I’m Happy! I’m Disturbed!

I’m using an uncharacteristically large amount of exclamation points!!!

Really, though, things are good. My husband is back safe from an overnight trip, and he gets to keep his gun for another year. I told him that if he failed his qualifications he’d have to arm himself with a bicycle bell to startle bad guys with, and that I’d have to call him Bicycle Bill.

I don’t know why. I was very tired at the time, don’t judge me.

In any case, AJ will not be going by the name Bicycle Bill, or Penny-Farthing William on fancy days. I’m almost completely happy about this.

And I had a good day while he was away. A 6,000 word day is unheard of for me, but it happened. It’s been such a long time since I could just let my muse have his way with me, since I could write whatever the hell I wanted without worrying about keeping things consistent in an established world. It was super fun, and it did wonders for my mood. We really need these Storymoons more often.

You know, Storymoon. Like a honeymoon, but with wild and crazy who-cares-about-the-consequences-let’s-try-something-new storytelling instead of sex.

It got a little weird, though. Remember that one scene I shared on WIPpet Wednesday with the blood and the cutting and the burning blood on hot rocks? I wrote something far gorier and more horrifying than that. It had to be that way, but it scares me a little that it came out of my head. Other people have written far more disturbing things, but still. There may have been a chunk of human flesh in a bowl on a counter. I say “may” because I don’t feel like reading it over yet. Nasty stuff. Necessary, but nasty.

I do like where this is going, though, and I’ve discovered another thing I really like: not having a minimum word count goal.

WHEEEEEE!

I’m never sending this out to try for traditional publication. If it works out and people want it, maybe self-published as an e-book, but then it doesn’t matter so much whether it’s a solid 80,000 words, does it? Novellas are totally kosher, as long as you warn people and price appropriately. And I don’t know whether it’ll even go that far. Maybe I’ll write it and lock it away forever and ever and ever. The possibilities are mind-boggling when you have fewer rules to worry about. That said, subplots are already trying to sneak in and there’s a lot of story to go, so who knows?

I can write my own story in a genre where people can already pretty much get whatever they want. I can set it in a place I love, but that’s not exactly glamorous and popular with readers.* I can mix comedy with the horror and romance with the mystery and say “screw you, genre divisions!”

It’s a good thing. There’s no guarantee that it’s going to keep going well, but that’s OK, too.

It’s a vacation. If everything that happens in Vegas needs to stay in Vegas, I’m fine with that, too.

Hope you’re all having a great weekend, wherever you are!

*It totally should be, but I’m biased.