The Lull

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So, I've been a bit lax with both the site and my writing lately.  I could give you the usual excuses - job, family, life-in-general - and they are all valid (to varying degrees) but honestly, I've just been a bit lazy.

In mid-September and early October, I did two NYC midnight submissions for the second Flash Fiction challenge and the first Microfiction (<250 words) competition.  Those are always a great time, but a bit draining.  I think after going through that, I kind of hit a lull in motivation.  I need to correct that course and get myself into the routine of writing again.  This probably happens to a lot of us from time to time, but I just need to get back on the horse!

In spite of the dip in writing activity, I've still been reading a lot.  I finished Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy.  It was a 1200+ page trek.  I enjoyed the journey, but have to admit I was a little disappointed by the ending.  I wouldn't dare to spoil it for anyone hoping to read it, but after a trilogy that long, and the build up to the ending, I expected a bit more.  Once nice thing was that most of the loose ends were tied up.  It felt like a complete ending, which is a very satisfying element in any series.

I'm also nearly finished with book 5 of the Wheel of Time series that I'm listening to in Audible.  As I've posted before, I just never immersed myself in these when they were 'new' and it's a series I've always felt like I needed to be familiar with if I was going to consider myself a tried and true epic fantasy reader.

In the midst of it all, I was reading some of Brandon Sanderson's advice on writing magic systems which he has dubbed his First, Second and Third laws.  There's some good tips in there and they don't just apply to high fantasy and architecture for magic, but provide some insights to story telling and writing fiction in general.  This kind of inspired me to re-read Patrick Rothfuss' novels again (The Name of the Wind is still one of my favorite fantasy novels), considering them with Sanderson's laws in mind.  I just kicked this one off, so it will lull me to sleep at night for more than a few nights I'm sure.