Writing stuff for the week:

I've (so far, not to jinx it) kept up with Camp NaNo. Some days barely hitting that daily word count goal, but so far I have managed.

I finished a very rough chapter two of Connections of the Heart, but it's going to need a LOT of work to get it out of mediocre territory. (There's a whole huge section that I was struggling with, where I just glossed over any real description or dialogue. Very tell, no show to balance it out. That's fine though, because I *like* the editing/rewriting part, once I've got at least some idea of what I need to make happen.
Also, that fic is now seeming like it'll be at least 5 chapters instead of the planned 4... and if future sections expand similarly, it could grow to more than that. Which sort of sucks, because that's one of the things I'm trying to get better at! I suck at keeping things contained and at a reasonable short/medium length! But... some bits just wanted more detail, and considering that the type of story I'm trying to tell with it is at least a little bit slow-burn adjacent, I can't be too mad at it.
I did already kinda hose my scene plan, though. Not by a lot, just a little. But I had a 20-scene outline, with midpoint and pinch points and all mapped in to fall around the right places in the story... but whoops, added a scene, realized that there's not enough setup for something else to have an emotional payoff, so gonna add some stuff and switch some bits around... oh well.

Unfortunately, I kind of stalled out on it after that, though I'm not totally sure why.

Trying to decide if it's keeping with the spirit of Camp NaNo to write both the first and second drafts of the same part, ha.

The last two days I worked on Step Right Up instead. And that's fine, too; I'd hoped to get at least a little done on both fics over the course of the month. If I come away with one postable chapter of each (or close to it) that'd be great! And I don't think Step Right Up is spinning out of control the same way - I'm hoping it'll stay nicely contained at three chapters total.

Unfortunately, I'm feeling a little bit of the "ugh, writing this stuff every day is such a chore" feeling, rather than being excited about it. But at the same time, I'm trying so hard to keep the daily habit regardless of "inspiration" or not, and right now I just want these WIPs to be DONE.

But the next thing coming up... AU-gust. (AU fic prompts for the month of August.)

Last year was the first year of the challenge, and I did the whole thing! 31 fics in 31 days, utilizing a different AU prompt for each!
I had a lot of fun with it, and it was a really great writing exercise. (And tbh, I don't know HOW I managed it, lol.)

This year there's a new prompt list, and I'd love to participate again... but I don't think I'm going to be able to. I still only write for the one fandom, so 31 MORE AUs for the same fandom/OT3 without getting repetitive would be a struggle. Plus while I'm trying to finish up these other fics, plus get All Strange Wonders finalized and posted... I feel like I'd really burn myself out and overextend myself if I tried.
But I still feel sad about not participating, because I enjoyed it last year, and I want to sort of do my part to keep fandom challenge things like that going, because I hate when I see things like that wither away due to lack of interest or participation.

There really isn't a rule that you have to do all 31 days, so maybe I'll try to just pick like... five of my favorite prompts or something. I tend to be such a completionist, though.

Alas.

I also wish I had more consistent ideas for a different fandom, lol.