Last week's Story a Week (and my writing style)

Hello everyone. As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't done a Story a Week for last weekend yet. I've written about half of it, but I've encountered a case of Writer's Block (yes, it warrants the caps). The story is another one of those that is out of my traditional genres. I'm not going to give the genre of the story away, yet.

Because I'm writing a post anyway, I'll give you all an insight into my writing style. I'm not what most people would consider to be a planner. Both in my life and in my writing. For example, when I clean, I don't say, "I'll clean the bathroom, then the hall, etc." I just go about the house picking things up and putting them away, then finding the next nearest task and doing that. It works well for me. I write the same way.

When I start writing, I don't have more than a vague idea of characters and plot. I may have been brainstorming the ideas in my head for a while before I attempt to write, but that's it. For my science fiction and fantasy works, this is fine. I can write a first draft quickly and effectively without much hassle. For other genres, it turns out to be a lot more difficult for me. The story I'm working on right now is the same way. I have a vague idea of characters and plot, but I don't have a timeline or any of the background that a lot of writers prepare before they even touch the keyboard. It's been frustrating and enlightening at the same time. It has shown me my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to writing.

So, what am I going to do? I'm going to continue to write, of course. After I finish the story that was supposed to be finished last Saturday, I'll post that. For the few weeks after that, I think that I'm going to go back to the fantasy plotline that I've already posted some stories on. This is partly due to laziness, but also because the story flows well for me. Also, I've just started a new project at my day job and I'll be pretty busy for the next month on that and something else going on in my personal life (a topic for a future blog post).

So, stay tuned (and patient)! I'll have the story up within a couple of days. Also, please tell your friends, coworkers or whoever about the blog and my Story a Week project. If you have an opinion on anything I write, please leave a comment.