In which I heave a sigh...

If you've read my most recent post on Ashley and the November Novel, you'll have learned that I'm not doing so well when it comes to making progress in my writing. The going's been tough, and this isn't just a regular old case of writer's block; that I know how to remedy. So I'm going to tackle this sort of -- stiffness? -- in my prose-related activities by reviving the idea of this blog.

I'm not sure I'll be continuing the story of Viette (though that's certainly not out of the question); but as mentioned on my main blog, I'm still getting glimmers of my summer novel's plot, but failing to write them down. So confusing little excerpts may be all you get here, but don't read too far into them. They'll just be starting points that I need to make progress. :)

Thanks for reading, really! (And if I don't return to Viette in England, I may try to give you something new to keep up with.)

In which I apologize

This is the part where I hang my head in shame for not updating this blog in five days. Look closely; you'll probably find that I am genuinely sorry and hoping you won't react too harshly to this apology, though chastising and a bit of light scolding would be completely warranted from you, the beautiful (or, handsome, if you prefer) reader.

The only excuse I will make is that I went home this weekend for an amazing Easter break/birthday bash. I turned twenty yesterday, and yes, I do share my birthday with the fabulous Sarah Michelle Gellar (who celebrated her 32nd birthday). Anyway, I did a lot of brainstorming and note-taking regarding our fictional friend Viette, who, if you'll remember, has just arrived in England for the funeral of her aunt, after a three-year hiatus from her maternal family.

:) I'm excited to continue telling you this story; you should be excited, too. It's a good one, I promise. I would know.

In which things are explained

So, here it is! A new blog, separate from Ashley and the November Novel. This blog has an entirely different purpose from its predecessor, though both are still important. Let me explain.

A few days ago, I carried on the following conversation on Skype with my friend Kylie:

• Kylie says: I have like 2000 blogs
• Ashley says: hahahaha
• Kylie says: Regular, Buffy, Poetry, story
• Ashley says: I've had that many... ish
• Ashley says: I THOUGHT ABOUT HAVING ONE FOR STORIES
• Ashley says: like excerpts I think up?
• Kylie says: I have it so when I'm else where I can add what I think of
• Kylie says: YEAH!
• Kylie says: When I come up with something, I can log on anywhere and add it!
• Ashley says: I SHOULD SET OUT TO WRITE ONE LITTLE EXCERPT OF A STORY EVERY SINGLE DAY.
• Kylie says: DO IT
• Ashley says: I'm making it AS WE SPEAK.

And so I did. I made the blog here on Blogger since I'm familiar with it. I tweaked the layout so that it looks similar to the ashleywrimo one, with only a few differences (orientation, link color). Now, I have no more excuses. I have to just do it.

If I'm honest with myself, this mostly seems like a good idea to me because I'm constantly wishing I had more motivation to write. I'm hoping by setting out to write an excerpt daily, it will open doors to the worlds I only half-think-up during my day. I'm constantly getting ideas, but I write them off immediately because I don't think they can be expounded upon. But I'm not even trying to see if they work!

So no more excuses! I'm going to do this thing!