technical, so they can expect to be fighting.

7- Assessment of emotions. Finds out his results- Anticipation, Joy, Trust, Surprise, Anger (After the events of Book 1, this moves up into the foremost slot.), Sadness, Disgust, Fear. Lachlan assigned as his counselor and releases these results to him. Only after Mal starts turning more to Lachlan, first as his counselor, does Joy start to see Lachlan as a threat.

8- Joy's emotion removal. Baron leaves Avis's company to befriend Mal because he wants to get closer to Joy.

9- Baron resents Lachlan's authority. She's called him down for things before, issues in group sessions that he disrupts. Avis undermines Lachlan in group and/or counsels others rather than telling them to seek an actual counselor. Becomes friends with Baron. Baron befriends Mal, but Mal's attempts to get sympathy and attention from her end up getting him shunned again. He realizes their relationship isn't what he thought. Who has more guts contest. (Baron and Avis)

10- Avis's emotion removal.

11- Baron's emotion removal. Baron distrusts Kirk for being authority. Just doesn't like him.
Pay special attention to chapters 5 and 9. Those in particular have multiple colors (I hope I can maintain that in the online form - I did via a snapshot so yay!) showing where character bullet points overlapped. Those are points of greater tension, just by nature of having more colors in them, so it’s a bit easy to tell at a glance if something is going to be complicated or high emotion. Don’t want to make things too complex all the time, right?

For this particular project, that’s as far as I went in outlining. But in the years since I’ve worked on this, my outlines have gotten even more to a half-draft situation. Now, I’ll usually take those colorful charts (I call them sprinkle charts because they end up so vibrant they make me think of cake sprinkles) and expand a bit further for each chapter. If I come up with a snippet of conversation or description that might be important, I’ll include that as well. For example, the first chapter of a recently-back-burnered project looks like this at this final draft stage:

Crafting Final exam
In preparation for their enchantment assessment, which will pave the way for their pairings and the rest of their lives, each student must make an item to be used in those assessments. It need not be overly fancy or finely made. This is only a tiny part of the test. Function, sturdiness, etc is more important than appearance or decoration. These newly-made items will be gathered and become part of the final enchantment assessment.

No, you will not see the item you made in your assessment. Items will be drawn randomly, but yours will be removed if it happens to be drawn. Draws are done by the staff before the test, so it is 100% random. So no trying to prime something or pre-enchant it in hopes to give yourself an edge, or to sabotage someone specific. You’re more likely to help or harm someone unintended if you do such.

Whitt is a jeweler and makes some sort of pendant. No gems, simply cast and carved. As such, he’s the first one finished, as others are trying to be more showy, making earrings (having to make a pair) or bracelets or full necklaces, or just anything that’s more time consuming and labor-intensive. Whitt walks out seeing [FRIEND] making an elaborate hair net, but his work is all the gem captures with wire. The chain (the same chain he used to hang his pendant) is freely available to use.

This already is longer, for just being one chapter. It’s roughly as long as the whole first 5 chapters of the other example’s sprinkle chart. It’s got background situational details for me to reference, rules for the world so I’m set up well in context, and character information. I even use my [NOTE TO SELF] trick, where I don’t have a detail at the moment, so I just put in brackets in all caps what I need, so I can just move on and fill the blanks later. Brackets are easy to search for without getting extra results, since they’re rarely used in my fiction. In this case, I need a friend’s name. Until I can be bothered to name the friend, they are simply [FRIEND].

But what about chapter outlines later on, where I don’t need world setup details? Well, by then, we’re into the meat of the story. Those can get even longer! This is just a few chapters later in the same story.

6. The Pairing
Huge murmurs, uproar, etc. Friend is the one who blurts out so Whitt gets it. “Someone actually BOUGHT the top spot? That had to cost [Value]!”

That explains it. But no one knows who. Guard isn’t a noble surname. A bastard? Did someone seriously buy the spot for a BASTARD? Even prince Florent didn’t get his position advanced. He’s sitting around like 13 or 14 in a row.

Olivine stands up from her place in the crowd, looking a tiny bit sheepish, then seems to steel herself. In a clear voice, she states, “I choose Whithan Ramsey.”

Whitt’s stomach drops, but he stands. “Whithan Ramsey, Delver, Paired to Olivine Guard. Please proceed to the scribe. Second pairing selection. Borealis Gladthall.”

Whitt doesn’t manage to comprehend the sounds going on as Bori makes his choice (Nevi Miller). He makes his way to the scribe for the finalization, including the signing of their contract and the exchange of their gifts.

Olivine stares pointedly at the scribe, not at Whitt, and he wonders if he’s gotten someone who will see him as little more than a pet. When they are instructed to face one another and present each other with their gifts, Whitt realizes Olivine isn’t going to have any appreciation for the boyhood treasure he brought. Sure enough, she looks very confused, but says nothing. She presents him with [INDICATOR OF HER DESIRE FOR INDEPENDENCE] but he takes it as a sign that she sees him as property, or something similar. He’s a possession. A pet, at best. How much worse could it be?

Or this, which is from well later, in the P1 section of the outline.

22. Status Quo?
Meeting with Shepherd, called in because Wilde is returned (this needs to be quick. Did she come on the same train as Holloway?)

Holloway is also there for this. After they heard about how Whitt’s attempted poaching by Prince Clay, they insisted any formal action against Whitt, they be there to witness, so when Whitt and Olivine are called before Shepherd and Wilde, Holloway is there.

[PROF WILDE NEEDS TO BR BROUGHT IN SOON FOR CHASTISEMENT WHEN SHE RETURNS. SHE ACTUALLY ASSESSES LIV AND MAYBE REMEMBERS HER MOTHER, ALLOWS HER ACCESS TO THE STUDIO, BUT ONLY UNDER HER PERSONAL SUPERVISION.]

It’s in this whole bit that Holloway finds out that Whitt and Olivine figured out breaking objects intentionally, and they’re not the only ones. Nevi knows. Secrets don’t stay secret if more than one person knows about it. You, Whitt, HAD to know, as you’re directly part of the secret. But your crafter, and this… Nevi? Who else knows?

What about Holloway’s noble?

Once dismissed, Wilde actually tells Liv she’s eager to have her in studio. Another set of eyes, hands, and opinions are always welcome. This openness makes Whitt, Liv, AND Holloway uncomfortable.

Holloway tries to dismiss Liv, but Whitt needs to pull the same line Holloway did, something along the lines of “we’re in this together. Anything you say to me will reach her ears anyway. Save me a step.”

Holloway takes them to their office, which Whitt has never been to before. Needs to be stark, sterile, like no one ever goes there. No works in progress, no papers, notes, any of that. No reference books, art, plants, nothing. But Holloway at least looks marginally comfortable.

“I distinctly recall telling you not to inform anyone of the nature of our affinity.” Pause. “I’m assuming she knows everything.” Liv shoots back, “If I didn’t, I would certainly be asking now.”
Holloway blushes a bit at the foible, but recovers. “So how many other people have you been spreading this information to?”

Whitt says he figures his noble should be able to know his full abilities and limitations. It only makes sense. Doesn’t your noble know what you can and can’t do?

LEARN THE HORRIBLE FATE OF HOLLOWAY’S NOBLE. Incapacitated? Vegetable? Dead? What’s the deal here? Their noble has to be some sort of vegetable, being kept alive only by some specialized Tasked item that serves as life support. Also thinking maybe Holloway is in love with him/her/them?

So in short, Yes, Holloway’s noble knows, but only because they’ve told them while unconscious or incapacitated. Not like they can say or do anything about it. But I only told them after they could absolutely keep the secret.

Whitt - well, we’re not like that. We’re partners, even when we can both talk. You’re going to have to accept the fact that Olivine knows.
Holloway, clearly angry, dismisses them.
That could have gone better.

I map out ideas, brainstorming some. Ask myself questions that I’ll need to answer when I really write. I have bits of conversation to start off with, everything.

When outlines of chapters get to that size and level of detail, it becomes clearer why I call this stage Draft Point Five. An outline can easily get into the 10s of 1000s of words, which is comparable to a novella or children’s novel. Loads of info, and a very strong picture of the whole story overall.

But it’s doing this that helps me pinpoint places where I’ll get stuck or struggle. For me, that’s usually around the 70% part in a story, heading towards wrapping up. But rather than finding out that I’m stuck or need to rework something early on, after putting in dozens of hours and 50000 words, I’ve only put in maybe half a dozen hours and 12000 words. I can more easily rework things when I don’t have too much sunk into what turned out to be a problem. I can find and address issues with a purpose, rather than feeling overwhelmed with ALL THE CHANGES I’LL HAVE TO MAKE. I’ve set myself up for easier changes that won’t crush me later on.

This is so powerful for morale for me. It makes my first real drafts cleaner and easier. Once I do have a full working draft and sit down to write, each chapter is its own road map, with clear signs pointing me to the end goal.

That’s pretty much my outlining process all told. Early prep and problem-solving to save my sanity down the road. And I find I very much enjoy outlining now, as I get to discover more of the story up front and give myself things to look forward to, rather than it being a mystery with the lingering “Am I going to write myself into a corner?” dread that I so often ran into before I started outlining.
​
I hope this is helpful, even a little. Find what works for you!

I probably should've done this last week, but it's fine. Final post of my outlining process series will be next week. For now, here's how progress went in June 2025.

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Dungeons & Dragons campaign 1: Bard Campaign - Session #7 fully planned. No new update. We haven’t played session 7 yet.

D&D campaign 2: Tootskies Campaign - Session 2 is in prep. Sadly, this campaign has fallen prey to the worst big bad evil guy: scheduling. My new work schedule has ruled out Wednesday play, and the party couldn’t manage to find another day we’d all be able to make work once we got through summer, so we had to call it. It sucks, but the planning I did gave me some good fodder for future individual adventures to write.

D&D Single Adventure - No progress. June brought some serious changes, and I haven’t managed to find time to work on it yet. I’m trying.

Criminal from Birth sequel - I didn’t get as much work done as I wanted, but what work I’ve done has been good. I’m managing to get about an hour most mornings to work on it, so progress is steady but slower. Second Draft Status: 30 of 37 chapters edited. (4 since last update.) I’d hoped to be done by end of July, but might be more like end of August, which is fine, as long as I keep the quality up!

LitRPG book (working title Subscription: Life) - I’ve gotten the basic bones of an outline worked up, and I’m really excited to get more into developing the idea. Really hoping this project will be as much fun as I anticipate. 

New Short Story (My Stories) - No progress this month. Tried picking at it at the tail end of June, actually, but couldn’t get my brain to it so I worked on Criminal’s sequel some instead.