02-08-10 Did You Write?
that is the question. Did you write at any time this week? I hope you have been productive and actually opened up some work in progress, whatever it was, and put some words down. It does not have to be much, as long as you produced something. do this every week and a finished product will develop.
As to what is writing, is not important. that you wrote, is. New writing always writing, but so is editing, even if it is the work of others. Critiquing is also writing, along with poetry, blogging, technical writing, writing assignments, world or character building. Even E-mails can be writing, if they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. the real key is if YOU can decide it is writing, no matter how much is written. Any little bit of writing that is done in this week, is that much less writing for the next week.
I wrote. I wrote 383 on one piece, and then 1122 words in another. the fun part was I opened the 383 added word piece and had 23 pages. I knew I did not write that much. It turned out that I made a little mistake. I write in NOTEPAD and then use my Wordperfect for spell checking and word count I accidentally double saved the file. It took a few minutes to work out what had happened.
I am essentially character and world building right now. It is one thing to create it by yourself, but I am working with a couple writing partners and we have to agree with the creations I come up with. We expended many thousands of words between us about the creations I am doing. What I am writing involves the world we are creating so I am actually trying to write it. It has changed about three times so far and may change drastically soon.
This is fun writing. even the editing I have done is new writing. I have scenes and situations I am looking to deal with, but everything else is up in the air. In many ways, I am guessing as to what I am doing.
I am falling behind on my story ideas because of activities that is going on. any time I get home really late, it messes up my writing time. I have a turning club meeting this week so will fall behind another day. I do have time to catch up and will get serious about it soon.
I am making headway on my woodworking. I am concentrating on two pieces, a vase that the surface is carved to look like flowers in a flower pot, and a platter with an art show logo carved onto it. I would be done by now but things get in the way of my work.
This weekend is the start of the local Renaissance festival (Ren-Fest). Mom and I went to it and I stayed far longer than I had ever stayed at a fair before I had foot problems over the years and received a solution last year. It is not perfect, but I was on my feet for four hours. I remember times where I dreamed my feet at their best, felt like what they did when I left.
I have used Ren-Fests in many story ideas. One type is where one actually ends up in the time period of the festival. until you leave the park. Another I like is where they are having a Ren-fest and it turns out that they are doing today, and of course, they get it wrong.
I also had one where the world was going to end, and everybody dressed up in the time period they wanted to go to. at the right time, they are actually sent to that time period. What happens if someone appears in the clothing of the style that is going to end?
I also had one where one stepped into another world, not in the past, but lived with that life style. It could be an escape to a magical place or a place that is of that time, but the desire for money has opened up a portal where tourists can come and visit and have fun.
As to the question of the day,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
1 comment:
Yes I have been writing these past few weeks. Besides the numerous emails Roger has mentioned being filled with story ideas, I have been editing and playing around with one of Roger's stories. I also have a new Lazlo tale in the works. That has taken up most of my writing time. I had to turn the editing task over to Lee, because Lazlo wouldn't leave me alone. It is going to be a good story, but as always, it is taking on a life of its own. I have added about 11 pages to it in the last two weeks, and that is single spaced with double spacing between paragraphs, set up for web posting.
Hmm Roger,I THOUGHT we were working together as a team. As I recall, there is no 'I' in team... I'm sure it was not entirely intended, but you've kind of made it sound like you had everything all done in that story, and then we came along and demanded changes. What is really going on here is the seminal tale was written by Roger some years ago for a now defunct site online, and it uses actual people we no longer have any contact with. It was also pretty simple, just a little action and mostly walk-on cameos for everyone on the site. It was written to please them in seeing their online names mentioned and a little bit about what kind of character that individual portrayed. For obvious reasons, that is no longer going to work. What Roger has been doing, and Lee and I have been consulting with him on, is taking what was worth salvaging from that original story, and fitting it into the world setting and characters we three have developed now. The trick is to have some consistency in all the stories since we now each have our share of tales to tell. So in that respect, it is a story written by committee, but that is not necessarily a bad thing if what gets turned out is a fun and interesting read. It does take time and thought to work like that, hence the back and forth banter. I have heard of writing teams before, but never 3 people working together. It's not easy, but you should see the ideas that fly back and forth.
On the craft front, nothing happening; I have been either working on cutting the best articles, recipes and tips out of old magazines so I can recycle them, or I've been reading. I just finished Black Elk Speaks, a 1930s interview with a Ogalala Sioux shaman and healer who was related to Crazy Horse and lived through The Battle of Little Big Horn, the Wounded Knee Massacre and other atrocities. Not always pleasant reading, but very interesting to hear about what happened from one who was there representing the historical opposition at the time. There was a lot of about shamanistic ritual and visions, which I find fascinating. Interesting stuff. I now have to choose another book, likely one of the 6-7 I have already started and haven't finished. Most of my reading now is done waiting at appointments, while watching the puppy, or between commercials on TV.
On a happy end note, the Plant Manager's Office is open for the season, meaning I started my first seedlings for the garden. So far I have three kinds of regular onions, white, yellow and red, some scallions, and 4 kinds of early tomatoes. I will be doing a blog entry on that soon. I start lots of plants for my garden every year and I mix my own custom seedling and potting soils. It is a lot of work, but the reward is food that is healthier and filled with flavor like nothing I can buy, and lots of fresh air and exercise for me. Win-win all around.
And so yeah I did write, and a whole lot more too.
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