Birdfeeding: Friends of a Feather Flock Together

It's another month! A whole week into another month, actually!

This year has been pretty much a wasteland in terms of writing. Fiction writing, at least. I've gotten some wordcount on non-fiction writing, like reviewing books I've read, or the reflections on last year and goals for this one. Not so much success on the fiction front.

May did not reverse this trend, haha.

My goals for May were:
- push through on the current original WIP
- consider what I wanted to do with the Cyberpunk AU
- look into the snowflake outlining method again, and maybe start using it for the "Worldhopping Fairytale Monstrosity" fic

And how did I do?
- I did not work on the WIP.
- I think the Cyberpunk AU is getting shelved for a while. I still want to write it, but just don't feel any real strong desire to work on it right now. I think it's getting put back into the nebulous "someday..." pile.
- I did look at snowflake outlining again.
- I even started the Worldhopping Fairytale Monstrosity outline with it, though I only got through the first two steps, plus two thirds of the third.

So now...

Goals for June:
- I want to try and finish just one more chapter of the current original WIP
(I want to see if this reignites any enthusiasm for the project at the moment)
- I want to outline (or even just jump into) the second iddy story
(This is the story that I catch myself currently daydreaming about at times, and I sort of want to ride the inspiration high for a change!)
- I want to work on the snowflake outline for the Worldhopping Fairytale Monstrosity
(This is that endlessly enormous project that's had more than two decades of on and off thought about it, which is excruciating to even consider, and I want to just WORK ON IT.)
- I might start thinking about the stupid holiday AU
(I have so little to show in terms of writing for this year, when "get something into a shareable state" was one of the main things I wanted to do! If I start working on this thing now, maybe I can actually have it in a completed state by the time the actual holidays roll around.)

Goals for July and beyond:
- finish the first draft of the original WIP
- get the second iddy fic outlined
- do the Worldhopping Fairytale Monstrosity outline and plan
- figure out some fanfiction to work on (and eventually post)

My biggest barrier for writing still feels like time. We've been busy, and have actually done things on many of my days off, which is a good thing! But I feel like it leaves me with less free time for things like writing. I've also had strings of days where I can't stay awake after work/non-workday activities, and I end up spending a couple hours napping.

I also feel like I'm lying to myself when I say "as soon as I'm caught up on everything else..." because frankly, I'm never caught up on everything else, lol. Not for any length of time, anyway. Honestly, what little writing I did last month did happen during one of the more hectic weeks. I realize it's a matter of making myself do it even when I've got other things going on... but I also find it really stressful and not conducive to writing when I feel like doing it is making me fall farther behind on other things, so it's a struggle.

I'm at a loss for where to find extra time and energy... Avoiding the persistent napping would be a help, but I can't force myself to stay awake on the days where it's particularly bad. I haven't been as good lately about avoiding the doomscroll... I try to catch myself when I'm just fruitlessly switching between apps, but sometimes I let way too much time go by before I realize that I'm not having a good time, haha. Trying to be mindful on that would probably be good (for multiple reasons.)

We'll see how this month goes!