One of the biggest problems with having a brain that flits easily from one thing to the next is its ability to finish long projects. Too many ideas and not enough time to finish them is a thought I have all too often. So even if it might be a while before any of these ideas evolve into a completed story, I’d still rather share them than not. If anything, it might help me be more accountable to myself.

Started during my first year participating in Nano Wrimo, it’s a little embarrassing in some ways that I haven’t finished it just yet. Part of the problem stems from the fact that so many of my characters have developed very strong opinions and minds of their own. I may or may not have also flipped back and forth on what point of view or points of view I wanted to write the novel in. All in all, every iteration of my writing seems to at least be progressing in the right way. But darn, is it hard to finish a work of this magnitude. Makes me applaud those who have all the more.

The novel is essentially formed from the central premise of ‘what if the labels we pin on people were actually etched into their skin and given a true legal interpretation of their worth?’ one of the few works in progress with a true political charge behind it, I’d still say it was more of a social commentary than trying to bash a particular ideology. I started it angry, and sometimes it’s hard to work on this project when I’m not.

Probably the most ambitious of my projects in terms of scope. Part coming of age story, part science fiction, and part social commentary, it’s a unique take on some of the pitfalls a people fully integrated with technology might face. My project for the second attempt at a Nano Wrimo, a lot of my friends ended up eventually calling this one ‘matrix meets aliens.’

As with most writers, the inspiration for this work came from my own life and experiences. Bullying was unfortunately a very real aspect of my childhood, and I sort of amplified that even further here by making the protagonist have a tangible feeling of being on the outside looking in. Couple that with me getting to throw in some of my favorite aspects of science fiction and speculative fiction, and voila!

I fully admit that I am often that friend that will get on a soapbox about the issues I am very passionate about and rant for a good while. My friends are probably tired of hearing about this one: sexual health and knowledge should be a part of secondary education. There, I said it! We expect young adults to have a mature outlook on the subject and then deny them the ability and access to it.

One of my more comedic attempts at a project, each point-of-view character comes from a very different walk of life, but they are all united in one goal. Each a ‘mom’ with their own struggles and paths, they want their children to receive a ‘sane education on consensual sex.’ From soap box to fiction, I hope that central message that knowledge is power carries over correctly.

This…is a very hard one to write, not going to lie. Both cathartic and dreadful, the project is heavily inspired by my own life and experiences of living with imposter syndrome. And how hard it is to navigate interpersonal relationships with said syndrome. Heck, intrapersonal relationships are bad with it too.

With most of my projects, they start with a central question or purpose behind why I’m writing them. So with a hint of caution, I warn that this isn’t the case here. Maybe I just want to get my story out there while still keeping it in the realm of fiction because a memoir is just a little too much exposure for me at the moment. And maybe I hope that seeing someone else’s struggle eventually reaches a semblance of a resolution helps those dealing with the same issues.

Did I watch Galaxy Quest a little too many times as a kid? Possibly. But then again, my dad and granddad have always been near as big of sci-fi fans as myself. Throw in a dash of comedy, and I was sold! (I also blame his presence on the cast for why I could never see Alan Rickman as a villain in anything else, but I digress.) While the premise is only loosely the same between both works, I do credit that movie as part of the inspiration.

Originally meant to be a short story written for an anthology that my writer’s group was planning to put together, it spiraled out of control for lack of a better phrase. Which is no easy feat considering I wrote the ending scene almost before even finishing the first one! But most stories often do that, developing in the journey between an origin and a terminus.