What the Heck am I Doing? (An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Post)

~ J.S. Pailly

In 2015, I completed a yearlong research project here on my blog called the “2015 Mission to the Solar System.” Month by month, I traveled through space exploring the Sun, the asteroid belt, and all the planets (also Pluto). Now the mission is over…

Ja01 Mission Accomplished

… and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself.

I don’t know what the heck I want to do next with my writing. In fact, this is the first time since I can’t remember when that I don’t have a New Year’s resolution, writing related or otherwise. I’ve always been so obsessed with planning ahead that it feels weird having no plan at all for 2016.

But I think I’m okay with that.

I can say this: I want to continue blogging about space and science, but without a specific mission itinerary like the one I had last year. I’ll just go wherever the wind takes me… or rather, wherever the solar wind takes me.

Meanwhile, I think it’s time to get back to the fiction part of science fiction. That means figuring out what I’m doing with Tomorrow News Network. Do I want to continue that project, or is it time to start something new? I do have a new story idea, based on all that planetary science research I did in 2015, and I kind of want to explore that idea further.

So right now, I have only a vague sense of where I’m going: a little science, a little fiction. But no specifics. I’ll just have to feel my way forward, one small step at a time, and hope that if I get lost my muse will point me in the right direction.

Ja01 Wrong Direction
Scientific fact: muses, like all imaginary beings, can survive in a vacuum without space suits.

So what are your priorities for 2016? Do you have a plan, or are you just winging it like I am?

* * *

InsecureWritersSupportGroup

Today’s post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a bloghop hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by a surprisingly long list of people: L.G. Keltner, Denise Covey, Sheri Larson, J.Q. Rose, Chemist Ken, and Michelle Wallace. It’s amazing and exciting to see how much IWSG has grown and how many people are now involved!

Click here for more information about IWSG and to see a full list of participating blogs. Click here to find out about the IWSG Anthology Contest (winners are being announced today!).

16 thoughts on “What the Heck am I Doing? (An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Post)”

  1. Sounds like to me you do have a plan for 2016. And that’s to have no plan at all. As for me, I’ve mapped out 2016 in quarters for my writing plan. Happy New Year and in the illustrious words of Jean-Luc Picard, whether in science or fiction, I suggest you ‘boldly go where no one has gone before.’

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  2. Well, since you asked, my writing plan for 2016 is to spend an hour after lunch to write my memoir. There I said it. I’m tired of writing mysteries and murders. I need a break. And I’ll also plan to write a few short stories that are quirky and funny. But as far as the rest of my life goes, I have no plan. And that’s what I like…I guess my life in 2016 is the mystery.

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  6. I have a short story collection I’d like to finish, but once my graduate classes start back up, I’ll probably find it an unrealistic goal.

    I think I’ll just have to be satisfied with finishing the magazine quest on my blog, and possibly writing a few more micro-fictions.

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  8. I’m hoping to write a new novel this year, or at least the occasional short story. I’ve had a story that I’ve been kicking around for a while, a variation of the novel I wrote for Nanowrimo in 2012, but I’m starting to think I should abandon it for now, and work on something I’m a little less vested in, at least until I have more experience.

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