Every time I stay up until midnight working on a story, I end up having a horrible time getting out of bed the next morning (go figure). And, almost every morning, I tell myself I'm going to stop working so late and get more sleep. Somewhere around the fifth and sixth snooze alarm.

And... every time I get a good story, I end up staying up until midnight or later working on it.

Last night, I did that exact thing. Working on a commission, I ended up going just over three thousand words past the ten thousand point somewhere around midnight. I won't get paid for the extras, but the story needed that little bit more. Even then, I rushed it. Actually, if I had this idea and wrote it myself, it would end up about 20-30k words in length to really do it justice. A great little story that got my imagination working. I can only hope the commissioner will love what I create.

I love it when a commission fits me perfectly. It is always easier to write when the story fits your own world view or personality. More so when I'm just given a paragraph, an idea, and a picture and told "write this".

I get harder ones also. The next one on deck is one that doesn't quite fit my personality. The commissioner doesn't like some of the literary aspects I use frequently, so I need to avoid them. Harder, but I'm apparently doing it right since they keep asking me to write more stories. I go over the word count with them just on principle, they have been good to me.

The third is harder in two different ways. One, I was prepaid for the story and they said "whenever". I have learned, because of this, I hate "whenever" prepaids. Actually, I think I'm going to say no to getting prepaid commissions in general, but I was desperate for a bit of money at the time. It came at a good time, but I'm struggling because I don't have that carrot.

It is also harder because it is taking a seven second clip of an anime and building out a ten thousand word story from that. The saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" is very true. I'm taking a single scene and basically creating the characters (they are extras in the anime) and giving them a history, personality, and depth. A reason for them being there and, hopefully, an emotional connection that make the scene more powerful.

Needless to say, this morning has been a struggle to do anything on time. I ended up being much later to work than I'm comfortable and I kept getting distracted playing music, making lunch, and everything else. And I have a sleep headache from not enough sleep.

I don't swear to never do it again. That would be pointless because I know, sooner or later, probably sooner actual, I'll be writing at midnight, watching a cheesy horror movie on the screen (Pitch Black last night), and pounding away at the keyboard.