this is a place to brag about your accomplishments, cry about your failures, and otherwise tell about what is going on in your life.
As to what is writing, you decide that. New writing, of course, Editing, blogging, BB posts, Articles, Even E-mails can be writing if they pertain to writing and are wordy. If you decide it is writing, it is.
In the past month, I have written. Very sporadically, though. In about four sessions, I have five pages of work, near 3000 words. It is a combination of an old idea, and three other separate "notes" combined together into something that could have possibilities. They have to be stitched together and then expanded, but it is something. I still have no idea where it is going. by combining them, it gives the original idea, which is in the middle, a beginning and something to happen after.
I still do my weekly wood working diary that I post on a blog and a BB. I usually don't count them as writing, but since I am not writing anything else, it counts now. I used to write them "live" and post them. I cannot seem to do that any more. I find myself editing the heck out of them, remembering what I left out and finding better ways of saying it. It might be old age......<g>
My nephew just got married and we had sort of a family reunion. My sister said she read my FINDING WAXY book and loved it, then passed it on to her friend's son and he loved it too. there are times when a compliment helps.
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I posted my first "first 13" on F&F. (Makes me really happy.)
I edited the third draft of a story into a fourth draft that I like better.
I rewrote an ugly first draft and turned it into a less ugly second draft.
quote:I have five pages of work, near 3000 words. It is a combination of an old idea, and three other separate "notes" combined together into something that could have possibilities.
My curiosity, it burns. What is it about? (Donīt tell me anything if you're one of the ones that can't say what a story is about until they finish otherwise it loses its magic.)
I hope to declare one of my stories as "finished" by December 30th, too. And have a new story to work on. But we'll see. December is kind of tricky, what with all the eating and people going insane over presents.
Posts: 93 | Registered: Dec 2014
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posted
Like I said, elsewhere, I've been dead in the water for two months. Last work I did was October and that was just revision.
I've been writing and posting song parodies on a couple of websites, but that's not the same.
Time to start busting out my bag of writer's-block-breaking tricks again---I've got a new one I want to try---but, probably, Christmas will consume more of my free time (and possibly work time with overtime) and I'll have to do it after.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Robert Nowall: Like I said, elsewhere, I've been dead in the water for two months. Last work I did was October and that was just revision.
I've been writing and posting song parodies on a couple of websites, but that's not the same.
Time to start busting out my bag of writer's-block-breaking tricks again---I've got a new one I want to try---but, probably, Christmas will consume more of my free time (and possibly work time with overtime) and I'll have to do it after.
I have written, although it's mostly editing. I've got one short story about halfway where I want it to be, another waiting in the wings for when I finish that one, and a novel that's temporarily languishing in the corner because it pissed me off.
Posts: 745 | Registered: May 2015
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As I have written in other areas, I have mostly been world building. Cultures and societies: Cities, races, languages, beasts, good guys, bad guys, weapons, magics, weather patterns, technologies, transportation, music and fashions.
That combined with banging my head against my desk, wall and/or computer along with long durations of blank stares out into the Nebulous. Or as I put it: Going Zombie--must eat brains!!
Between all that is research: How does this work, how does that work. What! That's how you say that word in Gaelic? That sounds nothing like the consonants I see. Why is Japanese spoken backwards? To the store I shall go. You sure Yoda wasn't Japanese? SO that's how fusion reaction works...What? With an observer the electron goes through the slit as a particle, not a wave. What the.. Yes! This is the hundredth time I've read this stuff, but I still don't get the dimensional spaces above four. Etc etc
Then combing through the scrap pile to see if I can use anything.
Then work. Maybe play. Sleep's overrated, and if I have any time left,
Start writing.
That's what I have been up to. Pretty much a normal week for a SF/F writer, nothing unusual.
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Yes. Sketches, anecdotes, vignettes, drafts, practice, practice, practice of newly learned composition aspects. A step or two or leg forward on the Poet's Journey.
Posts: 6037 | Registered: Jun 2008
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I have a whiteboard that does sterling work in helping me gather my thoughts and ideas for story construction. I then photograph it and place that jpeg in the appropriate story file for later tinkering.
In recent weeks I have fleshed out some more of the premise and dramatic conflict for my short story The Gardner. In fact, truth be told, it is reductionism that I practiced with that story--reducing philosophical ideas to their simplest elements.
I have also started trying to write an opening dream sequence for Daisyworld. I am trying to come up with a symbolic, allegoric, metaphoric piece of prose that resembles, I guess, haiku. Just how do you reduce 3-4 billion years of planetary evolution and history to a couple of sentences of dream imagery that fundamentally is the inciting incident for the central character? Good luck with that I say!
Last, I actually started another short story in response to a writing challenge about Trolls. I took this as an opportunity to validate a method of story writing I am tinkering with. It worked. But I spent most of a week and a bit just trying to get the opening to do what I wanted. I learned a lot about how to open a story from that exercise.
quote:I have five pages of work, near 3000 words. It is a combination of an old idea, and three other separate "notes" combined together into something that could have possibilities.
My curiosity, it burns. What is it about? (Donīt tell me anything if you're one of the ones that can't say what a story is about until they finish otherwise it loses its magic.)
It is a distant future episode of my Waxy Dragon series of stories. I have several already in the que to be published and my writing partner has several stories in the series world that will have to come out before my next one. Waxy is chased by an old nemesis into the arms of a new one which will eventually become an friend. Strange worlds will be involved.
Posts: 1008 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Grumpy old guy: I have a whiteboard that does sterling work in helping me gather my thoughts and ideas for story construction. I then photograph it and place that jpeg in the appropriate story file for later tinkering.
That is a very clever idea. I have one in my house, as well, but I'd mostly been using it for gaming purposes (it makes a great initiative tracker, for one thing). I shall have to give this a try, I think, and see what happens. You just opened up whole new worlds of thought processes for me.
quote:Last, I actually started another short story in response to a writing challenge about Trolls. I took this as an opportunity to validate a method of story writing I am tinkering with. It worked. But I spent most of a week and a bit just trying to get the opening to do what I wanted. I learned a lot about how to open a story from that exercise.
I was hoping you'd follow through on this! I really liked that story opening.
Posts: 745 | Registered: May 2015
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You had me chuckling a little with the title Daisyworld. Immediately it brought to mind crichton's westworld and futureworld. When you said dream about evolution I immediately thought of a new sequel to Crichton's films called Daisyworld in which vacationer's get to go back to the sixties and experience flower power, Woodstock, and the bad guy is the draft.
I doubt that's where you are going, but it gave me a chuckle or two.
The irony is that when I did a search to remind myself who wrote westworld I found out HBO is doing a new series on Westworld. There is a teaser and everything. Found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM8HNuRLIBI
quote:It is a distant future episode of my Waxy Dragon series of stories. I have several already in the que to be published and my writing partner has several stories in the series world that will have to come out before my next one. Waxy is chased by an old nemesis into the arms of a new one which will eventually become an friend. Strange worlds will be involved.
Nice! I've always wanted to write a series of shorts set in the same world. Do you have a place where I could sample a few Waxy Dragon stories?
Posts: 93 | Registered: Dec 2014
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quote:Originally posted by Captain of my Sheep: Originally posted by rstegman:
quote:It is a distant future episode of my Waxy Dragon series of stories. I have several already in the que to be published and my writing partner has several stories in the series world that will have to come out before my next one. Waxy is chased by an old nemesis into the arms of a new one which will eventually become an friend. Strange worlds will be involved.
Nice! I've always wanted to write a series of shorts set in the same world. Do you have a place where I could sample a few Waxy Dragon stories?
Amazon.com,
look for Roger Stegman or Finding Waxy. Also, Nancy Hanson has a story in the same universe , A FAMILIAR NAME. She just finished the galley edit for Copper's Choice, which is by her and in the same universe. I am not sure which story will come next. her The publisher had Copper's choice for a year now. It might be a very long time before another Waxy story comes out.
Posts: 1008 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
Not sure if this is for the last week or last month but yes indeed I wrote.
Took part in Nano and did a novel last month. Also worked on another novel I am writing at work.
This past week, I worked and am working on revising a story for Writers of the Future due the end of this month. I am very very close to finishing that novel I am working on at work. I mean a couple of more paragraphs. Thought I might finish it today but I decided on one more detail. It's a pre-indrustral steampunk fantasy fusion. My hero goes on a quest in an airship.
Worked on revising an earlier section of that novel.
And worked on a new chapter for the number two book to my Indie published "Above My Pay GradeX2" That book is actually finished but I need to lengthen it from around 62,000 words to closer to 80,000 if I can get that much.
Posts: 5289 | Registered: Jun 2010
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