Neo-Victorianism and Inspiration

This post isn't really about Neo-Victorianism very much, I just like typing it and saying it. Neo-Victorianism. Whee!

At writers' group tonight, one of our members read aloud part of a story she's writing that takes place in a "world" she and her brother are creating, and it really got me thinking. I should be thinking about my novel, and the 3,000 words I vowed to write on it this week, but now I'm all caught up in thoughts of steampunk (which she'd never heard of, but seemed very excited about, and interested to learn that her story seemed steampunk-y despite her ignorance of the term) and train rides and mountains and journeys and neo-victorianism and full skirts with lace-up boots.

I so don't need another writing project right now, though! I have this disease, you see, called startitis, which means that I start one thing after another after another, but finish very few of them. This is why my craft closet is a horrendous mess of half-finished projects and piles of fabric that may not be turned into an actual garment or accessory for years. My knitting baskets and bags are full of mateless socks and two-foot-long scarves. I have boxes and bags full of various supplies that caught my eye at one time, but which have now been relegated to a space at the back of the closet beneath another box or bag or three of similar abandoned inspirations. At the moment I have three unfinished NaNoWriMo novels on my computer (though I'm working on the most recent one), and a handful of short stories I either started and never finished, or with which I'm displeased.

But I've allowed myself to make a list of "Things I liked about A____'s story" with interjections of my own thoughts and theories added in. Maybe something will come of it, or maybe it will just be another list of things I'll never fulfill, at least not for months or years to come. But right now, it's getting it out of my system a bit, and that's all I can ask for a the moment.

Back to Earl Grey, store-brand Oreos, and writing, with Carrington on the sofa next to me!

(I've realized I begin a lot of sentences with conjunctions. One part of me flinches at this and remembers old textbooks warning against such dangers--"You'll never get a job if you do such a thing on your resume!"--but another part of me accepts and revels in the wonderful changes language goes through over the years. Yes, "History of the English Language" was one of my favorite classes ever.)