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Author Topic: Did You Write? Oct, 21, 2008
rstegman
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Did You Write? Oct, 21, 2008

I forgot to post this last night, even though I had it all written up.
Don't look now, It is that time of the week again. It is that time to report whether you wrote during the week, or try to come up with a lame excuse as to why you failed society by not writing.
I consider writing as anything new, of course. It is also editing of any kind, even the work of anybody else. It is poetry, article writing, blogging, world building if you get something on paper. It is also E-mails, if it is quite wordy and pertaining to writing. there are others if you give it some thought.

As for me, Yes, I can say I wrote. I edited my vacation story, which is the third story in the series, adding two pages and 841 to the story. I like the effect. My writing partner now has that story.
My writing partner finished her story, the second story in series. I gave it a good edit and sent it back for her approval and corrections. To date, I usually simply make the changes in the story and sent it back. I did this because I was working in notepad. This time, I used my Word Perfect, and included bold, redline, italics for the comments and changes, and then sent it back to her in Word. This makes it easier for her to make the changes in her style. It took longer, but I caught myself in a couple errors because the changes were highlighted.

I am keeping up on story ideas. Some are quite fun to write, while others are filling in. Recently, I have had several story ideas that could be used in several ways. I am keeping track of those to write them when the opportunity presents itself. I have to be in the mood to write a story ideal

I made the first sale of my woodworking in a long time. I had a wood turning club meeting last week and brought in my work. I had some wooden pie type boxes (lidded containers that looked like pies) and also some Christmas ornaments, some of which were made as experiments and testing of tools. My boss, who is my best benefactor, liked the three I brought in. He told me he wanted to buy them. Over the weekend, I fixed the finish on one of them. I had an ornament I started several years ago and gave up on. I nearly threw it out about ten times over the years. decided to I clean that up, finishing it and included it in what I gave my boss today. I like his money more than I like my wood. It was twenty bucks. I will put that towards tools or supplies for woodworking. He did offer more, but I talked him out of it. It makes it easier to get more money out of him on a different sale.
I made another pie this weekend. It came out pretty good. I use a wooden cherry with stem as the handle of the lid. They are different.
In the magazines, books televison programs on wood working, along with some other hobbies, they stress that you should wear safety equipment. This weekend, I was reminded how important safety equipment is, though, this time, It was not specifically needed.
I was hollowing a vase with a turning tool that has a hook on the end so that it reaches around the corner. The tool caught inside the vase. the lathe was stopped for a second, then the tool started spinning in my hand, friction-burning my hand. I reached and hit the switch, but I guess I missed the switch because I was surprised the lathe was still spinning when I stepped back. Then I felt a hard impact in the middle of my chest. The tool was thrown off the lathe and caught me square. I finally turned the lathe off and gasped from the pain.
I was wearing the recommended face shield at the time. I was glad I was wearing it. My face and head is far more delicate than my chest is. It would have done some serious damage if it caught me in the face. Of course, I should have moved out of line of the lathe and to the end, so I would not get caught. It happened so fast, and at that second, I thought I turned the machine off, so I did not consider moving a different direction.

To put the above in a story, consider on a space station or star ship, where people are working right up against the outer shell, possibly factory work. Everybody is required to wear a fully armored space suit. Most people work in their shirts as it is more comfortable.
He wears the required equipment. It is getting ragged, so he demands a new space suit and they finally give him one, even though the officials don't believe it is necessary.
he is working alone in the room when a piece flies out of the machine and hits the ship's shell. The air is leaking out. He grabs a sheet of metal and a welder. He pulls the piece out of the hole, and places the sheet to block the space. He tacks it in place and then fully welds it, making it air tight. By then, the pressures had dropped dramatically, but only in the room.
the room is finally re-pressurized, and he calls a meeting of all the workers. He hands the piece to the head of the department, and asks how they would deal with this problem? He points out that it was not a problem because he was in his space suit and in armor so he was able to deal with the problem.

AS to the question of the day,

I can say

YES, I DID WRITE

Did you write?


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arriki
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Yesterday I did. Today I was all involved with the new Spenser novel by Robert Parker and talking with another Hatracker about how the narrative in that novel compares with our own.

But my latest wotf story is off with critiquers and I am working on a first draft of another story. Another space adventure this time out in the Oort Cloud.


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InarticulateBabbler
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You know I did...and am. (To the tune of 45,000 words, at the moment.)
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aspirit
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Congratulations on your woodworking sale, rstegman.

I did write. I advanced the first draft of chapter nine of Odal's Story. The chapter is the longest so far, and it surpasses every re-estimate, like an IT project that just won't end. (No, the problem isn't scope creep.) I suspect Odal is nervous about moving on to the next chapter and refuses to say a quick goodbye to the characters and places involved only in this chapter.


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Rhaythe
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Heck no. Caught something last week that knocked me flat on my back. Only now starting to recover.

Did manage to pick up a pen long enough to scribble an outline for a new story, though.


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Robert Nowall
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No luck this week...and my vacation ends tonight. A complete washout writingwise, though I got a lot of other things done---it's amazing what a writer will do to avoid writing.
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philocinemas
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Yes I did write. Sadly, it was mainly for work and for some critiques and very little for my current story.

Regarding your woodworking mishap - I once used the wrong kind of circular sanding pad with my sander. The pad shot off and hit me down the middle of my nose, cutting it to the bone. I now have a barely visible stripe down the center of my nose - a constant reminder to always use caution when working with appliances.


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tempest
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yup.

seems i have alot of great ideas and not alot of skill to get them out. a bit discouraging.

i did try a bit of verse (for the writing exercise of extrinsic) and was so taken in that i stayed up way past reasoning just to finish the darn thing. i was so pleased with it, then read it the next day to a friend and well, it needs a total overhaul. errrr. it was an interesting new experience.

cheers.


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KayTi
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Yes! I wrote a non-fiction article at an editor's request. Sadly it's not a paying market (I do a lot of volunteering for the organization, a non-profit) but it's still good experience for me.

I also brainstormed my Nano project with my 7 year old. I predict...interesting challenges for my 11 year old protagonist, at least if I take my son's direction.

I've been doing some more writing for work, the paying kind. That's a bit painful, but it's good, solid stuff. I know the skills I've built in the last few years writing have helped me tremendously with work-related writing (which I've come out of retirement to enjoy.)

I also finally started editing my YA space station novel project, at long last. I was relieved to discover the first 10k words didn't suck!


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steffenwolf
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Yes, though more on revising that I like! I've spent too many days revising based on critiques, and I need to just cut that story loose because death by revision!

But I also wrote my first flash story ever (up on JBU now), and that got some of the most consistently positive comments I've gotten. It needs a few changes, but everyone seemed to agree on what it was lacking, and I agree, so it's just a matter of actually implementing it.

I'm anxiously watching the mailbox this week. I've got a story out to F&SF which is, in my opinion, the best thing I've written yet, and I feel like it has a chance of being professionally published. So far all my rejections from F&SF have been between 10-14 days. Today's mail will be 12 days. If I don't receive a rejection on or before Saturday, I will probably get my hopes up! (which is probably a bad idea).


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Crank
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quote:
So far all my rejections from F&SF have been between 10-14 days.

Wow, my story must have really sucked, 'cuz I got my rejection from them in 8 days.

No biggie. It was an odd story anyway, even for me. It's currently been in the hands of a different magazine for a little over a month now. If it gets bounced again, I will put it aside and rededicate that time and energy towards my current novel.

Speaking of which...yes, I did write.

S!
S!...C!


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steffenwolf
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I suspect F&SF's rejection speed depends more on geographic location of the sender than anything. I'm in Minnesota, so it's got to go halfway across the country and back. If you lived on the eastern half of the country, the mail's round trip would be faster. :P
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Tricia V
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Hi ya'll. I suppose I could post the sad saga of where the heck I've been in general discussions. I am working up a 7 page script for the LDS film festival, due Nov 1, and then rolling into Nanowrimo.
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