Did you write? 05-16-11

Did you write? 05-16-11

It is that time of the week again. The hope is that you post every week whether you write or not, and report not only how you did, but also what is going on in your life. The idea is that you will not want to report no writing, so knowing you are going to have to post, you will open some work in progress. Hopefully, you might actually do something.
While there are many who actually produce, sometimes a couple thousand words a week, this note is for those who write once every few months. The hope is to get these authors to write regularly, preferably every week.

How much writing that is done is not important. That fact that you opened your work in progress (brand new or in process) is what we are after. Every little bit you do adds up over a year. One might actually finish one or more projects with regular work.

Word counts are a nice measure for production. 40 words does not feel quite as nice as 400 words or 4000 words in a week. If one is editing, though, reverse word counts are quite possible and might actually be the target if it is aimed for a specific publication. I have had where I was writing something, it was not working, and zapped a section or two and rewrite that section. I was lucky enough that I ended up with a positive word count in those situations, but one could actually end up with less words. Also when editing or going over what you wrote before continuing on, one might write 1200 words of new text, but since you removed bits and pieces that amounted to 1000 words, a 200 word additional count is not satisfying.

What is writing is not important. We all agree that new writing is writing. Editing is also writing. critiquing is a form of writing also. Poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, character and world creation are all writing. E-mails can also be writing if they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. While many will not agree with some of these, others will. If you have to ask what writing is, the answer is yes.

As for me, I have been working on Waxy 3. I added about a thousand words and two pages. A lot of what I did was go over what I already had and correct and expand it. From there, I got back into expanding my plot line which was storied out. I won't be surprised if this will be 15000 words when done, but it could well be less too. I really have three more scenes to develop. I am about to get my character in a good fight. She is going to be fighting bed monsters that tickle her feet. That is going to be tough to make it work and sound exciting and believable. I know I have to double the action I have written and also fill it in with more detail. If done right, it could be a really fun scene.

On the story idea front, including what I am posting tonight, I have 44 story ideas in my compost pile. A few of the top ones are new and feel exciting to write.
I am a little ahead at this second, but I missed a day to write one this weekend, and will miss another day to write later this week.
One very recent story idea I posted was a tough one. I love to take similar sounding words and swap them for a different meaning. I remember seeing the cover of a book, A MOTE IN GOD'S EYE. I have no idea if I read it or not. I decided I wanted to write A MOAT IN GOD'S EYE. talk about tough. I vamped until I came up with something that felt somewhat satisfying.
One never knows where ideas come from. They are always fun to explore.

We had a party for a three year old this weekend. He is in the stage where he loves cars. I had his uncle's MATCHBOX and HOT WHEEL cars, along with a bunch of my own. I remember my count a year or two ago was 350 cars. Once he starts digging into the box, he is going to be scattering them everywhere. His mom will be spending her time picking them up everywhere.
Another, slightly younger boy was taking the cars out of the box, looking at it, saying FINE, and then dropping them into a pile and pick up the next one. It was fun to see.
We were teasing the mother that she will never be able to go barefoot again. I told her I gave all the cars to show I love her. Everybody was laughing and she rolled her eyes.

Using the above as a story idea, one of the popular toy cars are like miniature robots. They walk around, react to the voice, follow hand commands. Most of the modern robots are walking robots. They run out of power in a week or two unless they have access to a charger.
The old uncle has collected toys from several generations. He comes in with wheeled robots. Very much the same program and responses, but being wheeled, they use less energy to move around on hard floors. they eat more energy on thick floors like plush carpets.
The home has tight carpet in the living room and a flat hard surface everywhere else. The little cars are off while in the box. Some are taken out of the box but because they are piled up, they do not activate.
About a week later, the boy dumps out the cars and spreads them out. He leaves a lot of them piled but many are on their wheels with clear space to move.
He activates a few cars with commands and has them move around. he goes off somewhere. the cars that can, start rolling around, exploring. A bit later in the day, the boy sets all the cars on their wheels. His mother takes him out of the house and the cars move around on their own. when they come back, the cars are scurrying all around. The mother rolls her eyes at having to deal with cars, but knows that their problem will be solved within a week.
She has stored away a robot trap, which has a ramp that the robots go up, following the marker for a power unit, and they fall into a bin unable to get out. She then gathers them out of the bin periodically until all are picked up. Robots are usually not a problem to require one.
After a week, the cars are still scurrying around. A month is the same story. Their cuteness wore off. The boy still plays with them but always lets them go when the mother gets near so they can go under something. Under something is where they won't get stepped on and are out of the way.
Not one exhausted robot car is found. they always have energy to move around and play with the boy. The mother sets up the robot trap. When no cars are found in the trap, she suspects the boy taking the cars out. Later she sees one car try to get up the ramp and hits the edge which it cannot climb. She figures they will run out of energy.
A year and they are still going. She finally asks the uncle about them. He tells her that because rolling is so efficient, and they are not rolling around all the time, they should go for up to five years before they need charging. She shakes her head. five years?

As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,

YES I DID WRITE.

DID YOU WRITE?