Wednesday Update: The Writing Adventure continues

I decided to round up all that happened to me writing-wise. You can call it a stress relief tactic as the constant rains had put my city (and half of my country) on an emergency level, with bridges being closed and people being evacuated from the small villages near the river.

The World of Non-Fiction

I remain fascinated with the inner workings of Suite101. True, writing SEO rich articles isn't my very favorite past-time, and I prefer to be provided keywords to work into the article, but it's been a great training. I wrote another article about Studying Abroad; this time concentrating on how studying abroad can cost less than studying in the US. I was quite surprised to do the calculations, but Europe does seem like a cheaper option.

It's my second article, after tips on choosing good study abroad programs, in this area to be published on Suite101. Mostly because it's a topic I know a lot about and I'm seriously considering writing more in this niche. After all, I already wrote extensively on the subject while on Helium (going as far as creating a Zone exclusively about Studying Abroad).

I also decided to branch out into Entertainment and took on the phenomena that is the Vampire Diaries and explored reasons why it's such a popular show. I did extensive research on the subject, which may or may not consisted of spending 20 minutes looking at pictures of Ian Somerhalder... You have nothing to prove it! (but he's very good for inspiration, if you were wondering)

Writing Fiction

I found an editor for my bigbang story. I haven't looked at the corrected file yet. Mostly because I'm a bit afraid of what I might find there. So far I got two very positive feedback comments from two people, but they weren't reading the story to correct it... And we all know how writers are about admitting their story might not be perfect... Well, I know my story isn't perfect. I'd just prefer not to hear it from somebody else.

Yes, yes, I know editors are usually right and we should listen to them and appreciate them for they only have our best interest at heart.

The Epic Collaboration Project is currently on hold (though we're still excited). It's because we both have other, more urgent projects (as in projects with actual deadlines set by somebody else). But we started on the outline so it's going to happen.

Another story I've mentioned before is the other 20k story I have to write by September. I decided to dub it The War Angst as it's describing the story itself rather nicely. I need to do some serious research into the Marine Corps, but because it's more about an emotional turmoil than actual fighting, I think I can hand wave some more problematic facts. The ideas of what's going to happen in this one are floating around in my brain, I just need to write them down and see if I can come up with a coherent outline.

Other Stuff Happens Too

I kept playing nice with other kids, which I suppose counts for something. But seriously, I started to comment a bit more to other people's posts. It's mostly due to the fact that I'm meeting more and more people via Twitter and the #amwriting chat, and various RSS recommendations. And it's... Well, it doesn't feel right not to get involved in the conversations there.

I also wrote down some ideas and projects I'd like to start/get involved in. I could see myself getting passionate about several of them (like expanding and making use of my knowledge regarding Study Abroad programs), but I don't want to take on any more projects with what I have on my plate at the moment. Graduation, getting my degree and finally having more time to pursue those projects, I'm basically daydreaming about that moment.

The plans for next week/more immediate future?

Getting rid of the distractions and completing part of my thesis. At the same time I'd like to write two more articles. One for Helium about my trip to Ostrava (similar to what I wrote about Madrid back in September) and perhaps one more article for Suite101 - the subject of that one is still pending.

Wow. Once I wrote down everything that happened and what I have in store... I'm quite a busy little writer! That's a great feeling!