{"id":310,"date":"2026-10-06T16:49:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/?p=310"},"modified":"2026-10-06T16:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:49:03","slug":"when-things-dont-quite-go-as-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/when-things-dont-quite-go-as-planned\/","title":{"rendered":"When things don’t quite go as planned…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

… which is most of the time, really, isn’t it ?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever since I became self-employed, and more so since I became a mother, I’ve learned to embrace unplanned stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, “embrace” might be a stretch. Let’s say I’ve learned to accept it and move on (maybe with a bit of a freak out in the middle). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, lately, a couple of things didn’t quite go as planned. I might still be a bit freaked out about the endless YouTube verifications things…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The YouTube channel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last Sunday, I planned to launch the YouTube channel in English, about the delightful adult SFF books I like to read. Five introduction videos are ready, and I had this neat little publication plan in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, other, personal things happened on Sunday, and I didn’t open my computer at all. (Good for me. Self-employed people are allowed to take Sundays off too<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I placed it as the day’s priority, because that’s the kind of task that gets postponed into eternity if I don’t choose to prioritize it at some point<\/strong>. But Google has changed a lot since I created my French channel in 2018 : there are all kinds of verifications in place now to make sure I’m not a robot (dystopian, isn’t it ?), so I couldn’t upload my first videos as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The channel exists now, though<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now, I have to wait until the verification I made on camera is confirmed before I can plan the introduction videos on YouTube. If you read this blog post some time after publication, they might already be live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, well, this didn’t go as planned…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writing project<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This autumn, I have planned to start fresh with my writing, both in terms of habits and project. I planned to re-plot (loosely, I’m more of an intuitive writer) one of my older projects, The Office of Discreet Enquiries<\/em>, and write a new draft this Autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, this morning, I went on a run, and a new, completely different project slapped me in the mind and stubbornly refused to queue behind the current one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look, I’ve been writing regularly for over a decade. In that time, I have learned a lot about my own creative process. But I still don’t get how and why some ideas suddenly appear, almost in full form, from nowhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still have my Office of Discreet Enquiries<\/em> notes. I’ve been working on that project (finished since 2021 in French, beta-read and edited several times since, over the course of five years, for a number of reasons) for so long that it will still be here in a few weeks or months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, even though I don’t understand these sudden creative fixations (I call them “fixettes” in French), I know that every time I’ve made space to follow them, beautiful projects came to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it wasn’t planned, but I have a new writing project ongoing<\/strong>. I’ll give myself October and November to write the first draft, and if I realize it goes nowhere, I’ll go back to Office of Discreet Enquiries<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I follow the fixette<\/em>, but with a plan and some limits, so I don’t lose sight of my other ongoing projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Highwind project<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have code-named this newborn project “Highwind<\/em>“, because it’s a space fantasy (science fantasy ?) story taking place on a gas giant with floating colonies and airships. I don’t know much from a thirty minute run, but it will involve royals, a crew of merchants (smugglers ? Maybe hehe), some handsome general making a coup d’\u00e9tat and a main character who fled an arranged marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This one will probably be more intuitive than average, when it comes to writing the first draft, so we’ll see where it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, here is a snippet of the opening (first draft, unedited version).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fall<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I am still alive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wooden bannister was smooth and damp under my gloved fingers. The wind battered at my cheeks, threatening to unravel the elaborate updo constraining my hair. The repetitive sound of the helix sang in rhythm with its shadow dancing on the coated floor. The cold bit at my uncovered biceps and ankles. Excited voices and laughter escaped the bay windows left ajar. The former prince, newly crowned, had touched ground on the Lewelli pod. Tales of magical parties, astonishing gowns and fabled blue eyes reached my ears.
I tightened my grip on the rail guard. Engine sounds, wind and voices melted together in an indistinguishable white noise. I didn\u2019t matter to any of these upcoming proceedings. None of it truly mattered to me either, except for the small question of my whole future. I leaned over the rail, looking at the ever-changing clouds below. This balcony is for decorative purpose<\/em>, was I told so many times before. But if the windows were unlocked, the aeronef flew low enough to allow outside visits.
So there I was, visiting outside while the rest of them decided my future, down to the garments I\u2019d wear, the smile I\u2019d perform and the words I\u2019d say. All I wanted to do was shout in the wind.
A massive shadow covered the blue-green fluffs below. What would it feel to drift in the clouds like a windspear or a dragon ? The grey shape slowly made way for a heavy industrial barge, the open deck filled with containers of various sizes, large fins batting lazily to keep the huge vessel afloat.
To this day, I still can\u2019t say if this was a pulsion of death, or a desperate call for life.
My high-heeled foot came on the lower rail. My arms pushed on the wooden banister. My gossamer shawl fell on the deck. I plunged toward the vessel lazily making its way onward below our ship.
For a glorious moment, I felt free. Drifting above the colonies like dustwind.
Then the right side of my body met a cold, unyielding surface and pain exploded from my upper arm to the length of my leg. I couldn\u2019t breathe. The cold bit at me from head to toe. I heard myself laughing in broken hiccups. Behind the curtain of disheveled hair and gathered tears, I saw the richly ornate belly of our aeronef, slowly gaining altitude as it continued its journey gracefully.
A heavy pounding resonated in my head, down my chest and along my right side, in tandem with acute pain.
In this moment, I thought, I am still alive<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

So, the unplanned can also bring beautiful ideas, which is worth upsetting my carefully constructed schedule for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you fare when things don’t quite go as planned ? I’ll let you know how the Highwind project goes. As for YouTube, you’ll see for yourself when videos start appearing on there…<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… which is most of the time, really, isn’t it ? Ever since I became self-employed, and more so since I became a mother, I’ve learned to embrace unplanned stuff. Well, “embrace” might be a stretch. Let’s say I’ve learned to accept it and move on (maybe with a bit of a freak out in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[39,37,38],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal","tag-highwind","tag-news","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312,"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions\/312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/florieteller.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}