This is topic May 23, 2011, Did you Write? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.


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Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :
 
May 23, 2011, Did you Write?

It is that time of the week again to report about your life, and of course, your writing. Posting, whether you write is the incentive to actually do some work as no one really wants to say, "No I did not write." If you know you are going to post, no matter what, you will want to say yes to the question.

We all can agree that new writing is writing. Editing is also writing since few of us can write perfect the first time, and it even counts as writing if you are editing the works of others. Critiquing is also editing and therefore counts as writing. Poetry, blogging, writing assignments, technical writing, articles, world and character creation, and even E-mails can be writing if they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. If you have to ask, the answer is yes it is writing.

There is no word count that matters, The more the better. If you edit, your word count can go down, and there are times where that is the goal, to make it fit the space of a publication. One can write one word, or a million words. It does not matter. If you open some work in progress or even an empty page, that counts. If you do something, so much the better. A little work each week adds up to a lot of words over time. The idea is to make writing a habit, since not all habits are bad.

As for me, my total word count was disappointing. I can say that I kept going back over stuff I already wrote and making corrections and improving on it. I need to finish up the end part of the story, which I have potted out but not detailed. I keep reading over what I had and seeing how it can be better. One thinks of things that can be done better. Luckily this is a short piece so that is not a serious problem.

I am still at 45 story ideas in my compost pile. Ideas came in short bursts where I got several, then went a while without anything new. With missing several days of posting, I am caught up for the month. I did get to use up a story idea I thought sure was going to sink to the bottom, because of the end-of-the-world people. That is always a nice feeling.

I made some spin tops this weekend. You send them spinning with a flick of your fingers. it dawned on me that they could well make good Christmas ornaments too. All they need is an eye hook on the top.
A story idea came to me from that.
They are a people that consider practical items as art. One guy has a polished engine block sitting in his garden. A woman has a back-hoe bucket in her great room, filled with pillows to be used as a couch. Another woman has a photocopier without the panels on it sitting on a shelf over her mantle.
What came to mind, and great for a story idea, is that a guy has the warhead of a thermal nuclear bomb sitting next to the television and it is armed. He does not have the worst kind of art work.
Officials get a clue as to what these people have as art, and then have to figure out how to removed the objects so the region will be safe for habitation.

As to the question of the week,

YES, I DID WRITE.

DID YOU WRITE?



 


Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :
 
Yes. Mixed revisions on MAGE STORM, the query, SEVEN STARS and BLOOD WILL TELL, but it all counts.

Also two blog posts and assorted critiques.
 


Posted by Tiergan (Member # 7852) on :
 
Yes I did!!!

Finally got out of this revision funk, of revising the same scene over and over and over. I wrote a total of 5,800 words, all on the weekend.And still got the lawn cut, and trimmed and garden ready for planting.

I so happy now.

 


Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
 
I managed to pull out my last-in-line story-to-revise and actually started revising it, five hundred words Saturday and five hundred words Sunday. (I hope to get to another five hundred words today.)

However, I'm not altogether satisfied with the revision. This was the story that alternated flashbacks and present-day (wherever in space and time the story's present day was, actually), but then I cut the flashbacks before starting the revisions---and I'm not sure it works without 'em. Already I've got a couple of things I need to interpolate in the scenes I've typed out so far, and a quick readthrough showed me other possible trouble points. I'll keep pushing through, at least till I think of something to start writing brand-new stuff about...
 


Posted by Raker (Member # 9449) on :
 
Yes, wrote a blog post, started revising a piece of flash fiction, and worked on a novelette.
 
Posted by JenniferHicks (Member # 8201) on :
 
I've written 3,000 words in the past week, but not all of them are good words. One scene isn't working and needs a total rewrite. So I'll say I wrote 2,500 good words.
 
Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :
 
A 3,000 word draft on Saturday, plus a fair amount of editing on another story. Settling back into reality.
 
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
 
After taking a break for a week to submit my newly-finished story and cool down, I jumped back into writing in the last part of this week and got about 75 pages down on a new story. Not 100% on how that translates to words, but past experience puts 20 pages at a bit under 10,000 words, so my guess is somewhere between 35 and 37 thousand.

Having a lot of fun with this story. Since my last was more about intrigue and street violence in a very corrupt city, this one is all-military with a major war taking place back-to-back with exploration of uncharted territories.

So in answer to this week's question YES, I did write!
 


Posted by Crank (Member # 7354) on :
 
My YA series received 90% of my writing attention this week: I cranked out approximately 4K new words, beefed up a few existing stories, created a brand new one, and move a few editing sessions closer to finishing the first story in the series.

S!
S!

 


Posted by JHam (Member # 9518) on :
 
I'm working on a fantasy and I only wrote about 3k words this week. I had two character stuck in different plot lines. I'm still stuck with one character but I'll work it out. I did get my main character unstuck and back on the path to his adventure. I did some rewriting and plan on doing alot more this week. Hope to hit 45k words before this week is out. It will be a challenge but one I think I'm ready for.
 
Posted by pdblake (Member # 9218) on :
 
Finished a short but now I'm plotting a novel and editing the last but one novel. So no new writing for a couple of weeks, save for my gardening blogs.

[This message has been edited by pdblake (edited May 26, 2011).]
 


Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
 
Realized I never posted here.


Yep, I wrote, still haven't finished my nonhuman short story but getting closer.


Oh so close to finishing "Storm Born"

Doing some revising on the new chapter four of Bright Lights.

Was able to work on New Mage


A couple, three posts here http://musingsofle.blogspot.com

E-mails, posts here and crits.
 




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