Time flies when you're having fun, right?

Turns out, for me times flies regardless. February ended up being an extremely busy month. Even so, it turned out to be quite a bit more productive than I anticipated.

One of my goals this year is to get a few short stories written for platforms other than Wattpad. In February, I managed to get a rough outline for one of these stories cobbled together. I feel pretty good about this one. 

Then, about a week ago, I was filling up my car at the gas station and a flash of inspiration struck. While I was waiting for my son to get his hair cut, I jotted down the basic premise and a hurried outline on my phone. Later that night, I started some exploratory writing, just to make sure the idea didn't die. I was positively surprised. It turned out better than I thought. However, it's one of those stories where there's a clear beginning and maybe middle but the end is kind of a black hole at the moment. I'm hoping by exploring the story as far as I can, the rest will resolve itself. If not, I'll put it on the shelf and pick it up later.

I've also returned to writing The Departure Protocol. This is a story I have outlined to the end. I know where it's going. I just need to write it. So, that's what I've been doing. Last night, I started chapter 19 which currently puts me at about 36,000 words. I have no doubt I'll get to at least 50,000 by the time I'm done with it. It's actually exciting to see the story take shape even though progress is slower than I would like.

I've tried to do a bit more reading lately as well. I've been slowly working through the Red Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. I'm only on the first book and it's taken my a year to get through about 70% of it. I love the subject matter, it's just one of those stories where I really need extended reading sessions to really get into and those seem rare these days.

The one thing I did not get done is any more editing on Intervention. I need to take a few days and just collect the feedback I have so far and get busy with that. It's a story I love and I'd like to get through some edits and then continue with a sequel at some point, just as with The Descent.

Speaking of The Descent, I've been thinking a bit more about the future of this story as well. A sequel is slowly starting to take shape that picks up right after The Descent ends. I'm going to explore that and see where it takes me. The Descent was written as a story that easily could have multiple "seasons" based on different adventures. We'll see if I can figure that out.

My inspiration continues to be refreshed by gaming now and then. I've managed to squeeze in a litte bit of time with games like Little Nightmare II, a freaky little game that is best played at night with the lights turned off. It's a brilliant piece of gaming that's well worth trying out.

https://youtu.be/AI9zBBTyX-E

I've also explored a few survival titles that the Epic Games store has given away for free over the last few months, such as Stranded Deep and The Long Dark. Neither is a recent release but they're both good. The former involves being stranded on an island after your plane crashes. It kind of reminds me of the movie Cast Away. The Long Dark is survival in the cold outdoors, beating back hunger and wolves etc. Both are excellent games in themselves but of course time consuming. Both are great sources of story elements. I expect to explore these a bit further in the weeks ahead, as time allows.

https://youtu.be/WJ-1O_w2KTg

What have you been working on? New stories? Editing old ones? Nothing at all?