This week has been the culmination of three and a half weeks of work on various fronts.
The Great Writing Experiment
In three weeks of tracking my writing time, I have learned some things I never would have imagined about my writing.
1. The story I understand the best takes the longest to write. Consistently. Continue reading
Writing about Writing
It's something almost every writer does, simply because if we're really doing it for a living, it's generally the thing at the top of our mind. But that made me think about what really makes me who I am online.
On the Way of the Writer
So, saying Adiós to a lovely blog, Procrastinating Writers, and ran across this term: multipotentialite.
A multipotentialite is a person who has many different interests and creative pursuits in life.
The scientific term for this is a "generalist"—and I've been calling myself one for years. Continue reading
Trying Something New
I've been feeling lousy lately (sick and sciatic nerve problem) and down on time and have decided to try something different.
First, I started trying Written? Kitten! I'll be the first to admit it's too simple to work well for me. I write better when italicizing, bolding, and centering are easy as CTRL + shortcut. But it's a handy tool when I want to just start pushing. Better than Notepad at least.
Second, today I read this article by Rachel Aaron. It's genius and I recognize my own best processes in there. By analyzing and studying her own work, she boosted her average daily word count from 2000 words per day to 10,000 words, using knowledge, time, and enthusiasm. (I could use that kind of boost.)
I went through one six-month period in my life where I wrote almost 50,000 words of fanfiction in about 2-3 hours a day, 2-3 days a week. Needless to say, I haven't been there in a long time. But what was I doing differently?
- I was passionate about what I was writing. I loved the stories and the characters and always wanted to find out what happened next. I could wring out 1200 - 2300 words in an hour on my lunch break just off of the inspiration of reading my previous chapters. (This got harder once it took too long to read the previous chapters.)
- I knew enough but not too much. If I pre-write the whole story, I will stop writing the story. I don't know why, but that's the way it is. If I prewrite the chapter, we're good to go.
- I constantly wrote down snippets of what I wanted to include in the next chapter or even later.
- I read works that inspired me for my own fic.
- I never felt limited. I just wrote whatever inspired me at the moment and knew I'd eventually get back to that other fic on the burner. (This gets harder once the burners exceed 20, but it's hard to keep wanting to write if I shut down too many of my ideas either.)
- I had to work hard to earn praise (I didn't have fans yet who liked even the work I didn't), so when I did earn it, it mattered.
- I almost always wrote in Microsoft Word or occasionally directly on the Document Manager. I have since analyzed my own writing enough to discover I write best and fastest and most in Word—for whatever reason.
Is there anything that helps you write and stay motivated? Please share any tips, links, ideas, or experiences. And happy writing!
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Writing to a schedule can be the mother of invention. It can also be the mother of a whole lot of panic.
Let's start with what happens when your cush time vanishes into the ether and what to do about it.
- Plan well.
When you first give yourself a crazy deadline (they are all crazy), make sure you can meet it. Be realistic about how long it takes to create the amount of material you're promising. - Leave cush.
In this case, I got started and ready to go with ten days cush. That's generally more than enough for me considering I'm aiming for a little over 1,000 words per Wednesday update. - Don't freak out.
Life happens. Sometimes, cush time becomes nonexistent due to unavoidable circumstances. Breathe deeply. - Make a decision.
Quality or quantity. Always be punctual or always provide the best quality you know you have in you (or better). Personally, I prefer quality. So does my beta. - Live with that decision.
That all said, Summerlight will be updated sometime this week, but not today. Remarkably, I'm okay with that.
Something Old, Something New
So I'm taking the month of November to scribble. Yes, scribble. Not nano, not expect, not create perfection and masterpieces, just remember why it was I always loved to scribble.
Something Old
A long time ago, I wrote a drabble entitled, "City of Glass." It's now on submission at The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. I loved this little story, but drabbles traditionally aren't very marketable, so I shelved it in the dusty electronic bins of someday stories. Today, I dusted it off and sent it. We hope.
Something New
I love short fiction, but finding whole magazines that publish the kind I'm interested in reading—and writing—was always difficult for me. I don't know how I missed this resource: Duotrope Digest. It's a search engine for writers to submit their material. I'm using it to discover new havens for both.
Something Special
So I've been reading Just a Whim, linked on the sidebar. A lovely little gem. It's the characters that make this story awesome. Thyme is the feistiest, most determined and creative girl. Her brother, Theo, is just funny. He tends to go with the flow, try and be opportunistic and greedy, but he's loyal and interesting and never quite succeeds at being taken seriously. Whim is still trying to figure out who he is, and he's the one who the story centers around.
Whim has finally walked away from his egotistical, gloating, and sadistic father, who has the power to grant a person's greatest wish or fear. Whim is the product of such a wish and has a similar power, but no social intelligence at all. Thankfully for him, he meets Thyme who undertakes to teach him the basics of being human, of living in this messy world that doesn't play by the rules that have undergirded his entire life, and of falling in love.
It's an enjoyable, generally light read with some serious moments as well. A nice reminder that life is always what we make of it.
[Note: I said I'd post this review at B&N, but the website has decided to do nothing if I click on the submit button, so I posted it over at Amazon instead.]
Something Blue
The illustration for "Crossing the Barrier" has been ordered and I should be able to show you something pretty soon. And it will have blue!
Posted in Journal, Publishing
Tagged jocelyn aitkin, on submission, plans, reading
Comments Off on Something Old, Something New
Letter to Myself
There are times when a girl just gets tired of running. Between the mess that life tends to turn out to be and the fact that no one will let you go after your dreams if you let them stop you, sometimes it just feels like an abyss has opened up beneath you and swallowed your foot and your leg and as far up your side as it can go.
There are things that help. For me, cleanliness and order make a difference. Prioritizing makes a difference. Figuring out ways around the roadblocks other people give makes a difference. Sometimes it doesn't feel like enough, but there it is. Just keep putting one foot in front of another and you have to get somewhere.
So we keep on fighting. We keep on putting one word in front of another and another and another. We may be scared; we may be tired; but we're writers. We write.
I promise you, girl, you'll get there.
the scribbler
Inspiration for the Soulful Writer
Justine Musk from Tribal Writer provides many insights and inspirations to my writing process. Here's today's:
I believe in fierce compassion.
New and Anticipated Fiction
So, I have some very dear friends that are getting their stories out into the world, starting with Jocelyn Aitkin. I read Just a Whim for her in beta and I can hardly wait to see how it all turned out when she finalized it. I'll post a review here and on B&N when I'm done. (She also did the artwork herself. I'm trying not to be envious!)
Summerlight: a novel of Vardin is now one installment complete. Thanks to G. Jackson, my wonderful, wonderful beta.
Speaking of which, she is writing an absolutely amazing story that I get to read for her. It's not done yet, but already I'm waiting anxiously for when I can buy it.
Also, check out the new short story, a bit of flash fiction of one of the hunter daughters of Vardin, "Portrait of a Butterfly." Hope you like!
