Did you write? March 2nd, 2012
I am running even later than normal.
This note is a place to brag about your accomplishments, cry about your failures, and otherwise tell about what is going on in your writing, or your life.
I list most weeks what writing can be. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
As for me, I have had to work late every day this past week to get some really rushed work out. Having to do other things around the house once I got home late, has left no time for writing. I was lucky to get my 160 words written. I did rewrite a scene or two, but still. I am running late tonight because I worked late again tonight. the next two weeks WON'T be heavy overtime. I will love to be able to do stuff around the house and spend more time writing, but it won't look as good on the paycheck. This past week was paycheck time....
I did well on the story ideas. for last month, I actually posted 33 story ideas for a 31 day month. A couple of the very last ideas were half a page at most. I created 37 pages and 22495 words of total drivel. Hopefully someone will see something that will urge them to create a published story, or a novel and the ideas not go to waste.
I don't have time today to do a count of the compost pile. I dug into them, but added to them too.
As to the question of the day,
I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE (nothing like I hoped)
DID YOU WRITE?
Showing posts with label Did you write?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Did you write?. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
03-26-2012 Did You Write?
03-26-2012 Did You Write?
I am running really late so I have to make this short.
This note is a place to tell about what is going on in your life, and in the process, tell about your writing. It matters not if you wrote or not, the habit of posting is most important so you can develop the habit of opening something, anything, just so you can say you wrote, or that you met your goal.
In previous weeks, I listed the things that can be writing. the list is not exclusive or a law, but is just a suggestion. If you have to ask if it is writing, it is.
As for me, I removed 2000 words from my work right after I posted last week's post. That was out line material and scenes I decided I was not going to use, if only not in that way. they went into a ORPHAN SCENES FILE. I can use them later if needed. That was something suggested to me years ago but only now have I made use of it. the scenes are good, but not for this story.
I had a sore throat on Monday after I got home from work and it took me a couple hours to realize I was getting a cold. Using over the counter treatments kept it from becoming a full blown cold, but it really messed up my writing time. I came home from work and napped, rather than write. I also had a meeting that also killed a day. In all, after I removed all those words, I ended up adding 250 new words.
On the story idea front, I am a day behind. I only have a few days to catch up. For some reason, it is taking longer to write them than they had been. Also I am working later into the day so I have less time to do any kind of writing, story idea or real writing. I don't plan to end the month an idea behind, but it will take some work to fit in an extra story.
I have 40 story ideas in my compost pile. I do have some new ones on top the stack that might be worth writing. I had a period where I dug deeper into the stack so while the number is not great, the depth of the new stuff is a bit more than it has.
As to the question of the day
I can honestly say
I DID NOT WRITE AS MUCH AS I WANTED TO, BUT I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
I am running really late so I have to make this short.
This note is a place to tell about what is going on in your life, and in the process, tell about your writing. It matters not if you wrote or not, the habit of posting is most important so you can develop the habit of opening something, anything, just so you can say you wrote, or that you met your goal.
In previous weeks, I listed the things that can be writing. the list is not exclusive or a law, but is just a suggestion. If you have to ask if it is writing, it is.
As for me, I removed 2000 words from my work right after I posted last week's post. That was out line material and scenes I decided I was not going to use, if only not in that way. they went into a ORPHAN SCENES FILE. I can use them later if needed. That was something suggested to me years ago but only now have I made use of it. the scenes are good, but not for this story.
I had a sore throat on Monday after I got home from work and it took me a couple hours to realize I was getting a cold. Using over the counter treatments kept it from becoming a full blown cold, but it really messed up my writing time. I came home from work and napped, rather than write. I also had a meeting that also killed a day. In all, after I removed all those words, I ended up adding 250 new words.
On the story idea front, I am a day behind. I only have a few days to catch up. For some reason, it is taking longer to write them than they had been. Also I am working later into the day so I have less time to do any kind of writing, story idea or real writing. I don't plan to end the month an idea behind, but it will take some work to fit in an extra story.
I have 40 story ideas in my compost pile. I do have some new ones on top the stack that might be worth writing. I had a period where I dug deeper into the stack so while the number is not great, the depth of the new stuff is a bit more than it has.
As to the question of the day
I can honestly say
I DID NOT WRITE AS MUCH AS I WANTED TO, BUT I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, March 19, 2012
Did you write? 03-19-12 Spring has sprung
Did you write? 03-19-12 Spring has sprung
It is that time again. Report on what is going on in your life, whether you wrote or not, and then explaining why you did not meet your goals in the process. Of course, if you did write, tell about what is going on, brag about your accomplishments.
I generally give a nice list of what can be writing. I am lazy today so our rule of thumb is, if you have to ask if it is writing, it is.
As for me, Yes, I did write.
I am aiming right at my ending now. I have a good picture of how to get there. There is still a lot of wiggle room and I may need to add a few more scenes than planned to get to where I am going, but now I am on my way.
I had a problem of not finding a lot of writing time this week. I generally try to start writing by a certain time so I have room in my evening to take care of on line stuff before bead time. This week, each time my writing time came, I was enveloped into some other project or otherwise was nowhere near ready to start writing. Usually by the time I was done with what had to be done, I was unable to write.
I have a writer friend who puts 600 words down on a bad day and a couple thousand on a good day. I momentarily feel shame when I see her numbers, then realize I have less hours to write than she does. Work is good, money is coming in and I remember worse times. I need to "Make hay while the sun shines." My writing has to be fitted in.
I can say I did write over 600 fresh words this week in spite my lack of time. I will also say that next week, my word cont will seem pathetic, even going backwards as whole section of text is coming out tonight. I wrote several scenes I am not using, and my outline is coming out too. It will be disappointing to see what looks like a lack of progress, but I will then get more realistic word counts on my piece.
On the story idea front, I have only 36 story ideas in my compost pile. I have gotten some new ideas this week, but have also dug into the pile a little bit. I have dug far enough that I skipped past the top of the stack a couple times for something to write.
The glow of last week's art show is dying out. Some of my work will be going into a local antique shop as it fits his decor. I had to dig out all my work that could go to the shop, and check for damage, check for missing pieces, replace price stickers and change prices. I also tested an idea on how to display them differently than what they were before. It killed some writing time to do this, but I liked the result.
Using the above as a starting point, consider futuristic or fantasy artworks. While this won't be an actual story, it cold be a starting point.
In the future, think about what the art might be. You might have holographic projectors, small coffee cup things. Give them power and painting like scenes appear in the air overhead that looks quite realistic from any angle yet not like a photo, it would have painting like effects.
If that does not get your juices flowing, try three dimensional carvings in an impervious material that are actual working robots. Turn a crank key and they move on their own. these are carved by atomic beams from a solid piece of material.
How about jewelry that have computer controlled effects, they change color and apparent shape depending on the light or the situation.
For fantasy, consider paintings that talk to you, jewelry made from small creatures, carved dragon claws, clothing made from Elf's hair or Dwarf's beards. figurines might be carved by magic, or have magic in them to do certain things. Fine musical instruments that play by themselves.
As I said, this could be just one element that shows the place you are in is not here and now, adding a tiny bit of flavor to the scene. Consider an outsider who needs permission for something. The character is taken to the art show to see the person and one describes what is seen and is in awe with the quality of the work.
As to the question of the day
I can honestly say
YES I WROTE
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time again. Report on what is going on in your life, whether you wrote or not, and then explaining why you did not meet your goals in the process. Of course, if you did write, tell about what is going on, brag about your accomplishments.
I generally give a nice list of what can be writing. I am lazy today so our rule of thumb is, if you have to ask if it is writing, it is.
As for me, Yes, I did write.
I am aiming right at my ending now. I have a good picture of how to get there. There is still a lot of wiggle room and I may need to add a few more scenes than planned to get to where I am going, but now I am on my way.
I had a problem of not finding a lot of writing time this week. I generally try to start writing by a certain time so I have room in my evening to take care of on line stuff before bead time. This week, each time my writing time came, I was enveloped into some other project or otherwise was nowhere near ready to start writing. Usually by the time I was done with what had to be done, I was unable to write.
I have a writer friend who puts 600 words down on a bad day and a couple thousand on a good day. I momentarily feel shame when I see her numbers, then realize I have less hours to write than she does. Work is good, money is coming in and I remember worse times. I need to "Make hay while the sun shines." My writing has to be fitted in.
I can say I did write over 600 fresh words this week in spite my lack of time. I will also say that next week, my word cont will seem pathetic, even going backwards as whole section of text is coming out tonight. I wrote several scenes I am not using, and my outline is coming out too. It will be disappointing to see what looks like a lack of progress, but I will then get more realistic word counts on my piece.
On the story idea front, I have only 36 story ideas in my compost pile. I have gotten some new ideas this week, but have also dug into the pile a little bit. I have dug far enough that I skipped past the top of the stack a couple times for something to write.
The glow of last week's art show is dying out. Some of my work will be going into a local antique shop as it fits his decor. I had to dig out all my work that could go to the shop, and check for damage, check for missing pieces, replace price stickers and change prices. I also tested an idea on how to display them differently than what they were before. It killed some writing time to do this, but I liked the result.
Using the above as a starting point, consider futuristic or fantasy artworks. While this won't be an actual story, it cold be a starting point.
In the future, think about what the art might be. You might have holographic projectors, small coffee cup things. Give them power and painting like scenes appear in the air overhead that looks quite realistic from any angle yet not like a photo, it would have painting like effects.
If that does not get your juices flowing, try three dimensional carvings in an impervious material that are actual working robots. Turn a crank key and they move on their own. these are carved by atomic beams from a solid piece of material.
How about jewelry that have computer controlled effects, they change color and apparent shape depending on the light or the situation.
For fantasy, consider paintings that talk to you, jewelry made from small creatures, carved dragon claws, clothing made from Elf's hair or Dwarf's beards. figurines might be carved by magic, or have magic in them to do certain things. Fine musical instruments that play by themselves.
As I said, this could be just one element that shows the place you are in is not here and now, adding a tiny bit of flavor to the scene. Consider an outsider who needs permission for something. The character is taken to the art show to see the person and one describes what is seen and is in awe with the quality of the work.
As to the question of the day
I can honestly say
YES I WROTE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, March 12, 2012
March 12, 2010 Did You Write?
March 12, 2010 Did You Write?
It is that time of the week again. You report about your life and how it took up all your time, or how you were able to squeeze time within your normal life for writing.
This note is really for that person who writes just a few times a year. Post here regularly even if you did not right, and you will desire to work hard just to report something here. Do it often enough and writing becomes a habit.
For the rest of us, it might shame us into not skipping a week, or squeezing out an extra few minutes to increase your word count, or even to brush off some project or idea to fill in the time when your main project is giving you fits.
"Just a little more" each week might be enough to reach "THE END."
As to what is writing, we all understand that new writing is writing. Some don't understand that editing is also writing, even if it is the work of someone else. Critiquing is also a form of editing and counts as writing. Poetry, synopsis and query letters, technical writing, articles, blogging, are all forms of writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
I did make headway on my story. The word count is never as much as I had hoped. I had all day today to work on it as I am recovering from my art show yesterday. Rather than writing, I took naps. I have found the handle to get from where I am, to where I want to end. It took some doing. The basic concept I have came in an E-mail I was writing to a friend. Today when I settled down to write, the rest of it came to me. I now have to get the right flow from one point to another. I am leaving dangling bits of information here and there to be used later in the series of stories. I did write 1600 words, but I was fishing for solutions while writing them. I will see how it goes from there. there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully it is not a train coming this way......
On the story idea front, story ideas have not been flowing in fast. I have 39 story idea in my compost pile. I am posting for Wednesday tonight (14), though, so I am ahead for the moment. I was planning for not posting later this week and that meeting was canceled.
I was part of an art show this weekend. I did well, since this is not a sales oriented art show. Many of the artists are there to get leads for their regular work.
It is one of those fun things to do once a year. I did knock over one of my boxes of carvings and broke two of my large fairy carvings. I should be able to repair them fairly easy. One just has a broken wing, the other one came apart at some glue joints.
He was an artist of fantasy characters. He got an invitation to an art show that was said to be fanciful. He accepted the invitation.
When he arrived, he knew something was strange about the place but did not know what. He set up his display and soon the art show began with customers coming around.
A guy in a robe with stars around it came chanting by. Suddenly the fantasy characters came alive, scrambling around the table. Creatures of the other tables came alive and were soon scrambling around. His fairies, which were his largest carvings, lifted off their bases. and hovered in the air. "Get back down" he told them. Just then the Cherubs made by someone else came flying over and attacked. sparkles filled the air as their magic entwined. Two fairies crashed to the ground, disappearing from view. The Cherubs were driven back with the help of small pair of fire breathing dragons and a small army of leprechauns.
A bit later people started buying things from his table -- wands that needed magic added, one of the dragons, had a singed wing, was sold at a lower price, a wood pumpkin that would be perfect for a coach, all sorts of animals also was taken away -- and he got good money for them.
When the art show was done, the robed man came chanting by. The fairies appeared on the floor with their bases, broken. He checked them over. "I think I can repair both of these." he told the person in the other booth. He heard a sign of relief from the two fairies in front of him and giggles all around. They were happy he could save them. He decided he would come to this show again if he was offered the chance.
As to the question of the day
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time of the week again. You report about your life and how it took up all your time, or how you were able to squeeze time within your normal life for writing.
This note is really for that person who writes just a few times a year. Post here regularly even if you did not right, and you will desire to work hard just to report something here. Do it often enough and writing becomes a habit.
For the rest of us, it might shame us into not skipping a week, or squeezing out an extra few minutes to increase your word count, or even to brush off some project or idea to fill in the time when your main project is giving you fits.
"Just a little more" each week might be enough to reach "THE END."
As to what is writing, we all understand that new writing is writing. Some don't understand that editing is also writing, even if it is the work of someone else. Critiquing is also a form of editing and counts as writing. Poetry, synopsis and query letters, technical writing, articles, blogging, are all forms of writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
I did make headway on my story. The word count is never as much as I had hoped. I had all day today to work on it as I am recovering from my art show yesterday. Rather than writing, I took naps. I have found the handle to get from where I am, to where I want to end. It took some doing. The basic concept I have came in an E-mail I was writing to a friend. Today when I settled down to write, the rest of it came to me. I now have to get the right flow from one point to another. I am leaving dangling bits of information here and there to be used later in the series of stories. I did write 1600 words, but I was fishing for solutions while writing them. I will see how it goes from there. there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully it is not a train coming this way......
On the story idea front, story ideas have not been flowing in fast. I have 39 story idea in my compost pile. I am posting for Wednesday tonight (14), though, so I am ahead for the moment. I was planning for not posting later this week and that meeting was canceled.
I was part of an art show this weekend. I did well, since this is not a sales oriented art show. Many of the artists are there to get leads for their regular work.
It is one of those fun things to do once a year. I did knock over one of my boxes of carvings and broke two of my large fairy carvings. I should be able to repair them fairly easy. One just has a broken wing, the other one came apart at some glue joints.
He was an artist of fantasy characters. He got an invitation to an art show that was said to be fanciful. He accepted the invitation.
When he arrived, he knew something was strange about the place but did not know what. He set up his display and soon the art show began with customers coming around.
A guy in a robe with stars around it came chanting by. Suddenly the fantasy characters came alive, scrambling around the table. Creatures of the other tables came alive and were soon scrambling around. His fairies, which were his largest carvings, lifted off their bases. and hovered in the air. "Get back down" he told them. Just then the Cherubs made by someone else came flying over and attacked. sparkles filled the air as their magic entwined. Two fairies crashed to the ground, disappearing from view. The Cherubs were driven back with the help of small pair of fire breathing dragons and a small army of leprechauns.
A bit later people started buying things from his table -- wands that needed magic added, one of the dragons, had a singed wing, was sold at a lower price, a wood pumpkin that would be perfect for a coach, all sorts of animals also was taken away -- and he got good money for them.
When the art show was done, the robed man came chanting by. The fairies appeared on the floor with their bases, broken. He checked them over. "I think I can repair both of these." he told the person in the other booth. He heard a sign of relief from the two fairies in front of him and giggles all around. They were happy he could save them. He decided he would come to this show again if he was offered the chance.
As to the question of the day
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, March 5, 2012
Did you write? March 05, 2012
Did you write? March 05, 2012
It is that time of the week again. We are in a new month but the week is more important for us. It is a small bite of time that one can look forward to, and it is a deadline that comes up really fast and forces you to react.
The concept of this note is for you to post what is going on in your life and because you are posting anyway, you can also tell about what is going on in your writing even if you don't write.
As to what is writing, it can be anything. We all know that new writing is writing, but editing is also writing. Critiquing is also a form of editing and that also counts. Synopsis, poetry, query letters, world and character creation, blogging, technical writing, writing assignments, are just a short list of what is writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertains to writing or story. Of course, you may choose not to count many of these as writing. it is strictly up to you. For us, if you have to ask if it is writing, our answer is yes.
As for me, I did write. One thing I did was to remove a whole set of scenes that just did not fit to the way the story is going and did not add to the approaching ending. I did toss it into a file named ORPHANED SCENES. It will likely become the core of a later story. It was originally a key set of scenes but a shift of the story made that go away.
With what I added and what was removed, I basically lost all of the previous week's writing. so in the past two weeks, I added 16 words. Of course, there was a whole bunch of writing, but, you know how word counts are....
On the story idea front, we just finished a 29 day month. I can proudly say that I posted 30 stories, one more than days of the week, for a total of 32 pages and 19048 words. That is pretty good. I am already two ideas ahead for the year. The more the merrier.
Including what I am posting tonight, there are 42 story ideas in my compost pile. Not bad. I posted two story ideas that never got to paper.
During the past week, I have posted two leap-day story ideas. That has become a copper mine of concepts. they both involved with the consequences of being born on a day that only comes once every four years. One idea set up other ideas that I can post later.
I have my art show next weekend. I love to have new stuff on display, especially pieces I made since Christmas. They feel like brand new works.
Last month, it dawned on me that there would be no way to finish my dragon carving or my vase with carved faces done in time. I then went to two simpler projects.
One of them, the dream catcher, is not likely going to get done either. I have all the parts but it will take some time and planning to work at it and writing tends to be more a critical project. I could get it done but doubt it.
I have "finished" my tea pot. I hate the handle and will replace it after the show. I had some assumptions on the design that turned out not to be correct when I finally added the handle. In spite of the ugly handle, it actually looks pretty good. That handle will do until later in the month or next month.
I learned that it is best to practice the set up of the display. I never have enough room for everything so I have to pick and choose what will be on display, what is too damaged to be displayed, and how best to show them off. I then pack them up in a way so that setting up the display will be faster and very little decision making is done at the time of the art show. This weekend, I planned on setting up my display for practice. The tail of that monster that hit the mid west was coming across the state. it was a nothing squall line but since I have to do my display out in the open, not under cover, I had to cut short my practice. I have small stepped racks to lift stuff off the table to give elevation to different works. I did test them out and worked out how to get the most out of my display. That helps. I then packed up and put everything away. The squall line passed about an hour later, lasting an hour. Just a little bit of yellow on the radar and that was it.
AS for me, I can honestly say that
YES, I DID WRITE.
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time of the week again. We are in a new month but the week is more important for us. It is a small bite of time that one can look forward to, and it is a deadline that comes up really fast and forces you to react.
The concept of this note is for you to post what is going on in your life and because you are posting anyway, you can also tell about what is going on in your writing even if you don't write.
As to what is writing, it can be anything. We all know that new writing is writing, but editing is also writing. Critiquing is also a form of editing and that also counts. Synopsis, poetry, query letters, world and character creation, blogging, technical writing, writing assignments, are just a short list of what is writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertains to writing or story. Of course, you may choose not to count many of these as writing. it is strictly up to you. For us, if you have to ask if it is writing, our answer is yes.
As for me, I did write. One thing I did was to remove a whole set of scenes that just did not fit to the way the story is going and did not add to the approaching ending. I did toss it into a file named ORPHANED SCENES. It will likely become the core of a later story. It was originally a key set of scenes but a shift of the story made that go away.
With what I added and what was removed, I basically lost all of the previous week's writing. so in the past two weeks, I added 16 words. Of course, there was a whole bunch of writing, but, you know how word counts are....
On the story idea front, we just finished a 29 day month. I can proudly say that I posted 30 stories, one more than days of the week, for a total of 32 pages and 19048 words. That is pretty good. I am already two ideas ahead for the year. The more the merrier.
Including what I am posting tonight, there are 42 story ideas in my compost pile. Not bad. I posted two story ideas that never got to paper.
During the past week, I have posted two leap-day story ideas. That has become a copper mine of concepts. they both involved with the consequences of being born on a day that only comes once every four years. One idea set up other ideas that I can post later.
I have my art show next weekend. I love to have new stuff on display, especially pieces I made since Christmas. They feel like brand new works.
Last month, it dawned on me that there would be no way to finish my dragon carving or my vase with carved faces done in time. I then went to two simpler projects.
One of them, the dream catcher, is not likely going to get done either. I have all the parts but it will take some time and planning to work at it and writing tends to be more a critical project. I could get it done but doubt it.
I have "finished" my tea pot. I hate the handle and will replace it after the show. I had some assumptions on the design that turned out not to be correct when I finally added the handle. In spite of the ugly handle, it actually looks pretty good. That handle will do until later in the month or next month.
I learned that it is best to practice the set up of the display. I never have enough room for everything so I have to pick and choose what will be on display, what is too damaged to be displayed, and how best to show them off. I then pack them up in a way so that setting up the display will be faster and very little decision making is done at the time of the art show. This weekend, I planned on setting up my display for practice. The tail of that monster that hit the mid west was coming across the state. it was a nothing squall line but since I have to do my display out in the open, not under cover, I had to cut short my practice. I have small stepped racks to lift stuff off the table to give elevation to different works. I did test them out and worked out how to get the most out of my display. That helps. I then packed up and put everything away. The squall line passed about an hour later, lasting an hour. Just a little bit of yellow on the radar and that was it.
AS for me, I can honestly say that
YES, I DID WRITE.
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, February 27, 2012
Leap week, 02-27-12 Did you Write?
Leap week, 02-27-12 Did you Write?
It is that time of the week again. It is a place to tell about what is going on in your life and in the process, what is going on with your writing. By posting here every week, whether you write or not, hopefully the shame of not writing will get you to open something so you can say you wrote.
As to what is writing, it really can be anything. We know that new writing is writing, but so is editing. Critiquing is also a form of editing so it counts as writing. Poetry, synopsis, query letters, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, world and character creation are just some of the list of what can be writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mail can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. If you have to ask, the answer is yes. You might also not consider some of this as writing. It is really up to you.
AS for me, I can honestly say I wrote, but nothing like what I should have done. I did nearly as much today as I did the whole week. Fitting in writing time is a challenge. I am about a third of the way through this story and I really need it done by the end of next month. At this rate, I doubt I will be able to do that. There is a whole bunch of editing to do between THE END and the end of the month.
I can say I got some good ideas to fix some bothersome scenes this time. Some of what I came up with during the week has aimed me at my planned ending. I still have to get there, but I am aiming in the right direction.
The basic way I write is I will develop a series of scenes to hit and then try to work my way between them by adding whatever it takes to hit them.
This week, I did a whole lot of editing, rewriting, and swapping scenes so my 1200 words is actually less than I really wrote. I am happy to say I am getting closer to my next key scene.
On the story idea front, I have 44 stories in my compost pile. I got several new ideas during the week. I also lost several. What I hate is that fleeting thought that would be a good story idea that is gone before you finish the momentary work you were doing. Those have a different disappointment than the ones that are strong, but you cannot write them down in time. Sometimes you can recapture the handle of the strong thought, but never the fleeting one.
Until today, I was an idea ahead for the month. I was looking at actually ending the month with extra posted ideas. I had to pump up my tires today on the way home so that killed any chance to add a new one today.
I went to the Renaissance fair this weekend. I accidentally followed my tenancy of wanting to see everything NOW and walking the place at full bore. My guess is that the grounds have about half a mile of pathway. I have had foot problems for years so my range is not great. walked the entire place, taking pictures of everything. I started the second time around and my camera locked up on me. The image disk was toast so I had to use a new one. I then rushed to retrieve my pictures. I never gave a thought about stopping to watch the programs, RESTING, taking my time. when I finished the second time around, I was hobbling and had to leave. I should have sat and rested even then but did not think of it. The walk out to the car was torture. I did enjoy myself otherwise.
Using the above as a story idea. They say that they have a time machine. He had studied the medieval period and really wanted to see what that period was really like. He went to them with the big fee they said they needed for the trip and made his appointment.
It was several months before they were ready for his trip. He studied more of the time period so he would gain more from his visit. He was taken to a different part of the state and settled into the seat of a really strange machine. they gave him a shot of something they said would make the trip easier to handle. They turned the machine on and it started making all sorts of sounds.
He woke up and he was dressed in period clothing. He slowly got up and a group of men told him that he was to return here before dark. Stay within the walls of the enclosure so he does not get into trouble.
He wandered around and there was food, weapons, artists. Soon there was thousands of people all around. merchants called out about their wares. He ate, examined the work, talked to people, asked questions. Something was really wrong but he did not know what it was.
As dark approached, he got all twisted around. He found himself some place else.
He found a hiding place to wait out the cold night. He woke and it was dawn. He felt better than he did yesterday. he saw civilization and walks in. He finds he is at a fair, not in the past. he enjoys the fair since they had given him plenty of money. He finds he has enough to get home. He never could find the people who ripped him off, but he laughed about it for years later.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time of the week again. It is a place to tell about what is going on in your life and in the process, what is going on with your writing. By posting here every week, whether you write or not, hopefully the shame of not writing will get you to open something so you can say you wrote.
As to what is writing, it really can be anything. We know that new writing is writing, but so is editing. Critiquing is also a form of editing so it counts as writing. Poetry, synopsis, query letters, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, world and character creation are just some of the list of what can be writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mail can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. If you have to ask, the answer is yes. You might also not consider some of this as writing. It is really up to you.
AS for me, I can honestly say I wrote, but nothing like what I should have done. I did nearly as much today as I did the whole week. Fitting in writing time is a challenge. I am about a third of the way through this story and I really need it done by the end of next month. At this rate, I doubt I will be able to do that. There is a whole bunch of editing to do between THE END and the end of the month.
I can say I got some good ideas to fix some bothersome scenes this time. Some of what I came up with during the week has aimed me at my planned ending. I still have to get there, but I am aiming in the right direction.
The basic way I write is I will develop a series of scenes to hit and then try to work my way between them by adding whatever it takes to hit them.
This week, I did a whole lot of editing, rewriting, and swapping scenes so my 1200 words is actually less than I really wrote. I am happy to say I am getting closer to my next key scene.
On the story idea front, I have 44 stories in my compost pile. I got several new ideas during the week. I also lost several. What I hate is that fleeting thought that would be a good story idea that is gone before you finish the momentary work you were doing. Those have a different disappointment than the ones that are strong, but you cannot write them down in time. Sometimes you can recapture the handle of the strong thought, but never the fleeting one.
Until today, I was an idea ahead for the month. I was looking at actually ending the month with extra posted ideas. I had to pump up my tires today on the way home so that killed any chance to add a new one today.
I went to the Renaissance fair this weekend. I accidentally followed my tenancy of wanting to see everything NOW and walking the place at full bore. My guess is that the grounds have about half a mile of pathway. I have had foot problems for years so my range is not great. walked the entire place, taking pictures of everything. I started the second time around and my camera locked up on me. The image disk was toast so I had to use a new one. I then rushed to retrieve my pictures. I never gave a thought about stopping to watch the programs, RESTING, taking my time. when I finished the second time around, I was hobbling and had to leave. I should have sat and rested even then but did not think of it. The walk out to the car was torture. I did enjoy myself otherwise.
Using the above as a story idea. They say that they have a time machine. He had studied the medieval period and really wanted to see what that period was really like. He went to them with the big fee they said they needed for the trip and made his appointment.
It was several months before they were ready for his trip. He studied more of the time period so he would gain more from his visit. He was taken to a different part of the state and settled into the seat of a really strange machine. they gave him a shot of something they said would make the trip easier to handle. They turned the machine on and it started making all sorts of sounds.
He woke up and he was dressed in period clothing. He slowly got up and a group of men told him that he was to return here before dark. Stay within the walls of the enclosure so he does not get into trouble.
He wandered around and there was food, weapons, artists. Soon there was thousands of people all around. merchants called out about their wares. He ate, examined the work, talked to people, asked questions. Something was really wrong but he did not know what it was.
As dark approached, he got all twisted around. He found himself some place else.
He found a hiding place to wait out the cold night. He woke and it was dawn. He felt better than he did yesterday. he saw civilization and walks in. He finds he is at a fair, not in the past. he enjoys the fair since they had given him plenty of money. He finds he has enough to get home. He never could find the people who ripped him off, but he laughed about it for years later.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, February 20, 2012
Did you write? 02-20-12
Did you write? 02-20-12
It is that time of the week to report about your life and how it effects your writing. The hope is that if you post here often about not writing, or not meeting your goals, you will be shamed into tackling something just so you can say that you accomplished something. It worked well for me many times.
As to what is writing, we all know new writing is writing. Editing, even if it is the work of others is also writing. Critiquing is a form of writing and therefore counts. Synopsis, query letters, poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, world and character creation are all writing. Bulletin board and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. If you have to ask, it is writing. Many of these also might not be considered writing. It is strictly up to you.
As for me, I did write. I did a lot of editing of stuff already written on my work in progress. I also swapped a bunch of scenes around to make the story flow better. A few passages were rewritten. I really need to work on new content, mainly pushing on towards the ending. In the end, when all was written and saved, I removed 41 words from my story.
On the story idea front, I had dug into my stack a little this week, but today I came up with four new story ideas. Six total including the weekend. This gives me a total of 45 ideas in my compost pile. A couple of the new ideas really need to be written before they sink too far into the stack.
I decided to stop on what was some rush jobs for my art show. It dawned on me there was no way they would get done in time. I changed to some in progress projects that are not as difficult. Even so, they will be a test of my productivity to get them done. I have only four weekends to get them done, and when you remove all the days that will be aimed to other projects, I really have only two or thee days total to finish them. That is going to be a challenge. Even these really don't have to be done for the show. I would just like a couple more new items to display.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time of the week to report about your life and how it effects your writing. The hope is that if you post here often about not writing, or not meeting your goals, you will be shamed into tackling something just so you can say that you accomplished something. It worked well for me many times.
As to what is writing, we all know new writing is writing. Editing, even if it is the work of others is also writing. Critiquing is a form of writing and therefore counts. Synopsis, query letters, poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, world and character creation are all writing. Bulletin board and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. If you have to ask, it is writing. Many of these also might not be considered writing. It is strictly up to you.
As for me, I did write. I did a lot of editing of stuff already written on my work in progress. I also swapped a bunch of scenes around to make the story flow better. A few passages were rewritten. I really need to work on new content, mainly pushing on towards the ending. In the end, when all was written and saved, I removed 41 words from my story.
On the story idea front, I had dug into my stack a little this week, but today I came up with four new story ideas. Six total including the weekend. This gives me a total of 45 ideas in my compost pile. A couple of the new ideas really need to be written before they sink too far into the stack.
I decided to stop on what was some rush jobs for my art show. It dawned on me there was no way they would get done in time. I changed to some in progress projects that are not as difficult. Even so, they will be a test of my productivity to get them done. I have only four weekends to get them done, and when you remove all the days that will be aimed to other projects, I really have only two or thee days total to finish them. That is going to be a challenge. Even these really don't have to be done for the show. I would just like a couple more new items to display.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, February 13, 2012
2012 February 13, Did you write?
2012 February 13, Did you write?
Another week has passed and for many of us, another week of coming with reasons (excuses) for not writing. Others of us will have reasons for not writing as much as we should, and then there are those of us who will meet our goals for the week.
Posting here every week gives you a "diary" of sorts of your writing exploits. It is a place where a good number of people will see it.
As to what is writing, we all know new writing is writing. Editing is also writing since many of us write by editing, editing is also writing, even if it is on the work of others. Critiquing is also a form of editing and therefore counts as writing. Poetry. synopsis and query letters,, technical writing, articles, writing assignment, blogging, world and character development are all forms of writing. E-mails and Board posts can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes. You might also decide some of these don't count. It is up to you.
As for me, I did not write as much as I wanted to. I had planned on some heavy writing on Saturday and ended up instead beneath my truck with my brother, replacing the starter in a store parking lot. The wonderful design of my truck provided so that the attaching wires were six inches shorter than needed to easily take the thing out. My brother found way to make the next time, which I hope I never have to do, much easier. That killed my planned for heavy writing time.
Even so, I did get to write five pages this week. I am up to page 22. Well, I have a word and page count at the end of the document so I know how I did over the past couple weeks and that is the only thing on page 22. I plan to zap half of what I have later which is my plot line, and the other half will require heavy rewriting. I know where I want to go, but have to explore the situations to get there. I am making headway. adding nearly 2000 words this week is still pretty good considering.
On the story idea front, I am at this second, two story ideas behind as I don't have time to write tonight's story idea and I missed Saturday's story idea. I have 42 story ideas in my compost pile. On Saturday, I remember at least three story ideas fading out of existence as I did not have anything to write them down on, and I remember one on Sunday also. I hate when that happens. I also remember that they were not spectacular. I never "edit" on whether an idea is worthy of posting when I come up with them. My editing is only when I sit and write them, which is why my compost pile as 42 ideas in them.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say
YES, I DID WRITE (though not as much as I wanted to)
DID YOU WRITE?
Another week has passed and for many of us, another week of coming with reasons (excuses) for not writing. Others of us will have reasons for not writing as much as we should, and then there are those of us who will meet our goals for the week.
Posting here every week gives you a "diary" of sorts of your writing exploits. It is a place where a good number of people will see it.
As to what is writing, we all know new writing is writing. Editing is also writing since many of us write by editing, editing is also writing, even if it is on the work of others. Critiquing is also a form of editing and therefore counts as writing. Poetry. synopsis and query letters,, technical writing, articles, writing assignment, blogging, world and character development are all forms of writing. E-mails and Board posts can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes. You might also decide some of these don't count. It is up to you.
As for me, I did not write as much as I wanted to. I had planned on some heavy writing on Saturday and ended up instead beneath my truck with my brother, replacing the starter in a store parking lot. The wonderful design of my truck provided so that the attaching wires were six inches shorter than needed to easily take the thing out. My brother found way to make the next time, which I hope I never have to do, much easier. That killed my planned for heavy writing time.
Even so, I did get to write five pages this week. I am up to page 22. Well, I have a word and page count at the end of the document so I know how I did over the past couple weeks and that is the only thing on page 22. I plan to zap half of what I have later which is my plot line, and the other half will require heavy rewriting. I know where I want to go, but have to explore the situations to get there. I am making headway. adding nearly 2000 words this week is still pretty good considering.
On the story idea front, I am at this second, two story ideas behind as I don't have time to write tonight's story idea and I missed Saturday's story idea. I have 42 story ideas in my compost pile. On Saturday, I remember at least three story ideas fading out of existence as I did not have anything to write them down on, and I remember one on Sunday also. I hate when that happens. I also remember that they were not spectacular. I never "edit" on whether an idea is worthy of posting when I come up with them. My editing is only when I sit and write them, which is why my compost pile as 42 ideas in them.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say
YES, I DID WRITE (though not as much as I wanted to)
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, February 6, 2012
Did you Write? 02-06-12
Did you Write? 02-06-12
It is that time of the week again, to report what is going on and in the process tell about your writing. The idea is that you post regularly and repeated "I did not write" will bother you enough to open something during the week so you can report positively in these notes.
This note is really for those who write once a month or a couple times a year. If you force yourself to write because of this note, it could become a habit. Not all habits are bad. For others, reporting that you did not meet your goals might cause you to buckle down and write more intensely.
As to what is writing, we all know that new writing is writing. Editing, even if it is the work of others, is also writing. Critiquing is a form of writing so that also counts. Poetry, technical writing, blogging articles, writing assignments, synopsis, query letters, world or character creation, are all writing. E-mails and Bulletin board posts can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer will always be yes.
How much writing counts does not matter either. it could be THE RIGHT WORD or it could be a whole book. The amount does not matter as long as you open something.
As for me. I am not writing as much as I feel I should. It is surprising at how long little things take to be done.
almost every timer I open my work, I end up spending time editing what I already have down, before I get around to add something new. I should concentrate on new content and let the editing sit until I am done with the actual story. it would be worth more to actually get the story done.
As it is, I added four pages, 2400 words. I did add several fresh scenes this week. That feels good. While writing this passage, I thought of a key scene that was needed and wrote that out roughly. I will build on it in my next writing session. This story is drifting away from my original concept, but fits what happened in the first story which was nothing like the original two page short story I wrote that seeded it.
I have 45 story ideas in my compost pile. I don't have time to write the idea for tonight, but since the month is young, I am not bothered by that.
I finished last month's story ideas last week. I did well last month on the story idea front. I wrote 32 story ideas for a 31 day month, they covered 31 pages and ended up with 18618 total words. That is not bad.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time of the week again, to report what is going on and in the process tell about your writing. The idea is that you post regularly and repeated "I did not write" will bother you enough to open something during the week so you can report positively in these notes.
This note is really for those who write once a month or a couple times a year. If you force yourself to write because of this note, it could become a habit. Not all habits are bad. For others, reporting that you did not meet your goals might cause you to buckle down and write more intensely.
As to what is writing, we all know that new writing is writing. Editing, even if it is the work of others, is also writing. Critiquing is a form of writing so that also counts. Poetry, technical writing, blogging articles, writing assignments, synopsis, query letters, world or character creation, are all writing. E-mails and Bulletin board posts can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer will always be yes.
How much writing counts does not matter either. it could be THE RIGHT WORD or it could be a whole book. The amount does not matter as long as you open something.
As for me. I am not writing as much as I feel I should. It is surprising at how long little things take to be done.
almost every timer I open my work, I end up spending time editing what I already have down, before I get around to add something new. I should concentrate on new content and let the editing sit until I am done with the actual story. it would be worth more to actually get the story done.
As it is, I added four pages, 2400 words. I did add several fresh scenes this week. That feels good. While writing this passage, I thought of a key scene that was needed and wrote that out roughly. I will build on it in my next writing session. This story is drifting away from my original concept, but fits what happened in the first story which was nothing like the original two page short story I wrote that seeded it.
I have 45 story ideas in my compost pile. I don't have time to write the idea for tonight, but since the month is young, I am not bothered by that.
I finished last month's story ideas last week. I did well last month on the story idea front. I wrote 32 story ideas for a 31 day month, they covered 31 pages and ended up with 18618 total words. That is not bad.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, January 30, 2012
January Thirtieth, Twenty twelve, Did You Write?
January Thirtieth, Twenty twelve, Did You Write?
While the month is not quite done, another week has passed us by. For those new to these notes, the idea is that you post here each week about what is going on in your life to get you to post every week, and to report how you did in your writing.
The hope is that if you keep posting that you failed to do any writing, the perceived shame will force you to open something during the week just so you can report that you did something. Doing that will become a habit and you will produce something after a period of time. Not all habits are bad. I will say that having to write these notes and say I did not write, really bothered me during a slow period. It is so much nicer to report positively.
How much you write is not important. It cam be one word or tens of thousands of words. When editing, your word count might not change much or even go backwards. While high word counts are nice, they might not be necessary to say you really worked.
As to what is writing, We all know that new writing is writing. Editing is also writing. I generally write by editing anyway. I get something on paper then expand it in many passes until it becomes something worth reading. Editing the work of others also counts as writing. Critiquing is a form of editing and therefore is also writing.
Poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, synopsis, world or character creation are all forms of writing. E-mails and board posts can be also writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. The real answer as to what is writing, if you have to ask, the answer is yes.
As for me, I did write. I only have a word count of 1250 for the week on my second Spirit of Vengeance story. I did a lot of editing on what I had. I also blasted out the plotting for my story to give me an idea of what scenes I needed to hit and get a better feeling for what the story is to accomplish.
My original concept for this story was simply the lead up to a big fight. When I wrote out my first story to a publishable level, the first story shifted dramatically. In order to include those changes, this second story had to change. My plotting made an even different shift in the story.
I took the second scene of my plot line and made that my first, where you see this story's bad guy up close. In the first story, I showed scenes from other characters, but this time I will spend more time, showing what is going on behind the scenes.
I have two major goals in this story. One is to have her nearly fail completely, and another is to have her solve some fairly minor problem or solve some mystery. The first one looks nearly impossible for me since my characters seem to walk through the problems untested.
ON the story idea front, My compost pile has 48 story ideas in it. The way this past week has gone, I don't feel like I dug into the pile very deep, but also don't feel like I came up with a whole lot of new ideas. I have a whole lot of good story ideas on the top of the stack to dig into. I would love to have a whole lot more really good ideas on the stack, but I generally come up with as many as I need all the time.
We have a 31 day month and today is the 30th. I already wrote and will post tonight idea 31.I might write idea 32 tomorrow. That would be a good start for the year. I love to have extra in case I run into problems and fall behind a month or two. It has never happened. The few times I was unable to post such as on vacation, I made up for it during the next month.
On the personal front, the dragon carving is finally coming out of the wood. It is different than what I pictured, but I was not sure of how it was within the wood.
I have told people over the years that master wood workers look into the wood and see the shape that was within the wood, and then just removes the wood hiding the form within. In the case of this dragon, There was interference with what I could see. I took out the paint brush and painted how the legs and tail were positioned and that allowed me to remove the wood fast. I was not worried about cutting wrong. The paint will go along with any natural surface.
Ths piece of wood is rather interesting. I had picked up a U shaped slab of wood that I could barely move. I cut it in half so I could handle it. I immediately knew I wanted to carve a dragon out of a piece of that wood. I then saw a bark inclusion in part of the log and there was a branch sticking out on the end of the inclusion. I cut the wood off at the crack and instantly saw the dragon inside the wood.
It is one thing to have a piece of wood that looks something like a dragon, and having something that is a dragon. I was a bit afraid of making the wrong cuts. Adding paint to show here the limbs were helped alot. I could just remove the wood where paint was not. Of course, because of the angle and position of the body, removing the excess wood is not as easy as it looked. This should be a rather interesting carving when done.
I have about six more weeks before I have my art show where I want to display this carving. I intend to give it a generally smooth finish for now, and then add details such as scales some other time after the show when I have a whole lot more time. It is exciting to actually have something that really looks like a dragon now.
As for me,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
While the month is not quite done, another week has passed us by. For those new to these notes, the idea is that you post here each week about what is going on in your life to get you to post every week, and to report how you did in your writing.
The hope is that if you keep posting that you failed to do any writing, the perceived shame will force you to open something during the week just so you can report that you did something. Doing that will become a habit and you will produce something after a period of time. Not all habits are bad. I will say that having to write these notes and say I did not write, really bothered me during a slow period. It is so much nicer to report positively.
How much you write is not important. It cam be one word or tens of thousands of words. When editing, your word count might not change much or even go backwards. While high word counts are nice, they might not be necessary to say you really worked.
As to what is writing, We all know that new writing is writing. Editing is also writing. I generally write by editing anyway. I get something on paper then expand it in many passes until it becomes something worth reading. Editing the work of others also counts as writing. Critiquing is a form of editing and therefore is also writing.
Poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, synopsis, world or character creation are all forms of writing. E-mails and board posts can be also writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. The real answer as to what is writing, if you have to ask, the answer is yes.
As for me, I did write. I only have a word count of 1250 for the week on my second Spirit of Vengeance story. I did a lot of editing on what I had. I also blasted out the plotting for my story to give me an idea of what scenes I needed to hit and get a better feeling for what the story is to accomplish.
My original concept for this story was simply the lead up to a big fight. When I wrote out my first story to a publishable level, the first story shifted dramatically. In order to include those changes, this second story had to change. My plotting made an even different shift in the story.
I took the second scene of my plot line and made that my first, where you see this story's bad guy up close. In the first story, I showed scenes from other characters, but this time I will spend more time, showing what is going on behind the scenes.
I have two major goals in this story. One is to have her nearly fail completely, and another is to have her solve some fairly minor problem or solve some mystery. The first one looks nearly impossible for me since my characters seem to walk through the problems untested.
ON the story idea front, My compost pile has 48 story ideas in it. The way this past week has gone, I don't feel like I dug into the pile very deep, but also don't feel like I came up with a whole lot of new ideas. I have a whole lot of good story ideas on the top of the stack to dig into. I would love to have a whole lot more really good ideas on the stack, but I generally come up with as many as I need all the time.
We have a 31 day month and today is the 30th. I already wrote and will post tonight idea 31.I might write idea 32 tomorrow. That would be a good start for the year. I love to have extra in case I run into problems and fall behind a month or two. It has never happened. The few times I was unable to post such as on vacation, I made up for it during the next month.
On the personal front, the dragon carving is finally coming out of the wood. It is different than what I pictured, but I was not sure of how it was within the wood.
I have told people over the years that master wood workers look into the wood and see the shape that was within the wood, and then just removes the wood hiding the form within. In the case of this dragon, There was interference with what I could see. I took out the paint brush and painted how the legs and tail were positioned and that allowed me to remove the wood fast. I was not worried about cutting wrong. The paint will go along with any natural surface.
Ths piece of wood is rather interesting. I had picked up a U shaped slab of wood that I could barely move. I cut it in half so I could handle it. I immediately knew I wanted to carve a dragon out of a piece of that wood. I then saw a bark inclusion in part of the log and there was a branch sticking out on the end of the inclusion. I cut the wood off at the crack and instantly saw the dragon inside the wood.
It is one thing to have a piece of wood that looks something like a dragon, and having something that is a dragon. I was a bit afraid of making the wrong cuts. Adding paint to show here the limbs were helped alot. I could just remove the wood where paint was not. Of course, because of the angle and position of the body, removing the excess wood is not as easy as it looked. This should be a rather interesting carving when done.
I have about six more weeks before I have my art show where I want to display this carving. I intend to give it a generally smooth finish for now, and then add details such as scales some other time after the show when I have a whole lot more time. It is exciting to actually have something that really looks like a dragon now.
As for me,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, January 16, 2012
January 16, 2012 Did You Write?
January 16, 2012 Did You Write?
I am short on time so I am making this short.
The idea of this note is to entice those of us who don't write regularly to try to develop good writing habits. By posting at this note every week, the urge to write during the past week so you can report well will become stronger.
I generally list things that can be writing in these notes. The essence is that if you have to ask if it is writing, it is. And we don't care much as to how much. It could be a goal of opening some work in progress to writing thousands of words during the week.
As for me, my writing has been slim. Long work days and home stuff that needed to be done got in the way. I am getting a better ides as to where my new story is going. I should do a story idea version of it to act as a guide, but I tend to actually try to write first.
I have a major problem in my stories. the best stories have where the character is at the very edge of failure and somehow pulls it out. My plots never get my character into that situation. I noticed it in something I wrote recently. I cannot seem to give my character a chance to fail. I have to work on that. I have come up with a problem my character has to solve and it is going to relocate one of the scenes I already wrote to near the end of the story. That requires re-plotting again in my barely designed guidelines (plot).
On the story idea front, including what I am posting tonight, I have 51 story ideas in my compost pile. I came up with four ideas just tonight. A lot of the new ones look like they will be good to write. I like that. I prefer ideas that are in the stack because I have not had a chance to write it, not that I decided to write something else.
I made some visible headway on one of two carving projects intended for the art show in March. One of the projects is a dragon carved in wood. I have a long way to go on that. I am sort of afraid to make a mistake so have been hesitating too much.
The other project is a vase with five faces carved on it. I just had to get myself to mount the wood on the lathe to make it into a vase. I have more to do on hollowing the vase out, but I have the outside formed and can start carving the faces. I now just have to decide what the faces will look like based on my carving skills.
Of course there are small fun things that I need to work on too. The dragon is both the easiest and the hardest piece to work on. The wood gives me the basic shape, but I have to make sure the limbs are in the right position and that is the hard part. Once I get it going, it should go very quickly, other than my power carving creates dust and I get quite covered on bad days.
I started woodworking Saturday, January 17, 2000. This last weekend was my official celebration of my wood start of woodworking. Too bad my work does not look like I have all those years in it. I only work on weekends and holidays so it takes longer to accumulate real hours of woodworking compared to doing it as a serious hobby or as a profession.
Using the above as a story idea,
He made religious icons.,They had to be made very carefully, using the proper chants to get the magic right. Sometimes he might take a standard type of wood and make the shape out of that, or he used wood that resembled the final shape, which was extremely powerful.
Using the shaped wood was also dangerous. One had to get the shape out of the wood right or it could turn on him. He once got in trouble when he found a piece of wood that resembled a lion. He got some of the detail wrong and it came alive and attacked him. He had to cut it apart to stop it. He then had to find all the bits and pieces and dispose of them using the proper chants to destroy the demon spirit that had entered it.
at the moment, he has a piece of wood that resembles a dragon. He has a deadline to get the dragon done, but he is in panic to get it right. Dragons cannot be stopped by carving tools.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say, with some shame of how little,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
I am short on time so I am making this short.
The idea of this note is to entice those of us who don't write regularly to try to develop good writing habits. By posting at this note every week, the urge to write during the past week so you can report well will become stronger.
I generally list things that can be writing in these notes. The essence is that if you have to ask if it is writing, it is. And we don't care much as to how much. It could be a goal of opening some work in progress to writing thousands of words during the week.
As for me, my writing has been slim. Long work days and home stuff that needed to be done got in the way. I am getting a better ides as to where my new story is going. I should do a story idea version of it to act as a guide, but I tend to actually try to write first.
I have a major problem in my stories. the best stories have where the character is at the very edge of failure and somehow pulls it out. My plots never get my character into that situation. I noticed it in something I wrote recently. I cannot seem to give my character a chance to fail. I have to work on that. I have come up with a problem my character has to solve and it is going to relocate one of the scenes I already wrote to near the end of the story. That requires re-plotting again in my barely designed guidelines (plot).
On the story idea front, including what I am posting tonight, I have 51 story ideas in my compost pile. I came up with four ideas just tonight. A lot of the new ones look like they will be good to write. I like that. I prefer ideas that are in the stack because I have not had a chance to write it, not that I decided to write something else.
I made some visible headway on one of two carving projects intended for the art show in March. One of the projects is a dragon carved in wood. I have a long way to go on that. I am sort of afraid to make a mistake so have been hesitating too much.
The other project is a vase with five faces carved on it. I just had to get myself to mount the wood on the lathe to make it into a vase. I have more to do on hollowing the vase out, but I have the outside formed and can start carving the faces. I now just have to decide what the faces will look like based on my carving skills.
Of course there are small fun things that I need to work on too. The dragon is both the easiest and the hardest piece to work on. The wood gives me the basic shape, but I have to make sure the limbs are in the right position and that is the hard part. Once I get it going, it should go very quickly, other than my power carving creates dust and I get quite covered on bad days.
I started woodworking Saturday, January 17, 2000. This last weekend was my official celebration of my wood start of woodworking. Too bad my work does not look like I have all those years in it. I only work on weekends and holidays so it takes longer to accumulate real hours of woodworking compared to doing it as a serious hobby or as a profession.
Using the above as a story idea,
He made religious icons.,They had to be made very carefully, using the proper chants to get the magic right. Sometimes he might take a standard type of wood and make the shape out of that, or he used wood that resembled the final shape, which was extremely powerful.
Using the shaped wood was also dangerous. One had to get the shape out of the wood right or it could turn on him. He once got in trouble when he found a piece of wood that resembled a lion. He got some of the detail wrong and it came alive and attacked him. He had to cut it apart to stop it. He then had to find all the bits and pieces and dispose of them using the proper chants to destroy the demon spirit that had entered it.
at the moment, he has a piece of wood that resembles a dragon. He has a deadline to get the dragon done, but he is in panic to get it right. Dragons cannot be stopped by carving tools.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say, with some shame of how little,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, January 9, 2012
Did you write? 01-09-12
Did you write? 01-09-12
It is another week. It is time to report what is going on in your life, and in your writing. The idea is to report here every week, whether you write or not, and hopefully, start feeling guilty for not meeting goals, or not writing at all.
As to what is writing, it can be anything. New writing is writing. So is editing since we seldom write perfectly the first time, and editing of other people's works also counts. Critiquing is also writing. so is Technical writing, writing assignments, blogging, world and character creation, synopsis. Even board posts and E-mails can be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, it is.
How much writing is not important either. It could be one word, or it could be ten thousand words. It is the act of trying to create the habit of opening some work in and applying effort to them each week and hopefully it will become a daily habit.
AS for me, I did not do near as much as I had hoped. I worked late quite a bit during the week so had very little production. I only added little over 1300 words this week to my SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE TWO. A real pittance compared on what I was hoping to add. I did write a big blast, then went over it several times, editing it to make it a bit better, but still, my word count was not what it should be. I will say that I have a better idea of what is going to happen in this story and how it is going to happen. It is the process of getting there will be the big project.
I am completely rewriting my second story. Other than portions of a fight scene and a couple characters, the first version will not be used. I really did not have a story there. My first story had changed so drastically from what I started with. This second story had nothing of the changes. Starting over was the easy way to go. All the new story lines, characters and situations that the last version of the first story gained, has to be added to this new one. I am still surprised at how the first story had changed so much from the original story Idea I based it on.
ON the story idea front, I ran into a little problem this week. I was writing a story idea and my computer threw a fit. I lost it. I wrote it over again and put it in my saved file where I hang onto the story ideas until I post them. When I was getting ready to post, I somehow overwrote the story with the one before. THEN, I rewrote the story, and when I put it in the file, I saw it was the same idea as the one before it, the one I had used to overwrite it.
I finally go that story idea written and tonight I got caught up for the day. Sheesh!
I do have 51 stories in the compost pile not counting what I am posting tonight. I like having loads of easy to post ideas such as I have now.
I picked up some hand saws this weekend at a yard sale. they were dirt cheep so I got three of them. they had been left outside for a while. I had sanded the rust off and decided to give them a try. I cut a piece of soft wood and they did a very good job. The saw wandered a little when I changed from one end to the other on the wood and ended up having to use a power saw to finish the cut. I was quite satisfied with the results in spite of that.
I have to admit that this was the first time I had actually done some real cutting with a hand saw. I am not in the shape to want to do it too often, but it was an interesting experiment. Another nice thing was that it cleaned up the blades really well.
Using the above as a story idea, he had worked with the old time energy tools quite often. his workshop was cobbled up of tools that he got cheaply. Modern energy tools did a better job of making things, but he did well enough with what he had.
One day, he got his hands on really old technology. He got some saws where the blades were not pure energy, but instead had a solid plate to guide the energy of the cutting edge. It was so old school. He decided to give it a try.
He assumed the energy teeth would slide down the panel that made the frame to do the cutting. He quickly found that the blades just sat there and burned into the wood. He actually had to work the saw back and forth for the energy teeth to do their cutting. He had seen it on vid-image and heard tips of using these kind of saws.
He worked with it, pushing and pulling it across the wood and watched as it slowly sunk through the slot created in the wood. He knew his technique as bad as it was not straight cutting down. He finished it off with one of his more modern energy tools where the energy parted the wood cleanly.
He could see the lines caused by the old saw. His new saw showed no such lines. the actual cells of the wood pulled apart as the energy passed, making a polished surface from the cut.
He had no idea when he would need the old saw, but he hang onto it, setting it to the side for that time he would need to use it again.
As to the question of the day,
I can honestly say
YES, I DID WRITE.
DID YOU WRITE?
It is another week. It is time to report what is going on in your life, and in your writing. The idea is to report here every week, whether you write or not, and hopefully, start feeling guilty for not meeting goals, or not writing at all.
As to what is writing, it can be anything. New writing is writing. So is editing since we seldom write perfectly the first time, and editing of other people's works also counts. Critiquing is also writing. so is Technical writing, writing assignments, blogging, world and character creation, synopsis. Even board posts and E-mails can be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, it is.
How much writing is not important either. It could be one word, or it could be ten thousand words. It is the act of trying to create the habit of opening some work in and applying effort to them each week and hopefully it will become a daily habit.
AS for me, I did not do near as much as I had hoped. I worked late quite a bit during the week so had very little production. I only added little over 1300 words this week to my SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE TWO. A real pittance compared on what I was hoping to add. I did write a big blast, then went over it several times, editing it to make it a bit better, but still, my word count was not what it should be. I will say that I have a better idea of what is going to happen in this story and how it is going to happen. It is the process of getting there will be the big project.
I am completely rewriting my second story. Other than portions of a fight scene and a couple characters, the first version will not be used. I really did not have a story there. My first story had changed so drastically from what I started with. This second story had nothing of the changes. Starting over was the easy way to go. All the new story lines, characters and situations that the last version of the first story gained, has to be added to this new one. I am still surprised at how the first story had changed so much from the original story Idea I based it on.
ON the story idea front, I ran into a little problem this week. I was writing a story idea and my computer threw a fit. I lost it. I wrote it over again and put it in my saved file where I hang onto the story ideas until I post them. When I was getting ready to post, I somehow overwrote the story with the one before. THEN, I rewrote the story, and when I put it in the file, I saw it was the same idea as the one before it, the one I had used to overwrite it.
I finally go that story idea written and tonight I got caught up for the day. Sheesh!
I do have 51 stories in the compost pile not counting what I am posting tonight. I like having loads of easy to post ideas such as I have now.
I picked up some hand saws this weekend at a yard sale. they were dirt cheep so I got three of them. they had been left outside for a while. I had sanded the rust off and decided to give them a try. I cut a piece of soft wood and they did a very good job. The saw wandered a little when I changed from one end to the other on the wood and ended up having to use a power saw to finish the cut. I was quite satisfied with the results in spite of that.
I have to admit that this was the first time I had actually done some real cutting with a hand saw. I am not in the shape to want to do it too often, but it was an interesting experiment. Another nice thing was that it cleaned up the blades really well.
Using the above as a story idea, he had worked with the old time energy tools quite often. his workshop was cobbled up of tools that he got cheaply. Modern energy tools did a better job of making things, but he did well enough with what he had.
One day, he got his hands on really old technology. He got some saws where the blades were not pure energy, but instead had a solid plate to guide the energy of the cutting edge. It was so old school. He decided to give it a try.
He assumed the energy teeth would slide down the panel that made the frame to do the cutting. He quickly found that the blades just sat there and burned into the wood. He actually had to work the saw back and forth for the energy teeth to do their cutting. He had seen it on vid-image and heard tips of using these kind of saws.
He worked with it, pushing and pulling it across the wood and watched as it slowly sunk through the slot created in the wood. He knew his technique as bad as it was not straight cutting down. He finished it off with one of his more modern energy tools where the energy parted the wood cleanly.
He could see the lines caused by the old saw. His new saw showed no such lines. the actual cells of the wood pulled apart as the energy passed, making a polished surface from the cut.
He had no idea when he would need the old saw, but he hang onto it, setting it to the side for that time he would need to use it again.
As to the question of the day,
I can honestly say
YES, I DID WRITE.
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, January 2, 2012
01-02-12 Did You Write
01-02-12 Did You Write
Wow, where did the year go? It came and went like mad.
We get to do double duty with this post. Not only do we get to tell about how we did this past week, we also can tell about what we did this past year.
Many of us won't have great numbers to mention, but others will have great things to report. I found I forgot about a lot of what I did this year until I added it up.
One new year's resolution you might try to make, is to post to these notes every week, even if you do not write. The hope is that you will feel ashamed about not posting that you are writing and will open something just so you can give a positive report. Make that a habit and you can finish things.
How much to write is up to you. It could be "THE RIGHT WORD" or it could be tens of thousands of words. It is up to you and your goals.
What is writing is pretty much up in the air. We all agree that new writing is writing, but so is editing, even if it is the work of someone else. Critiquing counts as editing and is therefore writing.
Poetry, blogging, technical writing, writing assignments, world or character development, synopsis and query letters are all writing. Bulletin board and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, our answer is yes.
As for me, I finished SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE ARRIVAL, and fired that off to the publisher. It will be a while before I get word about it.
I started this morning SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE TRAP and have written three pages and 1250 words. I actually wrote a couple hundred words more, but had to change how the story was going to fit the first story better, and to make the action logical. I doubt anything of my first version of this second story will be used. it has a good fight sequence but the way I picture it, it is not going to happen in that kind of location so that will go by the wayside.
I have not done a word count, but it looks like I wrote about ten stories this year, four or five actually had THE END as part of them. It is not bad.
On the story idea front, I have 53 story ideas in my compost pile. I have had a good time coming up with ideas faster than I have posted them. I like that. I also STOLE some story prompts someone posted and added them to my list even though they are not counted. Some of them are good seeds for concepts.
For the Month of December, I posted 31 story ideas in a 31 day month, coming to page 40 with 18095 words. I almost posted an extra story for the month but could not quite work out a handle on the idea so It ended up being the first idea of the year, having to do with the effects of a problem that happened at the Y2K change-over.
I did quite well for the year. for the 365 days, I posted 371 ideas, that was six ideas more than the days of the year. It would be nice to do better than that, but I am not going to complain. I would only complain if it were less ideas for the year. Those 371 ideas covered 415 pages with a total of 241,578 words of pure drivel. I count that as two books worth of writing.
One nice thing about the story ideas this year is that one of them ended up being the work I fired off to the publisher before the first. While it had something of the same sequence as the story idea, it was not the same story. That is one reason I have no problems posting my ideas on line for other authors to use. If twenty of us wrote from the same story idea, we would have twenty different stories.
I will say that a good number of the ideas are worth writing, it is strictly finding one that catches one's attention. Years ago, one of the boards I post my ideas had a major crash. I spent time copying old ideas back onto the board. I found myself having to take the time to read one or two of the ideas of each month's production. I look at that as a good indication of how many of the ideas are actually worth writing. Of course, you have to look at all of them to find the right ones.
For the upcoming year, I aim to write two Spirit of Vengeance stories, and two Waxy dragon stories. Hopefully something else of interest will show up along the way too. I will continue my story ideas, though I expect to continue to post them in batches like I am now.
There is an art show I will be part of on March 11th. I have two main projects to get ready for the show. One is a dragon that I am carving out of a wood who’s form suggested it was a dragon. The other is a large vase that will have five faces around the outside. Once they are done, anything else I work on is just additional.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Wow, where did the year go? It came and went like mad.
We get to do double duty with this post. Not only do we get to tell about how we did this past week, we also can tell about what we did this past year.
Many of us won't have great numbers to mention, but others will have great things to report. I found I forgot about a lot of what I did this year until I added it up.
One new year's resolution you might try to make, is to post to these notes every week, even if you do not write. The hope is that you will feel ashamed about not posting that you are writing and will open something just so you can give a positive report. Make that a habit and you can finish things.
How much to write is up to you. It could be "THE RIGHT WORD" or it could be tens of thousands of words. It is up to you and your goals.
What is writing is pretty much up in the air. We all agree that new writing is writing, but so is editing, even if it is the work of someone else. Critiquing counts as editing and is therefore writing.
Poetry, blogging, technical writing, writing assignments, world or character development, synopsis and query letters are all writing. Bulletin board and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, our answer is yes.
As for me, I finished SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE ARRIVAL, and fired that off to the publisher. It will be a while before I get word about it.
I started this morning SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE TRAP and have written three pages and 1250 words. I actually wrote a couple hundred words more, but had to change how the story was going to fit the first story better, and to make the action logical. I doubt anything of my first version of this second story will be used. it has a good fight sequence but the way I picture it, it is not going to happen in that kind of location so that will go by the wayside.
I have not done a word count, but it looks like I wrote about ten stories this year, four or five actually had THE END as part of them. It is not bad.
On the story idea front, I have 53 story ideas in my compost pile. I have had a good time coming up with ideas faster than I have posted them. I like that. I also STOLE some story prompts someone posted and added them to my list even though they are not counted. Some of them are good seeds for concepts.
For the Month of December, I posted 31 story ideas in a 31 day month, coming to page 40 with 18095 words. I almost posted an extra story for the month but could not quite work out a handle on the idea so It ended up being the first idea of the year, having to do with the effects of a problem that happened at the Y2K change-over.
I did quite well for the year. for the 365 days, I posted 371 ideas, that was six ideas more than the days of the year. It would be nice to do better than that, but I am not going to complain. I would only complain if it were less ideas for the year. Those 371 ideas covered 415 pages with a total of 241,578 words of pure drivel. I count that as two books worth of writing.
One nice thing about the story ideas this year is that one of them ended up being the work I fired off to the publisher before the first. While it had something of the same sequence as the story idea, it was not the same story. That is one reason I have no problems posting my ideas on line for other authors to use. If twenty of us wrote from the same story idea, we would have twenty different stories.
I will say that a good number of the ideas are worth writing, it is strictly finding one that catches one's attention. Years ago, one of the boards I post my ideas had a major crash. I spent time copying old ideas back onto the board. I found myself having to take the time to read one or two of the ideas of each month's production. I look at that as a good indication of how many of the ideas are actually worth writing. Of course, you have to look at all of them to find the right ones.
For the upcoming year, I aim to write two Spirit of Vengeance stories, and two Waxy dragon stories. Hopefully something else of interest will show up along the way too. I will continue my story ideas, though I expect to continue to post them in batches like I am now.
There is an art show I will be part of on March 11th. I have two main projects to get ready for the show. One is a dragon that I am carving out of a wood who’s form suggested it was a dragon. The other is a large vase that will have five faces around the outside. Once they are done, anything else I work on is just additional.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, December 26, 2011
Did you write? 12-26-11
Did you write? 12-26-11
Where has the year gone? I am still preparing for Easter and Christmas arrived and passed.
This note is intended to give you a place to tell about what is going on in your life and in the process, to brag or cry about your writing. If you post regularly, it will help to keep you writing or to keep to your goals. Repeatedly reporting failures does a lot to get one to get to work.
As to what is writing, we all know that new writing is writing. Editing is also writing, even if it is the work of others. Critiquing is a form of editing and also counts. Poetry, writing assignments, articles, technical writing, blogging, world and character creation are also writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
How much writing does not matter. It could be the RIGHT WORD, or it could be half a book. the fact that you open something is real key.
As for me, I have has most of the week with no writing at all. I am editing my work in progress, about to submit it. Preparations for Christmas got in the way, leaving no time to write. It hurt as I am so close. I was off today and was able to spend some time on the project. I figure I will finish this pass tonight, and will try to do one more tomorrow since I am off tomorrow too.
On the story idea front, I am happy to say that after last week's mistake of overwriting the file I store my posted story ideas and some un-unwritten notes, I was able to recover the all the notes. I had copied the directory to a CD a short while back, and finally remembered about the copy after looking elsewhere. Finding them, and having a good week of coming up with ideas gives me 52 ideas in my compost pile. I will have some good writing for a while before I get to the top of the permanent compost pile.
It should be noted that in December 1997, I started posting my story ideas. I have averaged at least an idea a day ever since.
It is a good idea to start looking over your work this year and get your statistics.
Over the past week, I finished one set of painted cards, and painted a second batch. I got a lot of comments about the results of the first batch of cards, several saying it was the best I had ever done, and others saying that it was professional quality. I also worked late losing some home time that would allow writing, and tried to get gifts all packed. I hated not getting back to writing. I am so close to finishing it.
As for Christmas, I gave "right" and got well. I had a pleasant time with friends and families. this was one to remember.
As to the question of the week,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Where has the year gone? I am still preparing for Easter and Christmas arrived and passed.
This note is intended to give you a place to tell about what is going on in your life and in the process, to brag or cry about your writing. If you post regularly, it will help to keep you writing or to keep to your goals. Repeatedly reporting failures does a lot to get one to get to work.
As to what is writing, we all know that new writing is writing. Editing is also writing, even if it is the work of others. Critiquing is a form of editing and also counts. Poetry, writing assignments, articles, technical writing, blogging, world and character creation are also writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
How much writing does not matter. It could be the RIGHT WORD, or it could be half a book. the fact that you open something is real key.
As for me, I have has most of the week with no writing at all. I am editing my work in progress, about to submit it. Preparations for Christmas got in the way, leaving no time to write. It hurt as I am so close. I was off today and was able to spend some time on the project. I figure I will finish this pass tonight, and will try to do one more tomorrow since I am off tomorrow too.
On the story idea front, I am happy to say that after last week's mistake of overwriting the file I store my posted story ideas and some un-unwritten notes, I was able to recover the all the notes. I had copied the directory to a CD a short while back, and finally remembered about the copy after looking elsewhere. Finding them, and having a good week of coming up with ideas gives me 52 ideas in my compost pile. I will have some good writing for a while before I get to the top of the permanent compost pile.
It should be noted that in December 1997, I started posting my story ideas. I have averaged at least an idea a day ever since.
It is a good idea to start looking over your work this year and get your statistics.
Over the past week, I finished one set of painted cards, and painted a second batch. I got a lot of comments about the results of the first batch of cards, several saying it was the best I had ever done, and others saying that it was professional quality. I also worked late losing some home time that would allow writing, and tried to get gifts all packed. I hated not getting back to writing. I am so close to finishing it.
As for Christmas, I gave "right" and got well. I had a pleasant time with friends and families. this was one to remember.
As to the question of the week,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, December 19, 2011
Dec 19, 2011 Did You Write?
Dec 19, 2011 Did You Write?
I am having to make this extremely short.
The idea of this note is to give you a chance to tell about what is going on in your life, and in the process, tell about what is happening in your writing. The hope s that repeated posts of not writing or not meeting goals will force you to open something just so you can report positively next week.
I give long lists of what is writing. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is YES.
As for my writing, I have not had any time. I spent half of one evening looking for a grammar checker. I cannot remember what that was hammed so I cannot find it. I did run my story through another one and mostly what it found was that it did not like my character's names and did not like conversations.
In my reading editing, I got only to page 14. I expected this to be completely done by this week. Where did the time go? I ended up adding ten words to the piece. Word reduction is not a bad thing. Getting it right would even be better.
On the story idea front, I do have some bad news. In a moment of not paying attention, I selected SAVE AS rather than OPEN, and overwrote my December story ideas, including two ideas I had not posted. I was able to recover the posted story ideas and then sat and recovered the two lost story ideas since I still had the papers that they were based on and I remembered what I wrote.
The bad part was that I kept 10 story ideas at the end of the file, which were ideas I got by E-mail or something else on line, and never transferred them to paper. those ten story ideas are long gone. I do remember two were by picture prompts and know where I can look to find them, though they will take quite a long time to find. Somewhere, I know I have a copy of those ideas, but they did not show up in a couple quick searches.
Since I lost those ideas, I cannot count them. I have had a good week of coming up with ideas, but I am a couple days behind. As it is, right now I have 35 story ideas in my compost pile.
I am nearly done with my first batch of Christmas cards I painted. I have to do another batch. I have a bunch of stuff to mail off. I also need to get a bunch of things boxed and wrapped. I am exactly where I needed to be at the beginning of the month. Even so I could use another week to get prepared.
As to the question of the week,
I can say
YES, I DID WRITE
(though nothing like I was supposed to)
DID YOU WRITE?
I am having to make this extremely short.
The idea of this note is to give you a chance to tell about what is going on in your life, and in the process, tell about what is happening in your writing. The hope s that repeated posts of not writing or not meeting goals will force you to open something just so you can report positively next week.
I give long lists of what is writing. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is YES.
As for my writing, I have not had any time. I spent half of one evening looking for a grammar checker. I cannot remember what that was hammed so I cannot find it. I did run my story through another one and mostly what it found was that it did not like my character's names and did not like conversations.
In my reading editing, I got only to page 14. I expected this to be completely done by this week. Where did the time go? I ended up adding ten words to the piece. Word reduction is not a bad thing. Getting it right would even be better.
On the story idea front, I do have some bad news. In a moment of not paying attention, I selected SAVE AS rather than OPEN, and overwrote my December story ideas, including two ideas I had not posted. I was able to recover the posted story ideas and then sat and recovered the two lost story ideas since I still had the papers that they were based on and I remembered what I wrote.
The bad part was that I kept 10 story ideas at the end of the file, which were ideas I got by E-mail or something else on line, and never transferred them to paper. those ten story ideas are long gone. I do remember two were by picture prompts and know where I can look to find them, though they will take quite a long time to find. Somewhere, I know I have a copy of those ideas, but they did not show up in a couple quick searches.
Since I lost those ideas, I cannot count them. I have had a good week of coming up with ideas, but I am a couple days behind. As it is, right now I have 35 story ideas in my compost pile.
I am nearly done with my first batch of Christmas cards I painted. I have to do another batch. I have a bunch of stuff to mail off. I also need to get a bunch of things boxed and wrapped. I am exactly where I needed to be at the beginning of the month. Even so I could use another week to get prepared.
As to the question of the week,
I can say
YES, I DID WRITE
(though nothing like I was supposed to)
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, December 12, 2011
Did You Write? 12-12-11
Did You Write? 12-12-11
Neat date.
This is a place to tell about what is going on in your life. In the process, you may also tell about what is going on in your writing. the hope is that posting here will become a habit, and seeing that you did not write, or did not meet your goal, will shame you into being more diligent in your writing. Many among us will write once every couple months unless ridden to do so.
By their posting here, it reminds them how little they are writing so they will open their work in progress or something new and get some words on paper to develop a habit of writing at least once a week. While writing each day would be a laudable goal, once a week is far better than once every couple months.
How much writing is unimportant. It could be one word or a whole chapter. It is more about actually opening the work. for those among us who do write regularly, one might be aiming for a word count as their goal and reports of not meeting those counts will remind them not to slack quite as much. Their reports are also great for those among us who write less, letting us know we could also do that too.
As for what is writing, we all agree new writing is writing. Editing is also writing, even if it is the work of someone else. Critiquing is editing, so it counts as writing too. Poetry, blogging, articles, writing assignments, technical writing, world and character creation, synopsis, are all forms of writing. E-mails and board posts can be writing if they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, our answer is yes.
Several people recently reported that they reached THE END on their work. Fantastic. those are magical words. that is the first goal of every writer. Getting published is the second.
AS for me, I caught a cold Monday, waking in the morning with a sore throat. I was luckily this time that the cold was not a sloppy one, the most mild cold I have ever had. It did knock me off kilter a little which reduced my writing. Full weeks and busy weekends also reduced my writing activities. I am doing a READ OUT LOUD editing system at this moment. If you trip over a sentence, you know it is written wrong. I am catching as many other kinds of corrections as badly written sentences. In my first real editing session I got to page three. On my second session, I started at the beginning again and got to page four. Not good for getting this stupid thing finished. What also has happened is that I decided I need to do three scenes from another point of view, or at least show that point of view among that of the others. I also realized a couple scenes could be fixed. I might do those changes, before I resume my reading editing again. I need more time to write so I can get this thing done soon.
On the story idea front, I have, including the idea I am posting tonight, 41 story ideas in my compost pile. Not spectacular but the new ones seem to be interesting.
On the personal front, I am now in holiday mode. I am setting up to get things done. Tonight I added the very first color on my first batch of cards I am painting. In the past several years, I have painted my own cards. It started several years ago when I picked up a teddy bear stamp and was going to do stamping on the cards. Several technical issued made me realize it was faster to paint my cards than it would be to do the stamping. the first set of cards were pretty good. I skipped a year or two then decided to paint the cards again and have done so ever since. It is one thing to pour over the cards on the racks to find the right one. It is something else to actually create your own. There is more of you in them than if you just picked one off the rack. Over the years, I have had several people mention they thought the cards were commercially done. that is a pat on the back.
I am still making my ornaments. I had poor production this weekend as other projects got in the way. One such project was a vase I made where the interior cut through the outside of the wood. I decided to make a tree that came up out of the mouth of the vase and put little people around the tree. the open sides became like an amphitheater. Everybody who has seen it really liked it. I had thought of something like this for several years but had the materials and opportunity to finish it up. I had another vase I was planning on carving to hide chips on the lip. I changed my mind and cut the mouth of the vase down past the chips. The vase actually looks a little better now.
I had other projects going on so few ornaments were made. It was a productive weekend. what made it nice was I barely noticed I even had a cold. Today at work, I was reminded a bit more but doing well.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Neat date.
This is a place to tell about what is going on in your life. In the process, you may also tell about what is going on in your writing. the hope is that posting here will become a habit, and seeing that you did not write, or did not meet your goal, will shame you into being more diligent in your writing. Many among us will write once every couple months unless ridden to do so.
By their posting here, it reminds them how little they are writing so they will open their work in progress or something new and get some words on paper to develop a habit of writing at least once a week. While writing each day would be a laudable goal, once a week is far better than once every couple months.
How much writing is unimportant. It could be one word or a whole chapter. It is more about actually opening the work. for those among us who do write regularly, one might be aiming for a word count as their goal and reports of not meeting those counts will remind them not to slack quite as much. Their reports are also great for those among us who write less, letting us know we could also do that too.
As for what is writing, we all agree new writing is writing. Editing is also writing, even if it is the work of someone else. Critiquing is editing, so it counts as writing too. Poetry, blogging, articles, writing assignments, technical writing, world and character creation, synopsis, are all forms of writing. E-mails and board posts can be writing if they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. In essence, if you have to ask if it is writing, our answer is yes.
Several people recently reported that they reached THE END on their work. Fantastic. those are magical words. that is the first goal of every writer. Getting published is the second.
AS for me, I caught a cold Monday, waking in the morning with a sore throat. I was luckily this time that the cold was not a sloppy one, the most mild cold I have ever had. It did knock me off kilter a little which reduced my writing. Full weeks and busy weekends also reduced my writing activities. I am doing a READ OUT LOUD editing system at this moment. If you trip over a sentence, you know it is written wrong. I am catching as many other kinds of corrections as badly written sentences. In my first real editing session I got to page three. On my second session, I started at the beginning again and got to page four. Not good for getting this stupid thing finished. What also has happened is that I decided I need to do three scenes from another point of view, or at least show that point of view among that of the others. I also realized a couple scenes could be fixed. I might do those changes, before I resume my reading editing again. I need more time to write so I can get this thing done soon.
On the story idea front, I have, including the idea I am posting tonight, 41 story ideas in my compost pile. Not spectacular but the new ones seem to be interesting.
On the personal front, I am now in holiday mode. I am setting up to get things done. Tonight I added the very first color on my first batch of cards I am painting. In the past several years, I have painted my own cards. It started several years ago when I picked up a teddy bear stamp and was going to do stamping on the cards. Several technical issued made me realize it was faster to paint my cards than it would be to do the stamping. the first set of cards were pretty good. I skipped a year or two then decided to paint the cards again and have done so ever since. It is one thing to pour over the cards on the racks to find the right one. It is something else to actually create your own. There is more of you in them than if you just picked one off the rack. Over the years, I have had several people mention they thought the cards were commercially done. that is a pat on the back.
I am still making my ornaments. I had poor production this weekend as other projects got in the way. One such project was a vase I made where the interior cut through the outside of the wood. I decided to make a tree that came up out of the mouth of the vase and put little people around the tree. the open sides became like an amphitheater. Everybody who has seen it really liked it. I had thought of something like this for several years but had the materials and opportunity to finish it up. I had another vase I was planning on carving to hide chips on the lip. I changed my mind and cut the mouth of the vase down past the chips. The vase actually looks a little better now.
I had other projects going on so few ornaments were made. It was a productive weekend. what made it nice was I barely noticed I even had a cold. Today at work, I was reminded a bit more but doing well.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, December 5, 2011
December fifth 2011, Did You Write?
December fifth 2011, Did You Write?
I bet some of you are just getting back into the swing of things after the Thanksgiving holiday, hoping to stay in it for just a couple weeks before Christmas and New year messes you up again.
This note is mainly for those who write maybe once every few months. This is an opportunity to shame yourself into writing By posting here whether you have written or not. After a few times of not writing, you will feel shame and start writing so you can feel good about accomplishing anything. For the rest of us, we can feel shame for not meeting some goal we aimed for, during the week.
How much to write is not important. It is more about first opening some work in progress or starting something new. The more you do the better but opening something is the most important part.
As to what is writing, It can be just about anything. New writing is of course writing. Editing, even if it is the work of others is also writing. Critiquing is a form of editing and therefore counts.
Poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, article writing, world and character creation, synopsis, outlining are all writing. Bulletin board writing and E-mails can be writing if they are wordy and pertain to writing or story.
Of course, many of these might not be looked at as writing. The rule is, though, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
As for me, Yes I have been writing. I got to THE END on my Spirit of Vengeance story on the clean up editing pass I did. I am now in the final stages of editing. I ran it through two grammar checks this weekend. I have two others, plus reading aloud.
With grammar checks, each author considers certain things a problem. They will flag those things as a problem. I used one ages ago that flagged FROM and asked if I really wanted FORM. It was something the author felt was important.
There are standard problems they flag that we all would agree with. Then they have flags that basically say "there is a problem with this sentence but I have no idea what it is."
Grammar checks are also not designed for fiction. Conversation throws them into a tizzy. "foreign" names also bother them a lot. The help files and instructions are written by people who know language in detail, for people who do not need a grammar check.
The key to using a grammar check is to learn what to ignore and what to pay attention to.
I used two of my programs and they did help. I did get a kick that they disagreed with the spelling of one word, though.
On the story idea front, I have 40 story ideas, including the one I am posting tonight, in my compost pile., It would have been a worse except that I came up with four new story ideas today. I was getting down to the top of the permanent compost pile. I cannot remember if I mentioned it and won't bother checking, but I did one story idea at the end of last month that was supposed to be two. It dawned on me that the first one was simply a description of a disaster. The second one was the aftermath. I combined the two. I have one other double story idea in the stack.
Last month, I posted 30 story ideas for a 30 day month and it ended up on Page 35 with 21229 words of pure drivel. One never knows when one might spark one's imagination I happened with my Spirit of Vengeance story. It was originally a story idea. It looks little like the original idea but that is not important. If twenty people wrote stories from that same story idea, we would have twenty different stories when they went to market. It is why I have no problems using ones I have already posted.
I started posting these story ideas in December 1997. I need to locate about two year's worth of files in my backup disks to be able to work out exactly how many stories I have posted. at an idea a day, It is a lot of ideas and I doubt I have repeated one.
I brought my Christmas ornaments to work today. I have at least six of each kind of ornament. I really need twelve of each but I have enough to start.
I got an idea for a bowl that would be a turkey. I was going to have the tail integral to the bowl and add the carved head. While trying to work out the process, I decided I should try it small, a Christmas ornament, to see if my concepts would even work.
My first attempt showed me I did not fully given thought to the shape of the body. I had it backwards. After some thought, I decided to carve it by hand. When I was done, I showed the unpainted carving to my mom who tried to set it on the tail and have me add a tail to the belly. Oops. I did some touch-ups and then painted it. Once painted she saw what I was doing with it. Now I am considering making a bunch of them as Christmas ornaments using corrections I learned on the first one.
I heard on the radio that they are going to take some genetics found in a mastodon bone and clone it into an African elephant The host asked if we have not learned from Jurassic park yet.
Consider if we somehow got dinosaurs to come alive and start breeding them. Since one line of research says they are related to birds, and birds essentially taste like chicken, think of raising dinosaurs for food. Harvesting the eggs, The babies sold as big chickens. The adults processed for slabs of chicken or mass produced chicken products. think of how many chicken nuggets an adult dinosaur would provide.
My original thought was for something like Velociraptor or T-rex but herbivores would be better as what would you use to feed a predator? There are always dietary concerns when eating a predator.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE!!!
DID YOU WRITE???
I bet some of you are just getting back into the swing of things after the Thanksgiving holiday, hoping to stay in it for just a couple weeks before Christmas and New year messes you up again.
This note is mainly for those who write maybe once every few months. This is an opportunity to shame yourself into writing By posting here whether you have written or not. After a few times of not writing, you will feel shame and start writing so you can feel good about accomplishing anything. For the rest of us, we can feel shame for not meeting some goal we aimed for, during the week.
How much to write is not important. It is more about first opening some work in progress or starting something new. The more you do the better but opening something is the most important part.
As to what is writing, It can be just about anything. New writing is of course writing. Editing, even if it is the work of others is also writing. Critiquing is a form of editing and therefore counts.
Poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, article writing, world and character creation, synopsis, outlining are all writing. Bulletin board writing and E-mails can be writing if they are wordy and pertain to writing or story.
Of course, many of these might not be looked at as writing. The rule is, though, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
As for me, Yes I have been writing. I got to THE END on my Spirit of Vengeance story on the clean up editing pass I did. I am now in the final stages of editing. I ran it through two grammar checks this weekend. I have two others, plus reading aloud.
With grammar checks, each author considers certain things a problem. They will flag those things as a problem. I used one ages ago that flagged FROM and asked if I really wanted FORM. It was something the author felt was important.
There are standard problems they flag that we all would agree with. Then they have flags that basically say "there is a problem with this sentence but I have no idea what it is."
Grammar checks are also not designed for fiction. Conversation throws them into a tizzy. "foreign" names also bother them a lot. The help files and instructions are written by people who know language in detail, for people who do not need a grammar check.
The key to using a grammar check is to learn what to ignore and what to pay attention to.
I used two of my programs and they did help. I did get a kick that they disagreed with the spelling of one word, though.
On the story idea front, I have 40 story ideas, including the one I am posting tonight, in my compost pile., It would have been a worse except that I came up with four new story ideas today. I was getting down to the top of the permanent compost pile. I cannot remember if I mentioned it and won't bother checking, but I did one story idea at the end of last month that was supposed to be two. It dawned on me that the first one was simply a description of a disaster. The second one was the aftermath. I combined the two. I have one other double story idea in the stack.
Last month, I posted 30 story ideas for a 30 day month and it ended up on Page 35 with 21229 words of pure drivel. One never knows when one might spark one's imagination I happened with my Spirit of Vengeance story. It was originally a story idea. It looks little like the original idea but that is not important. If twenty people wrote stories from that same story idea, we would have twenty different stories when they went to market. It is why I have no problems using ones I have already posted.
I started posting these story ideas in December 1997. I need to locate about two year's worth of files in my backup disks to be able to work out exactly how many stories I have posted. at an idea a day, It is a lot of ideas and I doubt I have repeated one.
I brought my Christmas ornaments to work today. I have at least six of each kind of ornament. I really need twelve of each but I have enough to start.
I got an idea for a bowl that would be a turkey. I was going to have the tail integral to the bowl and add the carved head. While trying to work out the process, I decided I should try it small, a Christmas ornament, to see if my concepts would even work.
My first attempt showed me I did not fully given thought to the shape of the body. I had it backwards. After some thought, I decided to carve it by hand. When I was done, I showed the unpainted carving to my mom who tried to set it on the tail and have me add a tail to the belly. Oops. I did some touch-ups and then painted it. Once painted she saw what I was doing with it. Now I am considering making a bunch of them as Christmas ornaments using corrections I learned on the first one.
I heard on the radio that they are going to take some genetics found in a mastodon bone and clone it into an African elephant The host asked if we have not learned from Jurassic park yet.
Consider if we somehow got dinosaurs to come alive and start breeding them. Since one line of research says they are related to birds, and birds essentially taste like chicken, think of raising dinosaurs for food. Harvesting the eggs, The babies sold as big chickens. The adults processed for slabs of chicken or mass produced chicken products. think of how many chicken nuggets an adult dinosaur would provide.
My original thought was for something like Velociraptor or T-rex but herbivores would be better as what would you use to feed a predator? There are always dietary concerns when eating a predator.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE!!!
DID YOU WRITE???
Monday, November 28, 2011
Did You Write? Nov. 28, 2011
Did You Write? Nov. 28, 2011
It is that time of the week. What has been going on in your life? what about your writing?
We just passed through The Thanksgiving Holidays here in the States. For some people, holidays mean staying home and writing. For others it means more tasks on the plate and less writing. Which is it for you? The answer will also tell you how you are likely to bo doing over the Christmas Holidays coming up.
Oh, that reminds me. the end of the year is but a month away. Think about how you have done this year in your writing. Have you met or exceeded your goals or are you way behind and writing heavy the rest of the year is not going to help?
The hope of posting here whether you write or not, is to use implied pier pressure, or shame, to get yourself to write regularly, to develop it into a habit and get some real work done. This is especially important to those of us who will somehow go months without writing a word.
AS to what is writing, If you have to ask, the answer is yes, it is writing. New writing, editing even if it is the work of others, critiquing, poetry, blogging, article writing, technical writing, writing assignments, synopsis and query letters, world and character development, all are writing. E-mails and board posts might also be writing if they are wordy and pertain to writing or story.
As for me, Yes I have been writing. Not as much as I wanted. For me, the Holidays and subsequent recovery cut down my writing time. Also, things have gotten busy at work and I am getting full weeks for once. The pay looks great but the hours are cramped for writing. There is a limit that things can be squeezed in. In the next few weeks, I have to squeeze in even more into the ever shrinking hours I have.
I am editing my Sprit of Vengeance story. The previous editing pass was a section by section re-write, where I corrected and changed entire sections and added more. Now I am doing a heavy edits, cleaning up sentences and fixing loose or incomplete passages. If I can get some spare time, I might be able to finish this soon. 'As it is, I have added 650 words this week and a whole page. The next paragraph I add will kick it to the next page.
On the home front, I am working on my Christmas ornaments. The last two weeks, I came up with my four designs. I need twelve of each. that is 48 total pieces. I have ten of one design. I have six of a couple other designs, and I only have three of a fourth design. I have this next weekend to get them done.
I am starting to plan the Christmas cards I need to paint. I would like to get them started early so I can get them done with plenty of time to think about other things. The past couple years, I was painting them on Christmas Eve, to be given out that night. I want to avoid that pressure. I usually need to paint twenty four of them in total, usually two different designs as I really can only paint twelve at a time and the second time I figure out how to do it better.
when I first starting making my cards, I was going to use stamps, and then realized it would be easier to paint them. I get more pleasure and compliments over making my cards than anything I could pick out and buy. Many people keep them as art pieces. It is work but I do like the results when done.
I learned something new about machining this weekend. I made another step to being closer to make a tool I need for my metal working lathe. I also tested a tool I made and had a partial failure. Luckily, I can easily fix the problem and continue to use my creation.
As to the question of the week, I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE!!!
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time of the week. What has been going on in your life? what about your writing?
We just passed through The Thanksgiving Holidays here in the States. For some people, holidays mean staying home and writing. For others it means more tasks on the plate and less writing. Which is it for you? The answer will also tell you how you are likely to bo doing over the Christmas Holidays coming up.
Oh, that reminds me. the end of the year is but a month away. Think about how you have done this year in your writing. Have you met or exceeded your goals or are you way behind and writing heavy the rest of the year is not going to help?
The hope of posting here whether you write or not, is to use implied pier pressure, or shame, to get yourself to write regularly, to develop it into a habit and get some real work done. This is especially important to those of us who will somehow go months without writing a word.
AS to what is writing, If you have to ask, the answer is yes, it is writing. New writing, editing even if it is the work of others, critiquing, poetry, blogging, article writing, technical writing, writing assignments, synopsis and query letters, world and character development, all are writing. E-mails and board posts might also be writing if they are wordy and pertain to writing or story.
As for me, Yes I have been writing. Not as much as I wanted. For me, the Holidays and subsequent recovery cut down my writing time. Also, things have gotten busy at work and I am getting full weeks for once. The pay looks great but the hours are cramped for writing. There is a limit that things can be squeezed in. In the next few weeks, I have to squeeze in even more into the ever shrinking hours I have.
I am editing my Sprit of Vengeance story. The previous editing pass was a section by section re-write, where I corrected and changed entire sections and added more. Now I am doing a heavy edits, cleaning up sentences and fixing loose or incomplete passages. If I can get some spare time, I might be able to finish this soon. 'As it is, I have added 650 words this week and a whole page. The next paragraph I add will kick it to the next page.
On the home front, I am working on my Christmas ornaments. The last two weeks, I came up with my four designs. I need twelve of each. that is 48 total pieces. I have ten of one design. I have six of a couple other designs, and I only have three of a fourth design. I have this next weekend to get them done.
I am starting to plan the Christmas cards I need to paint. I would like to get them started early so I can get them done with plenty of time to think about other things. The past couple years, I was painting them on Christmas Eve, to be given out that night. I want to avoid that pressure. I usually need to paint twenty four of them in total, usually two different designs as I really can only paint twelve at a time and the second time I figure out how to do it better.
when I first starting making my cards, I was going to use stamps, and then realized it would be easier to paint them. I get more pleasure and compliments over making my cards than anything I could pick out and buy. Many people keep them as art pieces. It is work but I do like the results when done.
I learned something new about machining this weekend. I made another step to being closer to make a tool I need for my metal working lathe. I also tested a tool I made and had a partial failure. Luckily, I can easily fix the problem and continue to use my creation.
As to the question of the week, I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE!!!
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, November 21, 2011
11-21-11 Did You Write?
11-21-11 Did You Write?
It is that time of the week, where you suddenly realized the week was shorter than you planned. You look at your files containing your work in progress and wonder if you met your goals for the week. your goals could be several thousand words, or your goals could be opening just the work to have a look.
The idea of this note is to tell about what is going on in your life, and also about what is going on in your writing. The idea of writing about your life is to develop the habit of reporting in. When you don't have any writing to mention, hopefully the shame of not writing will set in and one will actually work to open the work during the next week.
How much writing is not important. What is writing is quite varied. All new writing is writing. Editing, even if it is on the work of others, is writing. Critiquing is a form of writing and counts. Blogging, writing assignments, technical writing, article writing, poetry, world and character development are writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or stories can be writing. Essentially, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
As for me, I am editing through my SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE story. I am not trying to add words, but improve what I have. The word count will likely inch up, but that is not my goal. I figure it is long enough.
I have made several passes on the first twenty odd pages, I am fixing and correcting the story this time, rather than rewriting it as I did before. each time I read through the piece, I find passages that could be said better. Hopefully, it is becoming a better story. There are scenes that need more added to them to make them complete. My middle fight scenes are really bad and need to be reworked. In those fights, my character is supposed to just rough up the thugs and they do something that really ticks her off and she loses it, killing them. That description is not what I have right now. I have her fighting to the death and they tick her off and she goes berserk and pummels them. I will correct the fight scenes when I get to them, even re-writing them completely if needed. Even without trying, I added 484 words this week.
On the story idea front. It looked like I was going to fall behind this weekend but somehow stayed caught up with the date.
My compost pile is down to 31 story ideas. This is essentially the top of the really old ideas. I would have had to dig into them tonight except I came up with one just a while ago. I had used up all the newer ideas this past week. I did come up with a couple, but not enough to keep from skimming the top.
Likely a good third of the compost pile ideas are good, but deserve more work to write than they would get as a story idea. Once written they are gone, done.
Outside of writing, Each year since 2003, I have made a set of four different ornaments every year. A few years I made more, and a couple years, I made less than the set of four.
Week before last, I started re-making some ornaments from previous years that needed to be made. Last week, I came up with my first two ideas for this year, palm trees and seals. I stopped at a store and saw a figurine of a polar bear and decided not to buy it as something to go by. a couple days later I decided I would make them. they would be easy to make. I then came up with my fourth ornament Saturday Morning as I was gong to work. I made one, including the paint, just to see how hard it would be and how it would look. My cornucopia ornaments is my favorite this year. I like the results and they are fun to carve.
Now all I have to do is to make a dozen of each ornament to have a complete set, and try to get them all done before the end of the month.... The worse part is that I've been thinking about what ornament to make since like June and had no ideas until now. It was the same for last year. I offer them for sale to friends at different places, and then gift a bunch to friends and family at Christmas. The money pays for tools and materials in my woodworking hobby, at least that is the intent.
I will make some of each imminently so I have some to show and then work at making the rest as time and demand dictates. I have a bunch of "blanks" from previous years that still have to be carved. One uses the band saw to remove the excess wood from the block to make the blank, and then carve the rest of it to the final shape and details.
As to the question of the week,
YES, I DID WRITE.
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time of the week, where you suddenly realized the week was shorter than you planned. You look at your files containing your work in progress and wonder if you met your goals for the week. your goals could be several thousand words, or your goals could be opening just the work to have a look.
The idea of this note is to tell about what is going on in your life, and also about what is going on in your writing. The idea of writing about your life is to develop the habit of reporting in. When you don't have any writing to mention, hopefully the shame of not writing will set in and one will actually work to open the work during the next week.
How much writing is not important. What is writing is quite varied. All new writing is writing. Editing, even if it is on the work of others, is writing. Critiquing is a form of writing and counts. Blogging, writing assignments, technical writing, article writing, poetry, world and character development are writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or stories can be writing. Essentially, if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
As for me, I am editing through my SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE story. I am not trying to add words, but improve what I have. The word count will likely inch up, but that is not my goal. I figure it is long enough.
I have made several passes on the first twenty odd pages, I am fixing and correcting the story this time, rather than rewriting it as I did before. each time I read through the piece, I find passages that could be said better. Hopefully, it is becoming a better story. There are scenes that need more added to them to make them complete. My middle fight scenes are really bad and need to be reworked. In those fights, my character is supposed to just rough up the thugs and they do something that really ticks her off and she loses it, killing them. That description is not what I have right now. I have her fighting to the death and they tick her off and she goes berserk and pummels them. I will correct the fight scenes when I get to them, even re-writing them completely if needed. Even without trying, I added 484 words this week.
On the story idea front. It looked like I was going to fall behind this weekend but somehow stayed caught up with the date.
My compost pile is down to 31 story ideas. This is essentially the top of the really old ideas. I would have had to dig into them tonight except I came up with one just a while ago. I had used up all the newer ideas this past week. I did come up with a couple, but not enough to keep from skimming the top.
Likely a good third of the compost pile ideas are good, but deserve more work to write than they would get as a story idea. Once written they are gone, done.
Outside of writing, Each year since 2003, I have made a set of four different ornaments every year. A few years I made more, and a couple years, I made less than the set of four.
Week before last, I started re-making some ornaments from previous years that needed to be made. Last week, I came up with my first two ideas for this year, palm trees and seals. I stopped at a store and saw a figurine of a polar bear and decided not to buy it as something to go by. a couple days later I decided I would make them. they would be easy to make. I then came up with my fourth ornament Saturday Morning as I was gong to work. I made one, including the paint, just to see how hard it would be and how it would look. My cornucopia ornaments is my favorite this year. I like the results and they are fun to carve.
Now all I have to do is to make a dozen of each ornament to have a complete set, and try to get them all done before the end of the month.... The worse part is that I've been thinking about what ornament to make since like June and had no ideas until now. It was the same for last year. I offer them for sale to friends at different places, and then gift a bunch to friends and family at Christmas. The money pays for tools and materials in my woodworking hobby, at least that is the intent.
I will make some of each imminently so I have some to show and then work at making the rest as time and demand dictates. I have a bunch of "blanks" from previous years that still have to be carved. One uses the band saw to remove the excess wood from the block to make the blank, and then carve the rest of it to the final shape and details.
As to the question of the week,
YES, I DID WRITE.
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, November 14, 2011
Did You Write? 11-14-11
Did You Write? 11-14-11
It is that time of the week again. Have you opened any work in progress or started something new? have you met your word count? have you written anything at all? If not, what is going on in your life that prevented you from your work. We always love to hear that.
As to what is writing, I give a long list each week but don't have time today. The main rule of thumb is that if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
AS for me, Yes I did write. I got to the end of my re-write of my Spirit of Vengeance story. I greatly expanded the story with plenty of explanation and examples of what was going on. I had it nearly done and realized it needed something else. I added two short scenes that will need to be corrected, but I felt it changed the nature of the story a little. I think it is looking good.
I am now starting at the beginning and fixing writing errors but will fix scenes if needed. I got to page 13 of the 43 pages on my first edit session, then got to page three on my second edit session. It does need work. As it stands now, it is 43 pages with 22216 words.
On the story idea front, I have dug into the top of the compost pile a little, but added a few new ones along the way. It is running at 36 story ideas. I would rather have 60 story ideas, all good, but it is not doing bad.
I am making my Christmas ornaments for this year. I am making palm trees and seals so far but have to come up with two more new ideas. I have been doing this since 2003 so I have done quite a few different kinds. Last year, someone listed several dozen ideas to me and I had done most of them. I ended up seeing something in a couple magazines and used them.
I am also making some old Christmas ornaments that I ran out of, some I never made enough of. I have a lot of ornaments to make before the end of the month.
I have asked a couple times, "if you were put into the world you write about, as you are right this very instant, with your real practical knowledge and practical skills, and actual physical abilities, could you survive within your worlds?
when I first asked the question, the answer was absolutely not. Later, I mentioned that with as bad a carving I did, I would likely be creating magical figurines that would do wrong.
Now, I would have to say that if I survived the first month, I might be able to become useful to whatever society I was in. Not greatly useful, but I might eventually earn my keep. The first month would be unlikely, though.
AS to the question of the week, I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE!
DID YOU WRITE?
It is that time of the week again. Have you opened any work in progress or started something new? have you met your word count? have you written anything at all? If not, what is going on in your life that prevented you from your work. We always love to hear that.
As to what is writing, I give a long list each week but don't have time today. The main rule of thumb is that if you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
AS for me, Yes I did write. I got to the end of my re-write of my Spirit of Vengeance story. I greatly expanded the story with plenty of explanation and examples of what was going on. I had it nearly done and realized it needed something else. I added two short scenes that will need to be corrected, but I felt it changed the nature of the story a little. I think it is looking good.
I am now starting at the beginning and fixing writing errors but will fix scenes if needed. I got to page 13 of the 43 pages on my first edit session, then got to page three on my second edit session. It does need work. As it stands now, it is 43 pages with 22216 words.
On the story idea front, I have dug into the top of the compost pile a little, but added a few new ones along the way. It is running at 36 story ideas. I would rather have 60 story ideas, all good, but it is not doing bad.
I am making my Christmas ornaments for this year. I am making palm trees and seals so far but have to come up with two more new ideas. I have been doing this since 2003 so I have done quite a few different kinds. Last year, someone listed several dozen ideas to me and I had done most of them. I ended up seeing something in a couple magazines and used them.
I am also making some old Christmas ornaments that I ran out of, some I never made enough of. I have a lot of ornaments to make before the end of the month.
I have asked a couple times, "if you were put into the world you write about, as you are right this very instant, with your real practical knowledge and practical skills, and actual physical abilities, could you survive within your worlds?
when I first asked the question, the answer was absolutely not. Later, I mentioned that with as bad a carving I did, I would likely be creating magical figurines that would do wrong.
Now, I would have to say that if I survived the first month, I might be able to become useful to whatever society I was in. Not greatly useful, but I might eventually earn my keep. The first month would be unlikely, though.
AS to the question of the week, I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE!
DID YOU WRITE?
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