Category Archives: Writing

That’s a Terrible Idea!

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Eye Roll 01

Can you believe I was thinking that?

I didn’t write this week.  I had a couple of things going on that changed my normal schedule, and it threw me off track.  So then I wasn’t going to do a ROW80 post this week because I have nothing to report, and really it’s kind of embarrassing to admit that the first week out of the gate, the first week when I was going to actually be putting words on paper for a story, I did nothing (well, no actual writing of story, but I did change a few things that made my plan for my opening scene much better I think).

But not posting when I’ve had a bad week is a bad idea.  So, here’s my “nothing  to report” report.

Back on the horse. Cutting out the weekly word count goal right now until I re-establish a regular writing routine.  That’s my plan for this week.  Write three times, even if it’s one sentence each time.  Just write something.

Do you have a plan for the week?  Let’s be in this together!

 

 

 

 

Starting to Finish

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ROW80 Badge

I’m just going to do a quick ROW80 check-in because I’ve been super busy for over a week, and I’m not done yet.  I’ve been super productive, too, so it’s all pretty good.  I haven’t been just running around doing busy work and not accomplishing anything.  I didn’t get as much of the novel planning done as I had hoped, but I am still determined that I am starting to actually write the story this week.

This is what I’ve done writing-wise to get things going so I can actually finish someday:

  • Decided on a weekly word count goal–5,000 words/week broken into three sessions
  • Set up a word count meter (over there to the left) for Inheritance
  • Figured out a problem with my antagonist that makes what she does make so much more sense
  • Created a writing schedule (Wednesday and Thursday nights and one floating day to reach my 5K)
  • Came up with a decent logline which always seems to help me focus on my story and really get it moving

I set a preliminary goal of 80,000 words for Inheritance because that seems like a good starting point.  It’s a genre novel, paranormal/horror at that, and I’ve read that those are expected to be a little bit on the short side.  80K may not be right.  It may end up longer.  But I figure it’s a good number to aim for starting out.  At 5K words/week it will take about 4 months to get a first draft written.  I want to have a full draft written and at least the first chapters through one revision by the end of July because I want to take it to the Willamette Writer’s Conference in August and pitch to an agent.  I don’t expect this one to be my groundbreaking first novel, or necessarily even my first published novel.  What I do want is to start practicing some of the submission process so I have a feel for it so I can guide my writing clients through it better.  And, although I know this isn’t true, I’ll feel more like a writer if I’m submitting at least now and then.

So that’s where I am now.  Next week you’ll see progress on that shiny new word meter, and maybe I’ll have a little more time to do a fuller post.  I hope the writing is going well for everyone!

 

The Things I Do

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Sometimes, the things I do distract me and I forget to hop over here and do a post or a ROW80 check-in.  Oops!  But I’m here now, so that’s something.

I have pretty good reasons for not being here last week, too!  I was busy making this:

WYS Yellowtail 2

I’m also working on creating a couple of classes and a retreat, so it’s all sorts of exciting in my world! It’s distracting, though, as I mentioned.  I’m not getting to as much of my personal story writing as I had hoped.  But I’m learning how much I can fit into a week, and I hope that’s going to help me make regular space for writing again.

Meanwhile, even though I’m still not finished with outlining and planning, I intend to start writing Inheritance on February 2.  That was the plan, and I’m going to stick with it.  If I don’t have an outline, I’m okay with that.  I at least have the anchor scenes planned out from doing Sufficiently Advanced Magic with Alastair at StoryWonk.  It’s probably enough.  It’s definitely enough to get me started, especially since I’ve been spending some time getting to know my characters better.  With them feeling more like real people to me and a basic view of my biggest scenes, I think I’m ready to go.

Next week I’ll be putting up a word counter for Inheritance.  If you see that it’s not moving, give me a nudge! We can all use that little helping hand, right?

So what about you?  Where’s your writing life right now?  I hope the words are flowing!

See you next time with a report on actual words written!

I Remember You!

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Elephant Statue 1

Doing a quick ROW80 check-in before returning to work on a new coaching package for writers over at MuseCraftâ„¢.

I’m making really good progress in the outlining.  Actually, I’ve delved into some character work the way I used to with a brief description of the characters and then lots of looking at pictures to find what they look like, what they wear, furniture they have, things they like, etc.  But oh my gosh doing this with the internet is so incredible!  It’s kind of what I used to do but at the same time nothing like it.  Where I used to pore over a pile of magazines and catalogs, now I have a bajillion pictures to choose from with a single clickety-click of my mouse!  It’s amazing and fabulous.  And Pinterest is making capturing the images so easy.  I’m in love.

I’m also remembering these characters I started creating almost 18 months ago.  They never fully got off the ground back then even though I did a good chunk of story writing about them.  I never quite got a feel for them. They just weren’t people to me, not enough for me to plow ahead and write their story.  That’s been changing this week.  They’re starting to be in my head.  They’re starting to be different from each other and really show their personalities.  And they’re fun!  I like them, and I’m looking forward to finishing up character work this week and diving into setting some cornerstones for the story next week.  And then I think I’m really going to be ready to sit down and write on February 1 (or maybe even before, but shhh, don’t say that out loud)!

Now I just need to get better and visitng other blogs to keep my fellow ROW-ers company and keep me thinking about writing, and I’ll be good to go.  See you on the blogs!

 

 

 

Getting Started

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Once Upon a Time

Jumping in for a quick ROW80 check-in.  I just set my goals on Monday, so I’m not quite up to speed yet, but I am getting started.  I’ll be working on the planning stuff tonight to see if Wednesday is a good day to schedule as a writing day.  Not that writing or writing-related stuff doesn’t happen pretty much every day.  I just want to have a few dedicated days each week where I know I intend to spend at least an hour diving in.

I think my writing practice days will be Mondays and Fridays.  Those are the easiest days usually to fit in a quick free writing session because, while they both can be busy days they both tend to be a little more flexible for some reason.  We’ll see how that goes.

For now that’s really it.  I’m still setting things up for my year, so there’s lots that’s still amorphous (I love that word and probably use it too much), but it feels pretty good.

Oh, a quick geekly thing.  We watched Agent Carter last night.  It was so good, I’m thinking of rewatching the episode just to catch any little tidbits I missed!  We also watched Galavant which I was sure was going to be stupid and which absolutely isn’t.  It’s funny and charming and lots of fun.  Also a great way to time something in the oven if you’ve downloaded the episode, because it’s about 20 minutes.  Double-bonus!

Okay, really that’s it for me now.  Tons to do, not much time left before the evening commute, all the usual stuff.  I’ll be back next Wednesday for ROW80 (probably going to stick with that once-weekly check-in schedule rather than the Sunday and Wednesday check-ins although I don’t know that for sure yet).

Drop me a note and let me know what you’re spending time with–I might need to add it to my mix!

A New Year, a New ROW

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ROW80 BadgeI’m actually glad the holiday season is wrapped up.  I am so glad to be getting back to a regular schedule again, although all those extra days off were pretty nice.

One of the things I’m getting back to is ROW80 (I’ll be getting back to sharing my geeky delights, too, just not today).  I did a few weeks at the end of the year to dip my toes back in, but now I’m ready to jump all the way in.  And this post on The Myth of the One True Way is a great kickoff to the new round.  I have fallen into that trap so many times, thinking I need to find the right way to write a novel.  Even when I’ve qualified it with “the right way for me,” it’s just been a stumbling block.  The right way to do it is to jump in and find what works as I go.  The right way is to actually get it done.

I’m not saying that I don’t want to do any novel planning.  This is about going beyond plans and doing the real work.  I just have to remind myself–probably over and over and a million times over–that it doesn’t have to be right.  There’s no such thing.  It just has to be done.

My ROW80 Round 1 Goals:

  • Finish working through K.M. Weiland’s Outlining Your Novel Workbook.  How I’ll do it: post updates on Twitter daily to announce what I’ve done and then post here weekly with a round-up of all of those posts. (This “how I’ll do it” thing is something new I’m trying out to see if it helps me stay on task.)
  • Write 30,000 words on Inheritance.  How I’ll do it: once again via daily Twitter updates and weekly updates here.
  • Twice-weekly writing practice for free writing and working on craft. How I’ll do it: take to Twitter once again and invite people to write with me and share their progress and maybe snippets of their writing; I’ll also mark these sessions on my calendar to see if that keeps the intention fresh in my mind.

Preparing

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Pizza Ingredients

A quick ROW80 check-in:

I haven’t been doing much of anything. Time of year, being out of writing shape, still deeply in the midst of processing my mother’s death. Lots of reasons. I haven’t been able to get my head fully in the game, but I’ve been doing some prep work.

I’ve been setting up my novel notebook for Inheritance.  I’ve been going over my notes from the Sufficiently Advanced Magic class I took via StoryWonk in October and revising some of my anchor .  And I’ve been trying out word count meters** (the one in the sidebar right now is this NaNoWriMo Word Meter  from Language is a Virus, but it clearly works beautifully outside of November, too, and I really like that you can choose your own color for the progress bar).

I’ve decided to try out publicly displayed word counts and publicly stated (here and on Facebook and Twitter) goals to help me stay focused.  I always do really well during NaNoWriMo because I work well under a deadline and with an audience, so I’m going to see if I can create some of that feeling outside of November.  I’ll have widgets for my novel and for writing practice, because I feel that at least a few 10-minute sessions each week will build my writing muscles better than just working on the novel.

That’s where I am right now.  Although ROW80 will be wrapping up next week, I am still going to push to get a sketchy outline (but fuller than the anchor point outline I have now) finished by year’s end so I am ready to write the story come January.

** I’ve been looking at bunches of writing meters, but I still have a few to check out.  Once I have a good list, I’ll post it.

The Weekly Geek, December 10, 2014

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Yarn

Yarn for knitting geekery

This week has been slow.  Well, I’ve been slow.  I am still obsessing over bullet journals and planners in general (check out the Passion Planner and Spark Notebook).  I can fixate on planners and notebooks and pens and paper and office supplies forever.  I love (oh, such a light little word) them ridiculously.  And this time of year, nearly a new year, I get even more excited about planners and such.

I have resisted buying a planner (except for the UnCalendar which is a crazy flexible system) even though some of these look really good.  I know from past experience that I don’t tend to use all of the sections in any specialty planner, and then I feel guilty because I spent a lot of money (because none of them are really cheap) and didn’t make good use of the thing.  But you can do bullet journaling in any notebook, and the Passion Planner and Spark Notebook both offer downloads so I can just print out what I want to incorporate into my ever-evolving system and leave the rest on the computer.  No waste of paper, no leaving lots of blank pages that make it look like I didn’t do anything for days or weeks or months.

My list of things I want to work on and give time and attention to is long and varied, though, so some sort of planner system would be really helpful (or so I tell myself, and I’m pretty sure it’s true and not just an excuse to buy more notebooks and pens and sticky notes).  It’s funny (in that non-humorous way) how often and how completely I can forget to follow my own advice.  I can coach others and then turn right around and forget everything I told them when I’m doing my own thing.   I have found myself wanting a planner where I can incorporate more than just schedules and to-do lists.  I have a nice set-up coming together, I think.  I’ll write more about that here and on MuseCraftâ„¢ (my coaching site) in January, though, when I will have it all assembled and have bright, shiny pictures to share.

ROW80 check-in:

Um…I was supposed to do stuff, wasn’t I?  I got lost in planner land.  I’ve been thinking about my story planning a lot.  I’m reading through Outlining Your Novel Workbook.  (And really, I should have been done reading and heavily into the actual work by now–I’ve had it almost a month.) But I haven’t been writing, not plans nor writing practice.  Something has to change.  I need to get more specific. So for the coming week:

  • Spend at least 15 minutes 4 times working on outlining/planning
  • Spend at least 15 minutes 3 times doing writing practice
  • Tweet when I finish each session (accountability!) using the #ROW80 hashtag

So what’s going on in your world?  What are you fixated on?  What are you doing or not doing?

 

Geeky Writing Goodness

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Outlining

My ROW80 check-in:

For all my proclamations about what I planned to do with my outlining and writing, etc., and how I had a plan to not be overcome by the end-of-year, holiday season slackerness that often hits me…I’m slacking a bit.  So this week I set a goal to just read through the rest of K.M. Weiland’s Outlining Your Novel Workbook without doing any of the exercises, making notes, etc.  Just read it through to help myself get a general vision of my book.  Hopefully next week I’ll be reporting that I got that done and am actually back into doing the outlining.

I am still playing with the Bullet Journal technique, making notes and getting a good feel for the system so I can translate it into a novel-planning system.  I have to say, the more I look at this stuff the more excited I get by all the possibilities.  I haven’t even started officially using it yet, and I’m already a huge fan.

And now the just-for-fun stuff:

Reading: On to the third book in Seanan McGuire’s InCryptic series, Half-Off Ragnarok, where we get to meet one of the Price boys, Alex.  I’m having lots of fun with this one and really hope Shelby is going to be sticking around.

Watching: Marvel marathon!  So far, in the eleven years since we started planning our own Thanksgiving weekend viewing marathons (before that I just went with what was on Sci-Fy/SyFy), this one was my favorite.  We watched all of the Marvel (not animated) movies plus all of the Marvel One Shot short films inserted in the appropriate places.  For a great list of the movies, the short films, and the TV episodes in order, check out this list from MarvelTV.org.

Listening:  I’m still catching up on the StoryWonk Sunday podcasts.  Appropriately enough, I am on “Episode 97: Every Part of the Pig.“  It’s about superheroes and there’s lots of talk about the Marvel universe.

For the coming week, I’m going to keep reading and then working through the outlining book, and I’m going to gather the best posts, etc. about Bullet Journal to share.  And there will be more Seanan McGuire in there, because I’m on a kick now.  What do you have planned for the week?

 

The Weekly Geek, November 26, 2014

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Mushroom Collage 2

Just a quick post this week as I head into Thanksgiving prep insanity and a lovely, long, four-and-a-half day weekend.

First, a ROW80 check-in:

  • I’m moving along in K.M. Weilands Oulining Your Novel Workbook.  I’ll be diving into her Structuring Your Novel Workbook when I get to the structure section in the current workbook per advice from the author herself.  The outlining workbook is excellent!  It follows the advice in her Outlining Your Novel book and breaks the steps down into bite-sized chunks that even my over-excitable, scattered brain can latch onto and work with.  The workbook makes it really easy to break the process down into small steps, which is my favorite way to work.  I’m so happy with my choice to jump into this book right now.
  • I am creating a new way to keep a novel notebook.  I’m basing it in part on the Bullet Journal technique.  I just came up with the idea Monday night, so I haven’t done a lot with it yet, but I’m excited to see how this might work out for me.  When I have a couple of months of working with it under my belt, I’ll do a write-up.
  • I only got around to doing writing practice once this week.  But it was something.  This is clearly something I need to find a way to make room for in my life again, because it for some reasong isn’t just happening magically because I said I want it to.  Really, some writing habits!

Geeky stuff:

  • Fairy rings!  The photos above are from a bunch I’ve been taking in the parking lot at work over the past three-ish weeks.  I’ve been here twelve years, and this is the first time mushrooms have sprouted.  And what’s even better, they’re only growing in the little landscaped space right next to my car.  No where else.  I’m pretty sure this is a special gift for me from the fairies.  Also, it’s really interesting seeing how one batch seems to just disappear, and a new crop springs up in almost-but-not-quite the same spots.  And they all look different, different colors, different sizes, different shapes (and that one that is all open like a broken eggshell started as a closed, round-topped mushroom).  Really enjoying this little show and getting back to taking more photos.
  • I returned to Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid world and am currently reading Midnight Blue-Light Special, the second book in the series.  There’s whimsy and a touch of silliness, and yet there’s a really strong story in there, too, so you don’t get bored or annoyed with the light touches.  Ms. McGuire is a master at combining light and amusing and sometimes silly bits with incredibly strong story and engaging characters.  I’m enjoying this one a lot and will jump right into the third book when I’m done with this one.
  • Still catching up on StoryWonk Sunday podcasts.  I love these because they’re easy to just listen to.  I don’t feel like I need to be taking notes or memorizing things, and yet I can feel my understanding of story structure deepening and my critical capacities sharpening.  It’s good stuff.  Today I am listening to “Episode 94: Dodge Ex Machina,” and I highly recommend it.  They are doing writer improv, taking random story elements and demonstrating how to create stories out of them.
  • Getting ready for our traditional Day-After-Thanksgiving tv marathon.  This year we’re doing the Marvel films, starting with Iron Man.  I don’t know if we’ll make it through all of them over the weekend, but we’re going to try!

Those are the highlights over here.  Everything else is story planning and working on a coaching package and a possible writer’s retreat for next year.  All very exciting in my head but not much to actually write about yet.  What about you?  What’s going on in your geeky and/or writerly world?