Did you miss me? Well, I'm back anyway.

First off, I never intended to be away from writing this long. In truth, I've not been away from writing completely, just this erotic side of me hasn't been to the fore. (And no, I'm not going to link the two sides together for you...)

But, perhaps finally having been broken by Coronavirus lockdown, my muse finally returned a little while ago and prompted me to work on a story idea that I'd begun and not completed. I've always been interested in mind control stories, and loved those stories that showed someone's mind changing as more and more control was exerted on it. For me, the process of it was just as erotic and powerful as the result, seeing the control slip away and watching the will absent itself.

All that turned into the story Heather's New Start which tells of a woman who looks for a new apartment and finds an estate agent who has some very exclusive properties available...all she has to do is relax and open her mind. It's been great to post it, and to see that others have enjoyed it so much.

For those who have been asking, I do have ideas for a couple of other stories around that. I stopped the story where I did because it felt like a natural end for that part of Heather's story, but what happens next to her is floating around in my head. There's also an idea for another story this time centred on Amanda and her processes, giving a bit more of an idea of what she does and how she gets away with it.

Both will be written sometime soon, hopefully, as long as the muse remains with me.

However, having rediscovered the muse it felt right to return to a story that I'd publicly left unfinished, rather than just going for one of the many privately unfinished ones on my hard drive. The good news is that having reread Becoming Anne, I could see where the story would go. Chapter 7 of that has now been published, and Chpater 8 (which feels like it will be substantially longer) is well underway. I can also see the shape of the remaining story, which will likely be another four or so chapters, and an idea for a sequel popped completely unbidden into my head the other morning as well, so that has found its way onto the long list of things I need to work on.

All in all, I can only apologise for my absence, but better late than never, right? I hope you enjoy the stories, and I'd love to hear more from you if you do. You can comment here, you can follow me on Twitter, and you can even get in touch by email at anonymous dot writer at g mail dot com

Terrible slackness, hopefully ended

How long is it since I last posted here, or anywhere? So long I don't want to look...

But I've been writing again recently, having found some headspace and have just sent chapter 5 of Becoming Anne off to be published on Nifty and Literotica, so keep an eye out there for it. Hopefully, other chapters will follow soon.

Please give me your feedback on anything I've written, and hopefully I'll be giving you more over the coming months...

Apologies

For anyone who's been waiting for more writing from me, I'm sorry. Life has kind of got in the way over the past few months and time seems to disappear whenever I think I might have the time to write. I won't promise anything, but hopefully things will improve in the future and things that I've promised will be written, completed or begun.

Success

Just after 6pm yesterday, I crawled over the finishing line and with a grand total of 100,076 words, I completed the 100,000 words in 100 days challenge. I also completed Part 4 of Becoming Anne in the process, which should be appearing on a website near you very soon.

It's been fun doing the challenge, though it's also been tough at times, and I was definitely flagging towards the end of it. I had a lot of momentum going when I was working on Bite - and had The Way To Her Heart to also add to - but once those two were finished, I wasn't really sure where to go next. As I found when I did NaNoWriMo with short stories, the trouble with doing multiple stories is that each one can take time to build up its own momentum, whcih means you don't get the benefit of those sections where you're able to cruise through the story and fill in background if you can't think of anything else to write.

But I did do it, and I've got some useful drafts of stories out of it - Bite, I think, will work really well with the ideas I've got for the rewrite, and the characters in The Way To Her Heart are great, I just need to add some others in there to give them more people to interact with, and some jeopardy and threat to provide a bit more drama.

The main point is that I've finished it, and am still feeling motivated to write more - and I have to, as I've been serialising Becoming Anne, so can't abandon that partway through! - and want to get on with these stories and another one that's been rattling around my head for ages, which I think I can now see a way to make work. Whether I'll average 1000 words a day for the next 100 days too, I don't know, but now I know I can keep writing at that length over a long period, it's good motivation to keep me going.

Today, though, will be a day off from writing - not because I need the rest, but because I've got too much on at work to have any time to do it. Hopefully, though, this weekend will have lots of opportunities for writing - though I do say that about every weekend, don't I, and then spend Monday morning's post explaining why it didn't happen.

Can I do it?

So, there are three days left in the 100,000 words in 100 days challenge, and I'm currently at 92,479 words, which means another 7,521 are needed to drag me over the finish line, or about 2500 a day. Didn't get any done over the weekend because of other commitments, but luckily work commitments for the next couple of days are quite light, so it's time to get my head down and do it.

Part 1 of Becoming Anne is now up at Literotica, so please take a look, rate it and comment on it, and other parts should be following in the next couple of days, assuming I manage to get my head into gear and write it.

Wish me luck, and hopefully I'll be at the target soon!

Starting again

After thinking it over, I started a new story yesterday. There are various ideas for ones floating round my head - see some of my earlier post for details - but the one that finally pushed itself to the fore is a story called Crossing the Floor, which is a lesbian romance story between two MPs (that's Members of Parliament, if you're not British). As ever with the start of a story, things are going well, with over 2000 words done yesterday as I get things moving and introduce the two main characters to the audience and each other.

The story's going to mix romance and political intrigue (at least, that's the plan). Amy's a newly elected MP, after a shock by-election win as an independent candidate. Concerned that she has no party to support her in the Commons, the Speaker asks Sara, a maverick MP from the ruling party, to give Amy some advice on how the House of Commons works. The two quickly become good friends, and there's a clear attraction between them, but will the closeted Sara be willing to act on it, and what happens when their relationship becomes public knowledge?

I'm hoping it will be fun to write, as the two main characters are interesting, and there's an interesting assortment of supporting characters to either cheer their relationship on or act as a roadblock to what's developing between them. Stay tuned for more on it as I write it!

Finished

Yes, yesterday afternoon I finally finished the first draft of Bite (formerly known under the working title of Lesbian Vampire Highlander, hence the LVH label for it). In the end, the first draft was 62,736 words long, the last of which was 'alive'.

I would offer to share it, but it really needs a second draft, as the story needs a complete page one rewrite. The characters are good, but the plot I originally envisioned isn't the one the story ended up wanting, so it meanders and jumps a lot before getting into the real groove. I've got a definite vision for the second draft and how it will go, but I need to take some time to plan and outline that properly, to get it right. There's also the germ of several other stories in there, either in the form of flashbacks or as sequels, and I do feel like I've created an interesting universe that's a somewhat different take on the vampire tales.  More will be explained later, no doubt.

The only issue I have now is what to write to get me to the 100,000 word total for the challenge? Guess it's back to my big list of short story ideas to see what catches my interest...

Twenty days and counting

There's 20 days left until the end of the 100,000 words in 100 days challenge, and my current total is 79,420. That means I need to do another 20, 580 words in those 20 days , at an average of 1029 a day. Can I do that? I think so, it's well below what I was managing to do at the start of the challenge, and I seem to have regained my writing mojo after the pause of the last couple of weeks.

I'm working through the climax to Bite at the moment, and haveing taken the decision to jump possibilities into that, I'm now getting a much better vision of how the rest of the story can work to lead up to it. Maybe I should just try writing entire stories backwards in the future?

Not much more I can think of to write about at the moment, probably because I didn't sleep too well so I'm still feeling a little tired and dozy this morning, but having to think of words for this is kicking my brain into something like gear. Now I just need to make sure that when I do start writing today, it's not single word grunts and groans, but proper sentences.

Cheating to the finish

Wrote 1442 word of Bite yesterday, and made a decision that the way to get out of the story cul-de-sac I'd found myself in was to cheat a little. As I've mentioned for a while, writing this first draft has given me lots of ideas of how to rewrite it in the second draft, and that includes changing a lot of the details of the plot (though the characters remain the same). So, what I've chosen to do is effectively bring over the conclusion I was planning in my head for the second draft and use it in this one, as a trial.

I'll be honest and admit that it doesn't quite gel with what has gone before, and so comes out of left field a bit. Not quite a complete deus ex machina, but perhaps a demigod from the machine, saving the day, but setting up the same climax I'd always planned. It changes the world I'm writing in a bit, too, introducing global networks, plans and conspiracies that threaten to spin off and create their own stories, but that's a good thing, right?

So, not quite at the end yet, but getting there, and now I know where I'm going, it's just a question of keeping on in that direction till I reach it. I suspect it won't take 20,000 words to get there from here, though, so now the question is what do I write to get myself up to the 100,000 target? I'm thinking that it's time for a couple of fresh and quick short stories, something I can put on Literotica for a bit of instant feedback. Suggestions and requests are welcome...

One down

Finally, I have finished something. OK, I did finish Screwing The Pitch earlier in the year, but that wasn't anywhere near as epic as the things I've been working on. I didn't expect this story to turn out so huge at the beginning either, but in the end it bloated to a monster 17,000 words, and I finally put the capstone on it yesterday afternoon. Now all I need to do is go back and rewrite it all, because there are lots of changes I've seen it needs, and no doubt more will come to light when I start going through it again.

The story is currently going under the title The Way To Her Heart, and at its heart, it's a romance between two women who are both walking the West Highland Way. Jess is getting back into her old pastime of walking after ending a relationship (in the first draft she was doing it alone, in the second, she'll have two friends with her) while Becky's doing it with her boyfriend, though their relationship is severaly fraying. Sparks begin to fly when the two of them meet, but will they act on them?

It's been enjoyable to write, and I like the two women at the heart of it. The one problem I've identified in the first draft is that there's not enough drama in it, and not many obstacles for the two of them to get over, but those things can be easily added in to the next draft, which I'm going to leave to simmer in my mind for a bit while I finish the first draft of Bite, and then get back to it. Or possibly rattle off the first draft of something else to get me to the 100,000 word target.

The good news is that in getting to the finish yesterday, I did over 2500 words, which has knocked a big chunk off the target as I head towards the end. That's now 17,719 words in total for short stories, which makes for a grand total of 76,735 words, and 23,265 to go till I reach the target. Another day like that, and I'll be back in 1000 words a day land!

25860

That's my number - that is, the number of words I need to write by April 10th to meet my 100,000 words in 100 days challenge. The total as of this morning is 74,140, made up of 59,016 words on the work in progress (I'm getting drawn towards Bite as a title, but can't explain why) and 15,124 of short stories. To anyone who's been keeping track, you'll notice there's been a very big drop off in the writing rate in the last couple of weeks, but with 23 days to go to the finishing line, I'm feeling confident that I might just squeak over it. I need to average 1100 words a day, and as I was doing 1200 before my speed bump slowed me right down, that should be possible.

As it is, the short story is almost at the end (though I've been saying that for a while, haven't I?), and indeed might well be long past the point when it will end in the rewrite, but I'm using this opportunity to tell their full story, and then the most important bits will get into the second draft.

The work-in-progress is still around the point it was last time. I'm kind of stuck in a position with our heroines in peril and being threatened by the villain, but can't quite work out how to get them out of it. Again, I suspect that by the time I come to do the next version of it, these scenes won't be in it in quite the same way, to try and avoid that problem. Of course, the only way to solve it is to keep writing and see what comes up, so that's what I'm going to have to do!

Plod, plod, plod

Only managed 300 words of writing yesterday, but did have a decent long walk in the morning, which always helps me to get my brain thinking about plots and stories. Think I can see a way out of the cul-de-sac I've ended in with the work-in-progress, but we'll only see that when I actually try writing my way out of it.

Still getting towards the end of the short story in progress, though haven't actually got the bit about the Quarter Mile High Club that I mentioned yesterday. Maybe I would if I'd got to 1000+ words for the day, but no matter, we shall press on and all things shall reveal themselves in time.

Aside from that, I can't think of too much to write. Things may be a bit patchy here for the next week or so, as I'm travelling all over the place for work and family things, so writing time might be limited. So, I might end up starting my days by writing stories instead of blog posts, but we shall see...

The Quarter Mile High Club, and other mad ideas

My brain's always a bit slow starting at weekends, so this will likely be a short entry. However, I did manage to write just over 1000 words yesterday, which was the first time I've managed that on a Saturday in a while. The problem with this story is that it doesn't really want to finish, even though the main couple have now got together. I'm pretty much writing a long, but sexy, epilogue - though perhaps that's what a lot of erotica might be. When other stories would have left the scene, here there's a lot more to write about and present to the audience.

In other words, I thought of the concept of the Quarter-Mile-High-Club, and damned if I'm not going to use it.

What is it? I'll explain later, but it's something from a scene I'm coming up to in this story, and the concept seems to good to forget about. Maybe I should just get on and try writing it?

Decision time

Getting near the end of this short story now - which is getting too long to be a short story, really - so it's getting close to the point where I'll need to make a decision about what to do next. Do I dive straight back into it and write the second draft, or do I let that stew in my brain for a while (the new characters I need to make it work don't feel fully formed yet) and go back to the work-in-progress?

I'm tending towards the second, just because it's been over a week since I've done anything on that, and I really need to pick it up again before it slips too close to my brain deciding it's been abandoned, so I can forget about it and/or start on a rewrite. I need to finish this first version, otherwise I know I'll never finish the future ones.

Yes, that probably makes no sense to any of you, but it's how my writing brain works, so it does to me. Lots of work and life stuff coming up in the next week too, so that might affect how much I get done too.

Anyway, I did get 1300 words done yesterday, so that's March off to a decent start. If I can keep that as a daily rate, then I'll hit the 100k target well before the end of the month.

Writus interruptus

OK, I'm not going to talk specifically about my work, but if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I don't work consistent hours, so my writing periods tend to come at different points in the day, depending on when I can fit them in.

Yesterday, I was on a late shift, so was writing in the afternoon before I had to head out for work, and was going really well. I had finally got to the scene in my current short story where the protagonist and her love interest make it into the bedroom and are having a very good time together, the words were flowing, I could imagine just what it was like for them and how they'd be feeling together...and then I looked at the clock and realised it was time to get moving if I wanted to be there on time. Damn.

But still, having got them to that point means I know I'm now on the run to the end of the story, as they're together and making each other happy. It's just the last few bumps on the road to navigate, and then they're home and dry and happy ever after.

I did manage over 1200 words yesterday which took my short story total over up to 10,057 in total, and coupled with the 56,857 words I've done on the work-in-progress means a total of 66,914 for the year so far. A quick bit of maths and a look at an old post tells me that's 29,216 for February in total, so I've just about managed to keep over the 1000 a day average.

The need for an antagonist

More writing yesterday, and an entirely unplanned finishing total of 1111 words, which kept my short stories total as a nice orderly number, this time 8,765. I do like the story, but now I'm wondering if there's not enough drama in there - I'm already planning to add another couple of characters at the start to give our protagnoist someone to talk to while she's pining over her seemingly unavailable love interest, but now I think I need some sort of antagonist to try and keep them apart after they together. The way the story's structured, there needs to be something coming in to stop them diving into bed together on one day, delaying it till the next, so that could be it. I shall think over this more when starting the second draft.

Though before that I do need to get back to the work-in-progress too, as I'm still leaving it at a tricky place, not quite sure where to take the story next, and how to get our heroines out of their predicament. I'm sure by now my subconscious has worked this out, I just need to let it loose...

Back in the saddle

Phew, I managed to do some writing yesterday, and added 1080 words to the short story. Those few days without writing were weighing quite heavily on me, and I was starting to feel increasing pressure on me to get back to writing, and then of course, the pressure itself started feeling too oppressive that it was easier to ignore it and not write, rather than deal with it by writing.

That makes the total for short stories now 7654, which fits nicely with the 1234 words I wrote the other day. Maybe I should set 123,456 as the target for the challenge?

Still, very good to get writing, even if this story is starting to sprawl and make itself look like it's going to be a lot longer than I expected to be, especially when I have to go back into the rewrite and add in extra characters. Definitely novella-esque length, I think, which is a bit more than I thought it would be when the idea came to me. Good to have characters who want a longer story, and then might even return in something else later on, who knows.

Right, I have to get off to work, but hopefully there'll be time for some more writing this afternoon and evening. As well as finishing this story, I need to get back to the work-in-progress before it starts stagnating too much and I can't pick up the thread of it again.

And there's your badly mixed metaphor of the day!

1234

The orderly part of my brain likes that I produced that many words yesterday. All on the same short story that I was working on the day before, but that's now getting close to the end of the first draft, and a good writing session might well take me there. Of course, it's now getting a bit long to be called a short story, but we'll see how long it comes out when it's finished in the next draft!

Anyway, that takes my total words for short stories to 6,574 which on top of thr 56,857 I've got on the work-in-progress (which I will be getting properly back to today or tomorrow) takes me over 63,000 words. Have a busy work week next week, though, so do need to make the most of this weekend, and the universe might be helping me by snowing me in!

And, of course, don't forget that Almost Chance is free this weekend, so make sure you get a copy while you can!

A diversion, and a sample

Yesterday, I didn't add anything to the work-in-progress. I didn't have loads of time to write because of work commitments and other things, and when I was at the computer, I just couldn't get my head into it, so I did some more on the short story I'm doing at the moment instead. It was only 801 words, so below the daily target, but the story's moved on nicely, and the shape of it's there, I just need to finish this first take on it, then go back and redo it with the additional characters in it that help it make sense.

And as it's a bit from a draft that likely won't see the light of day, here's an unedited sample from it for your enjoyment. Hey, it's Friday, we all need some excitement.

The shower was an old one, the head resolutely fixed to the wall and just about capable of turning a few degrees, but not being detached. I had wistful memories of my shower head at home that had been a good companion on many occasions when I wasn't getting any attention, but this time my fingers would have to suffice. I thought of Becky in the shower just a few metres away from me, imagined how her body would look in the mists of water, beads forming on her skin. As my fingers began working in my folds, easing my clit out to play, I imagined her standing in front of me, that amazing rear of hers rubbing against me while my hands reached round to play with her breasts. As we rubbed closer in the warm water, our bodies slipping and sliding over each other, her hand reached back to stroke between my legs, and it was that I imagined rubbing between mine rather than my own. My eyes closed, my free hand reached out to the wall to balance myself as my/her stroking became insistent, my already aroused body burning for her until I gasped and cried out, my body shuddering and shaking as my climax rocked through me.

There'll be more where that came from when it's finished.

Slower starting

Very late in doing this today, and quite late in starting writing too, as I've still not done anything. However, yesterday was a good day, and I did 1700 words on the work-in-progress by the end of it, despite having a rather slow start and feeling very unwriterly. (And I'm really hoping that 'unwriterly' isn't a word) Total on the work-in-progress is now 53,978.

Yesterday's lesson really should be that even though I'm heading for the target of 100,000 words, I shouldn't be afraid to back up and start again on a section when it doesn't work. I'd done the opening sentence of a chapter on Friday, and then when I went to work on it, I found that because of the content and phrasing of that sentence, I had to meander around at the start looking for the best point to properly start telling the story from. That's likely why things were coming slowly at first - all the grasping round in the dark looking for the threads of the story - but then picked up when I finally found the right way to tell the scene. Once I was up and running with it, the rest of it came quite quickly, hence making it to a good total after that start.

Still thinking about the structure of this story after I've finished it. I do like the flashbacks, but I'm not sure how much they work with the present day storyline, though they're now becoming a bit more relevant, and the question has to be how to get the two streams to work together, or if it's best to separate them entirely.

Anyway, that's something to think about in more depth when I've actually finished the writing. Which I'm going to take a few more steps towards doing now...