This is an attempt to prompt me into writing, and to assist some of you into also writing, over the past week. The idea is to try to get you to admit publically your production so you have a weekly goal to aim for. Lately, I have found it actually works. Most of my writing is on Sunday Morning. I get up in the morning, realize I have this note coming up, so I open up my work and start writing, even if it is just a little bit, or just an edit, so I can brag that I was not a no good, wasteful drag on society, a step above a gutter bum......
As for me, I added 879 words to my story and am now on the next page. It is not saying much. This story is not flowing out of the keyboard like my normal drivel. I guess one can call it Dribbling Drivel..... I am guessing that it is not an exciting story like other pieces I write. It is missing something. I am writing it anyway, just for the fun of it, and to say I am writing. I should be working on a Waxy story but have not gotten around to that point.
I am doing well on my story ideas. I noticed lately that they are less and less telling WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT, and more actually telling the story, becoming more like badly written short stories. This month will be my ten year anniversary of posting these story ideas. That is doing it a long time. This month, I wrote my 30 story ideas, which amounted to 132,769 words that cover 49 single spaced pages. Most of them were a lot of fun to write. they were all easy to write. The closer they become short stories, the more enjoyable they have been. My story ideas postings are more on the idea of a column, than actual writing. They are all rough drafts and just done as production, not as finished craft. My main purpose of posting them is the hope that every single one of them gets turned into a published piece, not go to waste. I would do it, but I cannot write 365+ finished stories a year, two thirds of them novels. Producing them in the form I am posting them in is about all I can do.
I continue to grab names from my junk mail. that list is up to 1640 names and is on Page 38.
My Christmas Ornaments are all done. I have 124 on display, most are left over from previous years. Many years, I made a lot more of whatever was selling. Good years I have sold ten, but that is a good year. This weekend I sold a set of four, and have the possibility of selling a few more later. If I don't sell any more, I am having a better year than I expected. Most people have had a horrible year and don't have much free money for baubles. Whatever I sell in my woodworking pays for my tools and supplies. I really should get into a cheeper hobby like diamond or gold collecting....
I have created a dove bowl. it is not spectacular but it is not all that bad. Because the bowl was made for another reason, it did not have an extended food in front. When I added the head, it was a little bit front heavy. I have since added a tail and that not only balances out the bowl, but also improves the look. Now I just have to do some heavy sanding, paint the head and tail, and then give the piece a really nice finish. I added the tail to the Turkey I had made. After the tail was attached firmly, It dawned on me that the feathers in a turkey tail is different than what I had created. I figure people will know something is wrong with it, but not know what, and accept it as being good. this also needs loads of sanding and a good finish.
I, along with several people I know, have complained about how this should be the beginning of November, Not the beginning of December. We are just not ready for this time of year. (It also does not help that I am not ready for Independence day either, but that is beside the point). There is the question of who would have the most to gain from taking a month away from everybody, where the month feels missing. My first thought was the IRS where they want people to be in trouble at Tax time so they can accumulate more fines. that did not seem to fit well. My next idea is the GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS so that people are not ready for Christmas when the time comes. That feels a bit too easy. Could it be space aliens who are about to take over the world? They might use a ray to knock us off kilter, really aiming for a scientific project that is making that one weapon that can defeat their invasion force. they have to do it to the entire population to keep the effect a secret. the people sort of daze through their days so that when the time comes, everybody will have no option but to surrender, rather than fight. Do you have any idea of who would gain for us missing a month?
As to the question of the day, Yes, I did write. Not much, but I did write.
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Yep. I only managed about 1k per day. But I started on a short story (a rare occurance for me) and worked on my NiP.
Posts: 1588 | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
Yes. I've had something of a rocky week. I didn't finish my nanowrimo, which is okay, though a bit disappointing. I started on draft 2.whatever of my WIP, and knocked off a short story. Better than that, I have _ideas_ for short stories which I feel like I haven't had in a long time. It feels good, that.
So far this week is looking good for writing, as long as I can avoid those pesky doubts.
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Yes! Did my rewrite pass on Apocalyptic Taco Mix, sending it out for reviews tonight. I have started my first-pass editing run on my Nano project, cleaning up the copy, before I put it to bed for a while and think about other things. I also wrote a terribly predictable story for the Liberty Hall end of year challenge. I'm relieved I have the rest of the week to mull this one over, as the first idea I came up with an wrote seemed run of the mill. Sigh.
But yes, it's been a great run for me, and I'm surprised that coming out of Nano I have the attention span for this. Phew! I was afraid Nano sucked my soul dry, but that hasn't been the case at all.
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Yep, just had a major breakthrough in my WIP...the characters finally decided something needed to be done, so they're doing it.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Sep 2007
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Yes. It was time to kickstart something, and the first of the month seemed a good day to do it. I dug out my old typewriter, flipped through a couple of books to get an evocative phrase as a title (George Railroad Martin's Dreamscapes volumes---Martin, especially in his younger days, had quite an evocative writing style,) typed that out, then started the "First Thirteen" to the bottom of the page by writing out a bit of philosophical musing about writing that had been in my head for a couple of months. In the last two lines I introduced a couple of characters.
That seemed to do the trick. Overnight a plotline crystallized around it, and I switched back to the computer, retyped (and rewrote) what I'd written, and move on. Only five hundred words so far---it's a bit slow, and I've been pretty busy and pretty tired---but I hope to do better over the next week.
(Note to everybody: I've been disparaging here and there about the notion of "the First Thirteen" and whether it sells your manuscripts or the actual books and stories. I hold to my negative opinion...but, it seems, they do have a use beyond that. Jumpstarting something.)
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I did. I was home sick, so I made it through three Hatrack reivews, followed by starting a revision to my current WIP. (Thanks, annepin! Your comments were awesome. Hope my review of your SF WIP didn't add to the bumming out...)
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