02-02-09 Did You Write? . It appears like the powers that be are out to punish us because of me. I did not write, again, this week, and now a really strong cold front is coming to pummel us here in the subtropics this week as a reminder for me not to not be such a waste to society. They are talking about night time temperatures in the 40s, which is so far below the 56 degree subtropical frost temperature that all the canals freeze up.... I am sorry the world is getting cold because of me... The concept of this note is to prod everybody into writing SOMETHING during the week. this note appears every week asking if you wrote. The hope is that you see the note coming and realize that you need to get to work, to write something, anything, so you have something to report, with pride. The hope is that it becomes a habit to come up with some time to write during the week. The idea is to develop that into a habit so one can produce a lot of work in the period of a year. Most weeks, I list the things I consider is writing, to give permission to the rest of you to claim that you did something that you might not consider as writing.
I write my story ideas every week. Most of you would consider that writing, but since I am doing it every day, I don't count it as writing. Other writing, my actual stories, have to be fit into my normal scheduled writing times. For the month of January, I wrote 31 story ideas, ended on Page 50, With a total of 134,952 words. Some ideas were exciting to write, some were quite painful and the results showed it. Few story ideas I write, ever come out exactly the way I intended them to. I have a basic concept I am aiming to tell about, and need to set up the story, then work my way to the concept I am trying to tell, then button it up, hopefully, into a completed concept. Often enough, I entirely miss what I am writing about. At times, I cannot be helped. It is one of the reasons I know that anybody who writes from my work, will not end up with anything similar to what I have. If twenty people write from my presentation, will end up twenty different stories. I would turn these into finished stories, except I cannot write ten completed stories in a year, let alone 365. I am not a finisher anyway, and love coming up with the original concept. The most enjoyable part of writing for me, is the excitement of the initial concept, and the satisfaction of completing it. I had always worked from the concept that anybody can edit something to be presentable, only the author can come up with the original story. One line of thought I had early on is that when I retire, I can take all my writing, both story ideas and other writing, and finish them up for publication. I doubt it will happen, but it sure sounds good.
I am preparing for an art show I will be a member of this weekend. I am preparing my woodworking to be presentable at the art show. I will have far more than I can possibly put on display, but want to have a lot of choices. I will pick out what to present, based on the room available and my moods. Like with any show, One always needs a couple more weeks to get ready. I have another art show I will be part of in April so this is sort of a dry run. I needed to be where I am now, several months ago. Of course, if I did not play around as much as I had, I would be that ready now..... Considering the economy, If I sell something, I will be shocked. My wood working pays for itself. The sales I make, buys the materials and tools I use. This includes, sandpaper, varnish, glue, and other disposables, along with the Lathe I am using, all the turning tools and carving tools I use. This year might be a year where I use only what I have, not buying anything at all.....
That just gave me a concept for a story idea, which brings the above back to writing. Inventors always want to come up with the perpetual motion machine. The idea I got is where someone comes up with a version of it where it provides all the energy he is using. My thought is that he studies the entire supply chain of materials from start to finish of every fuel source. He finds that when all energy is accounted for, from finding the raw materials to the final disposal of the machinery, no source of fuel is efficient. He creates a fuel process, possibly using solar energy, where the cost ends up being equal to the energy he receives. It is cheaper to make than most, cheaper to dispose of, and provides sufficient energy. While they would not be used to make and destroy themselves, it will, in the long run, end up a lot cheaper than other energy processes. Of course, some fuel sources are cheaper to make, or cheaper to operate, or cheaper to dispose of, but they are more expensive at other levels. Being able to pay for itself is what makes it good. Of course, for a twist, one might find he miscalculated, above or below, or there is something bad involved that was not figured on.
AS to the question of the week, No I did not write.
DID YOU WRITE?
Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :
Nope, 32C indoors with faulty air conditioning and all I can manage to do is perspire.
My life is a long chain of excuses...
Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :
Technically, yes. Not much. I'm back in revision purgatory. But I did write.
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
Drew, critiqued and wrote.
Posted by Sunshine (Member # 3701) on :
I wrote a sympathy card. My very best friend died unexpectedly last week, and the card is for her mother. I am also writing some of my favorite memories that include her. The memories are for her 10-year old daughter, but I'm not sure if I will give them to her. I am drafting an outline of a story that is geared towards young adults.
Posted by honu (Member # 8277) on :
Sorry for your loss Sunshine...I did write //finished #11 and started #12 in Rhinoplasty series. flashscribe is saying March now before they publish my first one/ on the one hand I'm sad I didn't make launch, on the other I think I will get more recognition after the first round of reviews lets more folks know the site is there...yes I did write.
[This message has been edited by honu (edited February 03, 2009).]
Posted by aspirit (Member # 7974) on :
Yes, I did! I drafted over 2,000 words for Odal's Story and continued with short story editing. I feel like I'm behind on all my writing, but... oh, well.
Posted by aspirit (Member # 7974) on :
Sunshine, I admire how you're handling your friend's death, by focusing on how to help. I remember when my grandmothers died, I realized how little I knew about them, and I wanted to hear stories from my family. I think your friend's daughter would like to read about your memories, some day.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
A washout. A lot of the week I was sick...some of the rest of the time I was playing catchup on what I missed.
Not that I might've done much more if I'm healthy. I'm at the "I've got to cut this down" stage of my (finished in draft) project, and am also in the "intimidated by the prospect" phase of that stage. Other things I've got on hand are unorganized, and intimidation plays into this. I haven't got any brand-new ideas I particularly want to work on...
Oh, well...I suppose I'll dig into something or other, maybe stare at the blank page until something starts happening...like nearly everybody else, I love "having written," but hate to write...
Posted by Joseph Forrest (Member # 8460) on :
I pumped out a 1000 word flash fiction story that I thought was pretty good. It basically revolves around an astronaut who gets shunted of his ride on the way home from a Mars mission and makes a recording to send to his wife and kid. It just popped into my head and had to be put on paper.
The short story that I have been working on isn't flowing like I wanted it too. Some of the story elements are really good though and I'm thinking it might call for a complete rewrite.
Being a military member and always remembering the "write what you know" lesson I've really wanted to start a military sci-fi story. They've always been a favorite.
Other than that I've been editing a story from one of our Hatrack writers here and I've really enjoyed it. I don't know how much said writer will like all my little markups but the story is really good and that what it's always about.
Posted by Tiergan (Member # 7852) on :
Yes I did. My father and sister were here the last 2 weeks and the job went hectic, had to find another warehouse in a matter of 3 days and transfer 30,000 pairs so it was CRAZY, but we did it. Spent the weekend working on a pitch and reworking the first 2 pages of my novel. But the motherlode actually came Monday night, yes I will count that, as I condsider the time I post to these the end of my week. I had one of those moments just before sleep, the kind my wife hates, as I sneak out, turn the lights on and write, 2,000 words, rougly,by shorthand in my notebook. This should set the scenes for TaleSpinners contest and finish that piece in the next couple days. Yes, I wrote.
Posted by steffenwolf (Member # 8250) on :
I had about a half dozen false starts to stories. Scenarioes that I loved but had trouble constructing stories from. My current WIP I outlined ahead of time to be sure I could make some conclusion. It may not be the conclusion I envision now, but that's okay as long as it has a conclusion. Posted by sjsampson (Member # 8075) on :
