Category Archives: Writing

A Day in the Life of the Scribbler, October 3

by Liana Posted on October 3, 2013
This entry is part 3 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

Per usual, will update throughout the day...

Stage One: Assess

So I cleared out my LJ inbox of nonreaderly things on the first page and noted to self to read through the first page sometime today—AFTER writing.

Stage Two: Work

Picking a random prompt—Ilsa in the city—and writing for five minutes. So make that ten minutes. I finally used up the title that's been bothering my muse for two months now, and I like what I got.

Taking another random prompt—kisses as distraction—and running with it. I hope the prompter forgives me, but really, this is how Justus thinks. Now anyway. So that took less than eight minutes and netted me another scene of a Unit in action. I need more with Justus' unit as somebody :cough: :cough: thecatisacritic :cough: ordered some fics with them.

Same prompt, different characters: a couple because that's easier. Red Wolf/Whisper. Wow. That went quickly and yanked on a few threads I didn't expect to deal with.

And one more random prompt—not without you—with random couple chosen: Ilsa/Hasheni. Let's see what happens. About ten minutes and wow, is this stuff NOT fluff.

Okay, reading and reviewing those ficlets. That took a little while...

Grabbing random prompt and scribbling: Justus' family + Shift, Rachelle. Oh boy, don't I pick the easy ones. Ouch.

So more back and forth with thecatisacritic (what can I say? she's the one prompting) and added the new prompt comments to my ficlet post.

365 Challenge

Day 276. I'm at 192/365. Better... Ish.

Stage Three: Count

Written

  • Total Fiction: 2011 words - Month to Date: 3838 words
  • Total Blog: 249 words - Month to Date: 968 words

365 Challenge Pieces

  • 188/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Linger – 310 words
  • 189/365: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: The Unsuspecting Suspect – 221 words
  • 190/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Taste of Regret – 460 words
  • 191/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Catalyst – 362 words
  • 192/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: What the Emptiness Fills – 658 words

Read

Fiction:

  • Rose is Rose comic
  • Luann comic
  • thecatisacritic fic/lets

Publishing/Writing:

  • The Passive Voice blog
  • Dean Wesley Smith blog
  • Kris Writes blog
  • Juliette Wade worldbuilding blog
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A Day in the Life of the Scribbler, October 2

by Liana Posted on October 2, 2013
This entry is part 2 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

So last night, I quit writing because my sciatic nerve went crazy, but here I am again. Again, I'll update this post throughout the day.

Day 2 of my journal the reading/writing and let's start off with a quick stop by Melanie Edmond's Starwalker to read the latest update, "Watchful." Excellent, nail-biting, and feel-for-Starry stuff. I love this little serial.

But actually, I started as usual with checking my LiveJournal inbox, then read up on a handful of blogs: The Passive Voice, Dean Wesley Smith, The Daring Novelist, and since it's a Wednesday, the newest review at Strange Horizons. It's a Wednesday. P.C. Wrede will have updated. Got back from reading that. It was about plot development, something I've never concerned myself with so much as story development, but I'll let it mull and see if I can use any of it in my own process.

Now. To assess...

Stage One: Assess

Several pieces from thecatisacritic to read. I'll get there. Soon. I've got some prompts I want to dump off on her too as soon as I figure out who for which.

My wonderful beta has convinced me not to tear a new one for the story from inferno, so it's ficlets or "Collateral Damage," and I'm leaning a lot more heavily toward the latter, except I do need to sit down and work out chronology on all this mess, which sort of requires interrogating Pieter and Ashen and a few other set events that I haven't mucked around with yet. Gotta love continuity.

So. Ficlets. :eyes prompts: Let's see what we can come up with.

Stage Two: Work

Put off work until after chiropractor appointment as there went first work break, including reposting yesterday's entry sans my lovely comments. I'm currently ticked off at LiveJournal.

So I'm calling this day a wash. Sciatic nerve still a little crazy.

Stage Three: Count

For obvious reasons, we are not counting the words spent commenting.

  • Total Fiction: 0 words - Month to Date: 1827 words
  • Total Blog: 310 words - Month to Date: 719 words
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A Day in the Life of the Scribbler, October 1

by Liana Posted on October 1, 2013
This entry is part 1 of 103 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

So it’s October 1st and that means the start of a brand new month and I decided to take a page from Dean Wesley Smith’s book even though it’s crazy and that’s how it goes. Okay?

I want to track my reading and my writing because I’m a stealth reader and writer and have been for a long time. For example: last night, I reread most of Spots the Space Marine by M.C.A. Hogarth, out of order, in between running chkdsk scans on my computer, which is finally semi-resurrected by the way, but I still have to run a virus scan and backups tonight.

So, a day in the life of a reader/writer. You can skip these posts if you want, or you can keep up on my slog if it does not put you to sleep. I'll post sometime during the day and probably update as I go. Let's see if I can even keep this up.

Stage One: Assess

Went through my LJ inbox and have a bunch of ficlets from thecatisacritic to read. Which reminds me that I have a bunch of prompts for ficlets to write. Naturally, I am also torn between plowing ahead on "Collateral Damage," a major Rachelle-focused Kingdoms and Thorns fic and ripping out the back half of "Dowse and Bleed" to rewrite that from scratch. Again.

When in doubt, write ficlets.

Stage Two: Work

Wrote one ficlet, which didn't go at all where I expected. I thought of the second scene and started at the first scene and didn't like the second scene but posted the ficlet anyway. I know this is part of the big piece where Lena finds out about Wesley in the Seven Days storyworld.

Took a break and read and reviewed half of my ficlets to read by thecatisacritic, but stopped at half as my first work break was over.

Lunch break: it's time to start ficletting again. Checking out the prompts...

Scribbled one ficlet then stopped because I only had a couple minutes left and decided to finish reading the comments on DWS's excellent Book as Event post. Reading a couple more ficlets from thecatisacritic.

So wrote some more ficlets (I swear, I'm going to get that reading done), and boy, I'm wanting to dig in to something longer, but this is a start anyway, covering some of the rougher patches and crossroads in Kingdoms and Thorn. Rougher to me anyway. Posted them all at once.

Additional Comments on the 365 Challenge

The current day number is 274. I started it at 182 of the 365 Challenge (which means I'm only almost 100 pieces behind—do I ever catch up), and now that my muse has filled in a lot of holes in the Kingdoms and Thorn world, I'm feeling impatient with writing the necessary shorter work to meet the challenge, instead of the more ambitious work that will finish out a book.

Ah, well, the challenge is still on, so I keep writing the smaller pieces, knowing I'm going to slice and dice them and merge them into the longer work I'm still nibbling at.

Le Interlude: Computer Notes

And this is where I take time out from writing to finish resurrecting my home computer, virus scanning, and backing up my files. The huge awesome wonderful bit is that I'm editing this post at home. The bad bit is that I need to get off and let the scan run. :le sigh:

Stage Three: Count

For obvious reasons, we are not counting the words spent commenting.

  • Total Fiction: 1827 words
  • Total Blog: 409 words

365 Challenge Pieces

  • 183/365 – Seven Days Ficlet: The Apple Don't Fall Far: 447 words
  • 184/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: The Fox and the Wolf: 304 words
  • 185/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: A Gift Well-Chosen: 355 words
  • 186/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Cracking the Ice: 285 words
  • 187/365 – Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Remind You to Dance: 436 words
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Scribbling...

by Liana Posted on September 15, 2013

So I got two more Special Unit pieces done for the 5-things meme with two more to go and posted a brief, very brief treat to I Need My Fics. All's well that ends well.

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Random Thoughts

by Liana Posted on September 13, 2013
  • I adore arugula. It is one of the scrumptiest leafy greens on the planet. (Spoken from one who generally dislikes anything bitter.)
  • There should be a book: how to anthologize fiction and poetry. If I ever figure it out, I'll write it.
  • I love the rain—outside only and in moderation.
  • I have a few favorite authors right now (besides the one who hasn't published her amazing and gorgeous books yet so I can smotheringly recommend them to all my friends: M.C.A. Hogarth, Rabia Gale, Melanie Edmonds, and Kabobbles Publishing.
  • Linear chronology is overrated. Case in point: With Fate Conspire by Marie Brennan. Apparently, sleep is also overrated.
  • Sometimes I can't write until I figure out my world. Sometimes I can't figure out my world until I write.
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Closing Out the Fluff Fest...

by Liana Posted on September 9, 2013

So I adored the process of writing a little more than 40 fluffy, sweet, or humorous drabbles, but I've answered pretty much every prompt that fit the bill and it's time to dig into another full-length story. I'm really leaning toward Vardin, but I'm going to be good and hit my five-things fics first I think.

In other news, I really hate creating anthologies, I discovered. Not because it's not important when you write short work, but because you have to first pick stuff that hangs together some way (even when the whole point is to clear out the backlist that doesn't), and then you have to organize it so it works in the order read, and then you have to make sure everything stands alone, even the pieces you only threw in to bridge things thematically but would normally stick with their own world.

Their own world is an issue unique to sprawling worldbuilders, I fear. It goes like this: as usual, I know so much about my world that in an effort to not core dump way more than necessary or complicate my story more than necessary, I stick to the bare minimum to comprehend the story. Let me assure you, this. does. not. work.

:glumly yours:

the scribbler

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Wow. And Prompts

by Liana Posted on September 5, 2013
This entry is part 47 of 52 in the series 365 Challenge

How did I get 106 comments on a single post?

Well, I'm still accepting prompts for 100 word fluffy, sweet, funny, or lighthearted ficlets with the occasional 200 word double-drabble instead. Fanfic or original fic is great.

I've been having a ball and I have more to write. It's practically cathartic.

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