Still reading The Shipping News. I can't say that it's got me all excited, but the writing's good, so it's good exposure. I also recently finished Kiernan's Silk, which was quite good. Very interesting book, actually, but it's rare that she doesn't at least deliver that.

So, the notes on writing: Neil Gaiman noted in his blog recently that the main rule of writing is "If you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (This may be the rule of life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.)"

He also gave his definition of story: "... anything that keeps the people reading, turning the pages, and doesn't leave them feeling cheated at the end. Everything else is up for grabs."

Just thought I'd share, ya'll. Time to work on my current short story. **********************************************

I'm stuck. I'm trying to figure out What Happens Next, and I'm not entirely sure. As in really, I have no clue. I could keep writing, but I'm not quite sure what should really come out. Not that I'm usually in control of most of these things, but still...

I made dinner, ate, went grocery shopping, went for a drive, bought gas, sticking my story in the back of my head, occasionally sort of mulling things over and I'm still stuck.

This is okay, though. I wrote 1,302 words on my story today. I mean, hey -- that's progress, right? I could work on something else for awhile and come back to this when things have cleared, but I'm concerned that I may never finish if I do that. And not that I have to do this tonight. Maybe just sleeping on this will help.

Except that I think I just had a major breakthrough.

Yay! Yay for writing, blogs and writing everything out!