I ordered a new Aztec book from Amazon last week and it arrive yesterday, and they also sent me a box of cereal. What's up with that? I'm used to getting fliers and brochures and such, but breakfast food? I don't even like cereal (well, except Captain Crunch). That went right into the trash.



So, enough ranting already. Time to get to work writing so I can some day become a cranky old pro rather than just a cranky semi-pro:).

So this is actually a rewrite of a previous story that's going to take me a while because I'm moving it into a completely different setting and practically nothing of what I had will work in the new setting, except the most basic plot. Everything else though will be different and it's questionable whether it will even be the same thematically speaking. So it's sort of like writing a whole new story. Thus I've also abandoned the old title of "To Remember Without Regret" because that was very much tied into a thematic element that I'm pretty sure won't be in this version. I originally chose the setting that I did because it was different than what I normally do, but I also didn't feel much motivation to research it to the necessary levels to make the setting anything more than surface details and probably cliches. My decision to change it up now is mostly due to the fact that I don't have any books to tell me the details I need to know to make the setting deep and believable, but I also decided that it wasn't a culture I was interested in enough as a writer to warrant dropping a hundred bucks on books to make this story work as is. So I'm back to where my passions and interests lie, but I'm not sure how good of a move this is.

I do think the story itself will be better for this change, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm becoming too "niche" in what I write. I've gotten to a point where I don't feel comfortable writing outside this particular niche I've made for myself and I wonder how limiting this will be for me as I grow as a writer. This thought has been bothering me for a little while now, particularly when I've found myself stalling on trying some story ideas because they're not Aztec-related. Like the story idea about my grandmother living in Philippines during the Japanese Occupation. I should be writing that one, but instead I feel a bit afraid to step away from my "comfort zone". Is this a normal part of the writerly growth process and eventually I'll outgrow it or learn to embrace the fact that I write a certain type of fiction? I'm worried about readers (or editors, for that matter) thinking "gosh, doesn't she ever write anything else?" On the other hand, I don't think this about other writers who write in niches or spend their entire careers exploring one universe of their making; in fact, I tend to like stuff that goes on and on for story after story, novel after novel, and writers that do that practically guarantee that if I like the first of their series, I will buy the rest.

So I'm worried, but should I be? What are your opinions regarding series fiction and writers that rarely venture outside of it? Do you find it annoying and eventually look for new things to read, or do you love series work and can't wait for the next story in that series to come out?