Many of us write in spurts, going as much as months between writing sessions. We need help to become regular writers. Of course, life does get in the way, but for many of us, we have the time to write, but don't take advantage of the time. This note is an attempt to offer that push to write. I post this note each and every week. Everybody knows the note is going to be posted. the hope is that you post your results here, whether you wrote a lot, or did not write at all, and also to tell what is going on in your life. the idea is to get you posting every week, and get you to feel bad about reporting that you did not write. This is to get you to sit down SOMETIME DURING THE WEEK, and write something, whether it was a paragraph or half a novel. Be able to proudly report that you wrote.
Of course, there are always questions as to what counts as writing. No one is going to agree on that answer. I like to post a list of things that is writing. Some are obvious, others are not. Generally, the weaker the excuse to call it writing, the wordier it likely should be. One might get away with (and I have) saying that you wrote one paragraph of new writing on a story. One might have to write several pages of text about writing in an E-mail. it is up to you what is considered writing, as no one I know of is keeping track. Writing new text is writing. Editing, even if it is someone else's work, is also writing, since few of us can write perfectly first time around. Blogging, technical articles, writing assignments and exercises are also writing. Poetry is also writing. world creation and character creation is also writing, though I prefer that things get on paper. E-mail notes can also be writing, as long as they pertain to writing or story, and are wordy. The final decision is really up to you.
yes, I did write. I spent good time writing, I do know I did a lot of editing, but am in all new scenes right now. I am disappointed with the actual word count as I thought I wrote more this week. I had started new scene and it came to a stop, like running into a brick wall. I described my problem to my writing partner and she gave me several E-mails with possible solutions. She gave me the solution I really needed. I was having the problem met and tried to be solved immediately. That is not the nature of the situation. I needed to take time, develop character and situation. My writing partner also gave me the real key to the situation. Waxy is following a creature that is hunting. It turns out that the creature is hunting the one she is with. She has to be a real bother for the creature, developing the personality that runs through all the stories that follow. The real key was to slow down, let the situation play out rather than have it a hit and run. As mentioned, I was disappointed with my word and page count, but when I think about how much time I spent adding and changing early scenes to fit new information, I did not do too bad. I added two pages. 1448 words added. The story is up to page 58 now. I am writing on page 53 right now. I have at least a page, possibly two more pages on the scene I am working on now, then have to enter an all new scene after this. I am writing about an hour a day, not every day. I am excited about that amount of time. I do get things done but not enough to really finish anything. I retain the excitement of the writing, wanting to get back to the story and continue as soon as I can.
I fell behind on my story ideas this past week. I was an idea behind, then had my turning club meeting and lost another day, then Sunday, I helped my brother with a mechanical problem that went longer than expected, and lost another idea there. I wrote and am posting two story ideas tonight, and will still be a story idea behind for this day of the month. I have to catch up that extra story idea by Saturday so I will end the month on schedule. My compost pile count is 39. while counting them, I saw several that may never see the light of day, even under desperation. As long as I keep up with coming up with new ideas, I will never get that desperate.
posted
Yes, I did. I probably wrote a net of 5000 words on Dreamer's Rose. A lot of what I've been doing recently has been editing the existing parts of the story. But I have just reached a place where I'm going to have to expand greatly. New scenes. New action. More word count.
posted
Yes. Lots of editing, I've resumed blogging, and just today I finished up the last 13K of one of my WIPs. Whew!
Posts: 715 | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
Quite a few crits, but no writing. I'm hoping to remedy that today or tomorrow - I feel a fresh story brewing.
Posts: 921 | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
Yeah I got a little done on my latest attempt to re-write "Twilight Meetings." Also did a crit.
Posts: 2626 | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
Well, I did buckle down and finish my latest---or, at any rate, got so sick of working on it that I printed it out and stuffed it into an envelope and mailed it.
I think I've come to the end of persnicketty revisionism...next time out, I'm not going to spend time after time going over it and eliminating this-that-and-the-other. It's taking all the fun out of doing it...and, since I haven't ever gotten paid for my work, the fun is all I've got.
Besides that, I'm not convinced that it's making my work any better. To eliminate some things, my phrasing started to get awkward and weird...I felt like I was going round and round trying to say something that should've been simple. And none of the revisions affected the plot---which may be hopeless in itself.
It's back to one rough draft, one final copy, and a quick straighten-this-out for me. I might let some time pass between each phase, but I don't think I'm going to dig-dig-dig and pick-pick-pick anymore.
posted
Way to go, Robert! Hasn't it been a while since you submitted a story?
I wish I had the skill and courage to draft, rewrite, then revise in three quick steps. My process is more like draft, revise, rewrite, re-plot, rewrite, revise, rewrite, re-plot, and on and on. I feel like my stories are bees I'm trying to catch with my hands.
posted
Still cutting but I have finally reached the last thousand. Only 1000 more words to cut. Does it still work at a story? That's the big question now, isn't it?
Posts: 1580 | Registered: Dec 2005
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