Well, the world kind of broke…just a bit…this past month.

Or maybe it’s just a massive glitch in the simulation.

Whatever you want to call what March has been, I think we can all agree it’s been a hell of a month…emphasis on * hell *.

Being stuck inside and told to stay home unless absolutely necessary is brutal. I take so many walks – which I probably should have been doing prior to all of this. Hindsight is 20/20. So you would think that I’d have all the time in the world to write…

But I haven’t really been in the mood to write…well, I should specify…write my SF WIP.

A while ago, maybe this time last year I wrote this scene that I’ve always really loved, but I didn’t really have a story for it. It was solely just this scene. I also had this other story concept that I really wanted to try to expand. I wrote it years ago, sitting on a plane on the tarmac waiting for a storm to blow over so we could take off. I sat there staring out the window, typing furiously on my phone while inspiration struck.

I don’t know if I’m just twisted enough, or if it’s just pure inspiration to pull from current events, but I started working on this Dystopian Virus story and I’m already 3,000 words into it.

I don’t have a full plot scoped out or even planned. I’m just writing and finding the words and the story. There’s literally no pressure.

It’s amazing.

I’ve been working on my SF WIP for so long now, that I don’t really ever draft anymore. Well, draft brand-new worlds. NaNoWriMo is really the only exception, and the occasional shiny new idea that won’t leave me alone.

I’m still working on mashing these two ideas together, but they really seem to be working. Maybe they were supposed to go together all along. I don’t want to give too much away about this WIP, but it starts with a virus, humans have to survive and there’s a bit of a zombie/undead element to it. So, it kind of wraps a lot of things I like to read about. I really enjoy SF stories, hence my SF WIP, and I really love survival shows, like The Walking Dead, or Lost.

I’ve told one person about this idea for a WIP and they seemed intrigued.

I honestly don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere other than Shiny New Idea Status. I really shouldn’t even be working on this since I wanted to have my SF WIP revisions done by the end of the month, but I could not focus.

I would sit down to work on my SF WIP and would just stare at my screen. I’d read and re-read sentences and my brain kept sliding back this new Dystopian WIP.

Hell, maybe it’s a coping mechanism, I don’t know. But the words poured out of me last night, and I was up until almost 3 before I realized that I’d lost track of time writing. It feels like it’s been so long since I just got lost in the act of writing, coming up with new characters, a new world, with basically zero planning. I don’t even really know my character’s motivations or backstory. I’m creating it as I go – my preferred method of writing. I pants my way through the damn story until I get to the end and I hope it make sense.

I think, I’m going to work on this new WIP until it’s out of my system. I think I need a break, a reminder of why I love writing. With so much going on, I think a reset and enjoyment are much needed. And right now, I’m really loving this MC I’m creating. She’s cocky, foul mouthed, raised by a hard ass military man…and I can’t wait to find out what her purpose is.