One thing has always bothered me about The Simpsons: The series never changes.
Oh, sure, Millhouse’s parents divorced, and Maude Flanders died in that freak t-shirt canon incident, but by and large, the status quo is maintained. Homer is fired and promoted and back at his same desk – Mr. Burns never quite remembering what an incompetent employee he has. Bart, Lisa, and Maggie have been perpetually frozen in time, save for the occasional jump in time that will likely contradict another such jump.

Other series, of course, do the same thing. They take their audience into the world’s sandbox, make a huge mess, and then smooth everything out at the end. There’s nothing wrong with this approach – it allows for a unique type of storytelling in which truly fantastical things can occur in the world, because there is little need for continuity. Everything, including character death, can be swept under the rug in this context.

However, seeing characters grow, change, and learn tangible lessons from their mistakes is also interesting and, when done right, is what I prefer both as a storyteller and as a consumer.

Watching both the Dragon Ball and the Dragon Ball Z series have been interesting in this regard. Goku has gone from a little boy to a point where he is in his 30′s and has two children, one of whom is a teenager himself. Every encounter Goku has had with friends and foes has altered his character over time. There’s a small arc in Dragon Ball where Goku has to learn to both move quickly and not use his sight but feel the vibration in the air around him. Twenty odd years in series time later, Goku still remembers this lesson: When he is transported to a planet where his opponent can see in the dark but he can’t, he isn’t bothered, because he knows better.

Likewise, the attitudes of many of the recurring characters changed a fair amount after the Cell games. They are more confident in their abilities, fighting is a bit less fun for some of them, and they know not to underestimate a threat. They are still the same characters – Vegeta is up to his hair in pride and Goku still loves a good challenge – but they have been changed through their experiences. Unlike live action series, getting to see characters grow over this length of time in their world is really interesting – particularly so much care has been taken to keep the world consistent.

Another favorite show of mine – How I Met Your Mother – walks something of a middle ground. Most episodes tell their own, neatly-wrapped story, but the series itself maintains a great deal of continuity and is telling a larger story, of how Ted Mosby meets his eventual wife. The sandbox element of it is that no story has to drag on for more than one episode, Lily and Marshall’s terribly eventful dinner party will be one complete episode, as would Ted’s five minute first date with Stella. But each of those mini-stories carry some sort of action down the line – throughout the season, Ted develops a relationship with Stella that almost ends in marriage; Lily and Marshall try to be suburbanites before deciding that they’re happier in the city. But having an eventual plot point that the series is working towards, at least in theory, helps keep the character’s lives moving forward – even if it is at a fairly slow pace.

I’m sure there are lots of other examples of varying degrees of continuity and character growth within series, both in tv and print. What storytelling methods do you prefer? What series do you tend to find yourself drawn to, and what about it keeps you coming back?

So, about 365 Days ago, I decided that I was going to try and write every day. I wanted to hit 100 days.

Once I did that, I decided to keep going, just to see how long I could go. I really didn’t think I’d make it to 200. But then I did. At that point, I realized that I was over halfway there, and I should aim for the full 365.

I would like to say that after one full year of writing, I’d have some profound advice. Unfortunately, I don’t.

On the whole, I am a better writer because of the sheer amount of words that I’ve plunked down. I don’t think it’s possible to do something for that long without some improvement. I could have improved a lot more if more of those words were spent on actual writing projects rather than words for the sake of words. But the result is that writing is fairly well burned into my mind.

Writing on a daily basis is not an easy thing, even if all you’re doing is emptying out mind sludge. There have been days when I simply didn’t feel like it, and the pages heard about it. There have been days where I squeaked my 750 words in just under the wire, and there have been days where I rambled for 1500. But I wrote, and I wrote … and I wrote.

It is my intention to ‘step up my game’ now, to not just write, but to write diligently, and to work on projects. I still aim to query Roselyn’s Legacy by the end of the year, but if that doesn’t happen, I want to have made substantial progress on it, not to have failed because I stopped working.

If you want to write, do it. Write every day. Write about how dirty your carpet is, about how your head is pounding, about how you don’t want to write at all. But start writing, and go from there. Write every day, and if I might offer my experience – do try to write in the morning, if you can. I know. I’m not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. And if I had to get up early in the morning, I might change my tune. But once the day gets spinning, it’s so easy to put things off or lose track of them. Anything that is so important to you, should be done as early as possible.

What’s next?

Well, I’m going to keep writing. There’s still a 500 day badge out there, and well, I’m more than halfway there. I want to hunker down and continue editing Roselyn’s Legacy, and continue cultivating the story that The Boy and I are working on. I’ve also decided to start working on little short scenes, just to try out different writing muscles.

I also started a Facebook page. Truth be told, I feel so silly doing it. But I think it’s a necessary step. I am a writer, and that’s what you do now. Time to start building that fan base so that when the time comes, it’s one more thing in my corner. Having hammered out my pen name, I went ahead and set up the page. It would be fantastic if you would ‘like’ it for me.

Here’s to another 365 days, and all of the 365 days after that.

Last month, I mused a bit about pen names – my maiden name felt too plain, my married name too complicated, my gamer handle not ‘just right’ either.

This weekend, the answer hit me square in the face, and as it turns out, the simplest answer is the best.

It occurred to me that it’s the person that makes the name. Nothing about the name Stephen King is particularly exciting, but we feel how we do because of who he is. It’s the same reason that one might be more inclined to name a child after a favorite aunt, or less because of an unpleasant high school acquaintance. Oprah would just be a woman with a misspelled name if she weren’t the tv icon. Names are certainly important – but the people behind those names give them influence.

I decided that I want to try and publish under the name that feels right to me: Sarah M. Coleman

Since my husband has no desire to put out music under his unwieldy Polish moniker, there’s no guilt in me not doing so, either. That name can be the one on the bank card.

It’s my family name. It’s the name that traces me back to several generations of carpenters in a small town in the middle of nowhere New York. I may not build things with my hands – in fact, screwdrivers are a little sketchy for me – but I can build worlds with my words. A sentimental move? Absolutely. But right now, it feels like the right one.

Eventually, I’ll look into streamlining things. I think that will probably mean a new domain at some point, even if it just directs back to this site. I changed the name on my twitter profile because that was quick and easy. The @ name doesn’t matter currently, in my opinion. It’s a screen name, and I love leianajade for that – just not as the name I want in print.

But, with that relatively minor detail worked out, I’m ready to dive back into editing and writing. I haven’t had any focus the last few weeks, but I want to get back to work. There’s a lot to do.