"I need to relax. I should write a story."

So, I passed the 100 consecutive days of writing my novel ages ago. Wasn't I supposed to be posting updates about it? I sure was. Turns out, daily updates take a lot of time. I didn't have the discipline to keep up with it at the time.

The novel, on the other hand, has been moving at top speed.

Last June, dead broke with nothing fun to do, I decided it'd be a fun relaxing time to write an introspective P5 fanfiction where two characters muse about free will while waiting out the rain. A day later, I took those two adults out of the teen power fantasy setting entirely, made them my own, and started a novel instead.

I wrote 50,000 words in the span of a summer. Then, cut 30k. Sprinted my way up to 90k. Changed my main character, damn near starting over. Finally hit my stride and made it back to 85k by writing "scaffold" scenes — making rough drafts of the big payoff moments I'm excited to write. Then I went back to the start of my manuscript to start filling in the blanks. Except there was one problem.

My story had escalating stakes, a central romance, and three "villains." By the time I got the worldbuilding out of the way, introduced all the necessary characters, and got the b story going, my introductory chapters were 35,000 words long.

So my fanfiction, which became a novel, is now becoming a trilogy.

In fact, a trilogy might be my best possible defense against perfectionism:

My blog is all about me learning in public — in this case, learning how to write a story that's fit to publish. Actually finish it and actually publish it. I'm also learning how to roll with the punches and understand myself as an artist. I love new ideas, and overthinking. I haven't stuck to a project this large and time-consuming in a long, long time.

One of my biggest lessons from 2025 is that I'm more likely to finish projects that can be broken into the tiniest possible steps.

That's why I'm so wedded to the Tiny Experiments method. Sure, I could self-publish an 800-page novel about a witch hunter and two of his friends...but do I want to, knowing it won't see the light of day for another two or three years?

It usually doesn't matter how enthusiastic I am at the start of a big project. Without breaking things up, I tend to get overwhelmed, lose my steam, and flounder until my well of motivation dries up completely.

By cutting the book up into a trilogy, I can ride the dopamine hit of finishing book one into the first draft of book two. If your first baby is the one you make all the mistakes with, hopefully my first book will teach me enough of the messy business of editing, book design, and self-publishing to do a better job on the second.

That's the theory, anyway: rather than getting stuck in an overthinking loop or the trap of perfectionism, I want to build a feedback loop that drives me to the finish line and teaches me how to do it better next time.

Maybe this way, I'll get to call myself an author by the end of 2026. Wish me luck!