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"A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao-Tzu |
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Today I resolve to take writing seriously, to keep going and never stop, to learn everything I can and make it as a writer. Dana McDowell 08/10/2017     |
"When a regular person gets sick, they take an aspirin. When a writer gets sick, they take notes." ~ Chuck Palahniuk ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Blog City Prompt: PROMPT: What it one of your favorite memories of a birthday that wasn't your own?  One of my favorite birthday memories was my son Shane's last birthday. He turned seven this year, and we threw his party at a local gymnastics academy that does birthdays. One of the activities they had was a zip line into a giant pit of squishy blocks. At first, Shane was scared to try it, but he got up his courage and launched himself off. All the kids had a blast and were able to run, climb, and throw themselves off of things with abandon. The only downer was that adults weren't allowed to play on the equipment, so we had to live vicariously through our kids. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** 30-Day Blogging Challenge Prompt: The Sunday News! This week in Utah, police arrested a nurse because she wouldn't allow the investigators to take blood from an unconscious man who could not give consent and wasn't under arrest. According to a prior Supreme Court ruling, the nurse was actually doing the right thing and protecting the patient's privacy. There's a fine line between law enforcement and medical professionals, who both have tremendous obligations. How do you feel about this? Were the police in the right to physically restrain the nurse, or did she handle the situation properly by stating what her role in the situation was? (If you ask me, I'm just shocked that an officer's body-cam actually worked for a change.) It seems like in the last few years police have been pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior. In this case, the nurse did her sworn duty. She had an obligation to protect her patient's privacy, and she did her job. Honestly, I have a lot of respect for this woman. It's so easy to back down in the face of armed officers, especially with the fear that they might shoot if provoked. Yet, she stood up to them and didn't give in even at the cost of her own freedom. I think this is important. It's going to be common people taking a stand that will bring about change. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings Still sick. Still tired. Still plucking along. |
"Today my forest is dark. The trees are sad and all the butterflies have broken wings." ~ Raine Cooper ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** 30-Day Blogging Challenge Prompt: Creation Saturday! You and a loved one have decided not to buy each other birthday gifts this year...but being the creative genius you are, you're going to make them... Green, mixed with dabs and swirls of orange, decorated the kitchen walls in a nausea inducing way. I bit my bottom lip and tried, not for the first time, to extract my hand from the large pot. It didn't move. "Something's wrong," Paul grunted. I feel his fingers flexing around mine, but they're steadfast in their gooey tomb. Instead of presents this year, we got a DIY joined hands keepsake kit. Because our son's favorite colors were green and orange, we'd added a healthy dollop of food coloring to the mix to make it unique. Things went wrong from the start when the mix had a mini melt down, doing its own decorating. And now this. With a weak laugh, I thumped my forehead against Paul's chest. "What now?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings Ugh. I have a head cold. My joints feel like someone left a robot out in the rain for about three centuries. My head is bobbing like a balloon about two feet above my neck. My nose feels as large as a tomato. My son is four months old today. He also has the dreaded sickness. It makes him cough, and gave him a stuffy nose. At the end of each round of coughing, he roars in fury. Cough cough cough RAWWWW. It's terribly cute. My husband also has it. The only one who doesn't have it is my 7 yr old. And he's made it his mission in life to drive the rest of us insane. *Sob* |
"You think Resistance isn't real? Resistance will bury you." ~ Steven Pressfield ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Blog City Prompt: What are you going to do to help celebrate WDC's 17th anniversary? I'm going to help celebrate WDC's 17th anniversary by participating in as much as I can in these seven days. Also, I will take advantage of the 1 free MB every day to celebrate different members of the site who've done an amazing job on different activities. The first badge I gave out was to Brandiwyn🎶   for all the stunning work she does every year on: "October Novel Prep Challenge"  . Thanks again for all you do! And I'm going to jump on this activity that appeared on the news feed: "Note: 48-HOUR CHALLENGE : Media Prompt Deadl..." Setting The Stage Mike sneezed, and sneezed again, and a third time. Clouds of billowing dust rose around him like a vacuum cleaner gone in reverse. He cursed under his breath as he ripped the top off yet another bag of kitty litter. “Let’s trick the masses, it’ll be easy, it’s needed for the moral of the country,” he grumbled before hocking a loogy into the empty bag. Then he crumpled it up and shoved it into the black garbage back with the other empties, over fifty so far. It was all well and good that the higher ups wanted to make a moon scape, but they weren’t the ones who had to open up all these wretched backs and dump them out. Too bad kitty litter made such perfect moon dirt. And worse that whatever idiots went and got the stuff bought flat after flat of five pound bags. What would be better? Lighter five pound bags, but having to open the endless mountains of them? Or heavier 25 pound bags which would ruin his back but at least it would be over sooner. With a grunt, he grabbed another bag. It didn’t matter anyway, not like they’d given him a choice. “At least they could have hired a few more fellas to help me out,” he wheezed as more clouds of smoke billowed into the air. Then again, the Government were always a bunch of cheap skates when it came to paying honest men for an honest – well maybe less than honest in this case – day’s work. After all, they were already paying him for his janitorial services, they’d just added shaping the surface of the moon to his normal nightly duties. “Those pricks better not expect me to scoop all this mess up after their done shooting their picture show,” he said as he began kicking over the mounds of cat dirt to form artful hills. Once the final bag had been poured out onto the floor, he got to work in earnest. Bending down, he shoved a soccer ball into one of the soft mounds. Then he stepped back, pulled out a crinkled photo they’d given him and grunted. “Yeah, that’ll do,” he nodded comparing his ball crater to the ones in the photo. It wasn’t perfect, but what could he do with a mountain of kitty litter? Hours passed as Mike created craters in his powdery landscape with different sized balls. Everything from massive beach balls to golf balls played their part. Last of all, he took a fine bristle broom and began sweeping away the countless footsteps. “After all, the world ain’t waiting on the edge of their seats to see a janitor’s footsteps, now are they?” Itching his dust stained fingers through his equally dust festooned hair, Mike chuckled. “I hope no cats get in here before they’re done shooting. I don’t think anyone would believe in alien cats shitting on the moon.” He gave a toothy grin as he brushed all the steps away and stood back to take it all in. Perfect, who said a man needed a fancy college degree to walk on the face of the moon? Word Count: 525 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** 30-Day Blogging Challenge Prompt: FUN FACT FRIDAY! As most of you are aware, September 1st marks the start of WDC's Birthday Week! Take a look at the activities going on around the site and tell us some of the ones you're looking forward to. I have to say, I'm having a lot of fun with "The Pink Fluffy Unicorn Contest" - The Pink Fluffy Unicorn Birthday Contest. I wrote a 500 words or less flash fiction "Invalid Item" } - Harvey's Red Top Hat, and I'm planning on submitting a 2000 word short story. I wrote three micro non-fictions for: "Say It In Seventeen!" – Say It In Seventeen. Telling a story in 17 words is a trick, that's for sure!And I've hopped onto this reviewing activity where you have to write 500 word reviews: "Invalid Item" - WcD Birthday Celebration Reviewing Event. I got my two reviews in for the day, and I plan on doing two every day. Today, both of my reviews ended up being 534, which wasn't on purpose, but pretty cool. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings Yes, I know, I know, it's been a while. The thing about Resistance is that if you don't do it one day, then it becomes easier not to do it the next until you look up and over two weeks have passed and you haven't done anything. Ugh, I will do better. |
"All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath." F. Scott Fitzgerald ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Which one of the seven dwarfs do you identify with or which fairy tale Princess do you identify with? Do both if you want. I think if I had to pick a princess to identify with, I'd go with Bell. While my father isn't an inventor, and I've never been in an enchanted castle, I do love reading. I've always loved a good story, and losing myself in the promise of a good book. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Writing Exercise: - From: Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell Take some of your favorite novels off the shelf and analyze them using the LOCK system. See how each element is at work in the books you love. Use these questions to help you: - What is it about the Lead character that captures you? - What is it the Lead is trying to get or get away from? - When did the story kick into "high gear"? - What was the main opposition to the Lead's objective? - How did the ending make you feel? Why did it work? For this exercise, I'll be analyzing Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures LOCK L - L is for Lead The lead character is named Anita Blake, and she is an animator for Animator's Inc. Perhaps one of the first things that captured me about Anita is how she walks the line between following the rules and being tough, which can be quite tricky when dealing with vampires when you aren't one. O - O is for Objective Anita's objective in this novel is to find out who is killing vampires in the District. It's also her objective not to be killed for not figuring out who the murderer is. C - C is for Confrontation There are a few problems Anita has to face, first of which is that she is not a private investigator. She has to get help to get into the vampire scene so she can find clues. There's also a lot of internal resistance because she doesn't want to take the case, but is blackmailed into it. K - K is for Knockout The knockout in this story is trifold. First, Anita reveals who the killer is, and he gets torn apart by the vampires. Next, she gets her revenge and kills the Master of the City who'd blackmailed her into taking the case to begin with. Third, we find out that Jean Clade, a master vampire who was working with her to help solve the murders, used her to kill the Master of the City and bound her to him with the first two marks. - What is it about the Lead character that captures you? Anita captures me because she's strong, even though she's small. Not many people would be able to stand toe to toe with vampires, but she does it well. I also really like her job. The whole idea of zombie raising as a occupation is intriguing. - What is it the Lead is trying to get or get away from? At the start of the book, she was trying to get away from the vampires. By the end, she turns and faces them head on in a great bloody confrontation. - When did the story kick into "high gear"? The plot kicks into high gear when Anita is taken to the Master of the City, and she realizes just what's on the line if she doesn't find the killer. Mainly that her mind will be pulled apart and picked clean by the Master. - What was the main opposition to the Lead's objective? Anita's main objective is to get through the situation alive. - How did the ending make you feel? Why did it work? The ending worked out well for me and left things open for the rest of the series. I liked how she solved the crime, piecing it all together, and how she got her own in the end. The end worked because the author wrapped everything up well, satisfying the reader, yet keeping things open enough to keep the story going in sequels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings I didn't get a chance to write yesterday. Things were a little out of hand, but such is life with two young children. I have been thinking of a plot for the Twisted Tails contest, and I think I have the major points worked out. I'm excited to start that one because I'm going to go for a longer story, around 6k words. I'm great at finding endings for short-short stories, 1k or less, but not so good at ending longer works. So we'll see how it goes. |
"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt." ~ Sylvia Plath Writing Exercise: - From the book: Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell Set aside ten minutes of undisturbed writing time. for those ten minutes, write a free-form response to the following: When readers read my novels, I want them to feel ____________ at the end. That's because, to me, novels are __________________. Write from the gut, quickly. When your done, analyze your mini-essay. What does it tell you about the type of plotter you might be? Are you suspicious of plot? Are you more concerned with the "gossamer wings" of literary style? If so, consider how your writing might be doubled in strength if you learn some plotting craft. When readers read my novels, I want them to feel immersed in the world I'm making for them. My characters and plot should draw them fully into my world, so that the real world falls away and they fall under the spell of a good story. I want them to stay up late into the night with the promise that they'll go to bed after just one more chapter, one more page, one more paragraph. That's because, to me, novels are other worlds. They are doorways into an infinite number of new realities where characters live out their own lives and get into trouble and have to find their way out of it again. There are characters so real, we sob when they die, and we laugh in joy when they get their happy ending. Novels, the best ones, should always leave the reader hungry for more. Wanting to stay in the fictionalized world the author created so that they can continue to follow the lives of characters they've grown to love. Plot is not the enemy, though there are writers who thing it is. In the end, plot is merely the way each character moves through the arc of the story. Without plot, there is no story. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings My entry "Invalid Item" for "The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week" won for yesterday. I'm glad that one won. It turned out well, and I enjoyed writing it. A lot of different ideas came together as I wrote, and I was able to put together a pretty nice piece of work. I finished out Stephen King's On Writing, and am now listening to one of his novels: From a Buick 8. It was mentioned in On Writing as something he'd been tinkering around with, and I decided to look it up and see how it came out. So far, it's pretty interesting and I'm enjoying it. I've also started reading Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell. I'll be using the writing exercises in that book here on my blog to work on my writing skills. |
"You can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will." ~ Stephen King ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** "No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow." ~ Alice Walker. What's your take on this quote? "Maybe we shou-," "Look Maz, I know you're an 'introvert' and all that, but you really need to get out more. We're going to the party," Jessica said as she flipped her glossy black hair over her shoulder. Madeline - Madeline, not Maz, she hated the nickname Maz, it didn't even sound like Madeline - dipped her head, cheeks burning with suppressed anger at her friend's flippant attitude. It wasn't that she didn't want to go to the party, okay, she really didn't, but they had a paper due tomorrow and Madeline wanted to go over it one more time to add that final polish her work was known for. Before she could offer up another feeble attempt to get out of it, Jessica latched onto herm arm and drug her out the front door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Writing Exercise: - Ensure the scene involves at least two characters (you may choose to have more than two if you wish). Write from the first person or limited third person POV so you are actually writing someone's perspective. For this exercise, I'm going to rewrite the passage above from Jessica's first person POV. Maz opened her mouth yet again to try and worm her way out of going out for the night, but I wasn't going to let her flake out on me again. She spent all her time studying, and not nearly enough of it having fun. We were in college for God's sake, these were supposed to be the best years of our lives! Besides, Maz had a car, and I didn't. Without a qualm, I overrode her protest, "Look Maz, I know you're an 'introvert' and all that, but you really need to get out more. We're going to the party." It was hard not to roll my eyes at the word introvert. Nerd was the right word, but I didn't want to drive her off before she got me to Mike's house. Once there, I'd be able to find my own way home. But for now, I needed Maz to cooperate. I grabbed Maz's arm and pulled her out the door, a grin on my lips as she finally gave in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings I almost never write in the first person, but am considering that perspective for my upcoming NaNo project, so I need to get some practice in for it. It's harder than I thought to keep ahold of that POV and not slip back into third. So, yesterday my entry: "Invalid Item" won the "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge " , so that's awesome. I still need to write something good enough to win the Writers Cramp, but I'm sure I'll make it eventually. I really want that trinket. |
The purpose of literature is to turn blood into ink. ~ T.S. Eliot ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** "I am an expert swordsman. And I am skilled in the business of death. I take no pleasure in my skill. Simply, I am good at it." ~ Oliver Bowden, Assassin's Creed: Forsaken. What do you think about this quote, and is there anything you're good at but take no pleasure in exercising your skill? This quote is two parts. The assassin must have put a lot of time and even love learning the skill of expert swordsmanship, yet he finds in the end that his skills are best when applied to dealing death to others. While he gains no pleasure in the killing, he is good at it and it's how he makes his living. There's something truly awful about a skill being corrupted by blood. It's like being a good shot, then having to become a sniper in the army. Having a natural skill or one you worked hard to cultivate being used to end the lives of others must be its own little death. In a way I have a similar skill, though not so dramatic as this quote. I'm pretty good at typing, and this serves me well when I write. Yet, my day job is data entry, where my typing goes on and on keying in car and driver information in for insurance. It's dead dull, and I wish I could use my skill to write as my day job instead of just doing data entry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Writing Exercise: - Change the Tail - Take the tail end off a story, right after the climax, and change it to something else. - From Writingforward.com I'm going to use my 100 word story: One Saturday Moring for this exercise. Original: Blood, thick and gaudy red, dripped down the sculpted plastic muzzle. “Pony bit me Mama!” A little girl’s pained shriek cut though the familiar monotony. A distraught mother cradled the girl in her arms. The rent a guard scratched his head as the mall crowd grew, observing the carnage. She fell, caught her hand in the carousel horse’s mouth is all. Troubled brown eyes studied the mangled hand pressed tight against her small chest. Just an accident. But the painted, jewel bright orbs seemed to glint with wicked amusement as the horse circled round again. New Tail Blood dripped down the sculpted muzzle. “Pony bit me Mama!” A little girl’s pained shriek cut the familiar monotony. The distraught mother cradled the girl. The rent a guard scratched his head as the mall crowd observed the carnage. She fell, caught her hand in the carousel horse’s mouth is all. Troubled eyes studied the mangled hand pressed against her chest. Before he could move to inspect the damage, another scream sounded. The animals broke free. Horses bucked children off, and the lion leapt onto the back of a fleeing businessman. Terror roared through the crowd as the hunt began. *** I decided to keep with the 100 word rule, so here's the new end. Instead of it being an isolated incident, the carousel animals really are alive...and they're hungry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings My second submission to "The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week" didn't get kicked off the board, so that's a start. I submitted "Invalid Item" . It didn't win, but that's alright. At least I'm writing, so I'm happy with that. Today I was felled by resistance right out of the gate. Instead of getting up at 6 to write, there was a thunderstorm, and my baby woke up. So, we snuggled for an hour before work instead. But, I've gotten my last chapter read, so I'm ready to start writing tomorrow morning. I finished listening to The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and started On Writing: A memoir of the craft by Stephen King. Yesterday I got my blog post done, and my journal page finished too. So I've been keeping up with that. I'm also planning on writing another short story contest entry today and comment on the other blog entries for Blog City. |
"Bash it out now, tart it up later." - Nick Lowe Thoughts and Ramblings Today is going to be just a thoughts and ramblings kind of day. I'm running out of time before bed and couldn't find a writing exercise I wanted to do, so this will have to be good enough for the time being. So, I finished Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques and started The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle by Steven Pressfield. It's a book I've listened to more than once and I'm sure it's one I'll listen to again. There's a lot of great advice in it. As for my Writer's Cramp entry. That turned out to be a bust. I didn't read the guidelines well enough and ended up getting my entry kicked out for not putting the word count in the forum post. Lesson learned. Now I need to get writing on my next entry. One of the things I started today is an idea I got from Writing Great Fiction. I took a book I've read a few times and am dissecting it. I have a notebook, and I'm outlining it, writing down each character and what the author used to describe them, and each location with descriptions. By doing this, I'll see how she builds up her characters, how she put her story arcs together, and how she draws the readers into her world. It's an interesting exercise so far, and I think I'll learn a lot from it. |
"It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance." ~ Steven Pressfield ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** "The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well as the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche. What are your thoughts? It boils down to growth. A snake whose skin can't shed is unable to grow, they're strangled by their own skin and die because of it. The same can be said of the mind, though it doesn't die a physical death if it refuses to grow, it can die a spiritual one. A person who gets locked in on one set of ideas doesn't move with the times, they fall behind and get lost in their own history, "Back in my day and the way things used to be." If you spend all your time looking back, then you miss out on all the things that are happening now, and you might as well be dead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Writing Exercise: - 7x7x7 - Find the 7th book from your bookshelf. Open it up to page 7. Look at the 7th sentence on the page. Begin a poem that begins with that sentence and limit the length to 7 lines Book: Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice Line: Still isn't. Still isn't. Still isn't what? Does it matter? Of course not. Nothing matters. Not now. Never again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings So I didn't get anything else done yesterday. Instead, I played Simon's Cats on my phone. Today isn't too bad. I listened to Writing Great Fiction while I played Simon's Cats on my phone. That's a step in the right direction. Right? Anyway, I also set up a template for this blog so I don't have to keep reformatting every day. Later, I'll be taking my son out school shopping. School starts Monday, so I'm rather behind the ball this year. Oh well, such is life. I can't believe he's in 1st grade already. Not much else to add. |
"Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." ~ E.L. Doctorow ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** 8/11 Perseids Meteor 8/21 eclipse “Tonight I feel like a shooting star, but I hope my shine will last much longer.” ― Bernard Jan Discuss this quote A streak of brilliant white shot across the velvet black tapestry of the night. There and gone in an instant, but the memory of it painted itself on Tom's mind. A small streak of beauty in an ugly world. Too bad it couldn't last. Too bad he was the only one around to see it. Somehow, his shine continued to burn, when so many others had been snuffed out. Tom's lips curled into a reluctant smile. "I bet you'd laugh to see me now, brother." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Writing Exercise: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to use this month's eclipse as a source of inspiration. Write something about the eclipse--a poem, a short story, a news report, a post-apocalyptic first-person perspective, a diary entry--something. (From newsletter: "Short Stories Newsletter (August 9, 2017)" )The scrape and ruffle of countless feet, some wearing shoes, others boots, slippers, and bare, combined to create a sound to match the ocean in its sheer vastness. Aside from the endless rustle of clothing, and a few plaintive moans, the sea of bodies moved in silence. Then, darkness began creeping over the desolate landscape even though the sun hung high and bloated in the bowl of the summer sky. A dark shape took a bite out of the golden orb. Bit by bit, the sun was consumed, like all the people of Earth had been consumed by the plague at the start of these sun soaked days. As darkness fell, the crowd of ever moving dead, slowed. Slowed. Slowed. Stopped. Darkness held sway in the middle of the day, and the dead stood silent, waiting for the light. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thoughts and Ramblings I got a few extra things done yesterday: I submitted "Invalid Item" to "The Dialogue 500" .I completed three reviews on different items here. I finally figured out how to compile in Scrivener, so I'll be using that for my NaNo project this year. Today I did the following: 1. I wrote in my Journal. 2. I listened to Writing Great Fiction. 3. I listened to podcasts: I should be writing, and ditch diggers by Mur Lafferty. 4. I signed up for NaNo prep classes offered here: http://www.wesleyan.edu/cpi/idd/NaNoWriMo_enrollment.html My goal today is to get some writing done after I put Dante to bed. I want to get the next chapter of my fanfic outlined and started, review an edited chapter from my beta, and perhaps start on a short story about the world through the eyes of a teenaged zombie girl. |
"Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing." ~ Melinda Haynes Writing exercise: Write a scene based off a photograph. A child has died, and the parents are grieving. Do not use the parent, or the kid, or use the word dead.  1st attempt: The wind stirred, setting the tire horse to swinging. Its gleaming black hide reflected the warm sunshine and the creak of rope on wood held the hidden sound of a child's laugh. Summer froze, locked in the moment of waiting as the handcrafted horse rocked in the teasing wind of an empty front yard. 2nd attempt: Early afternoon sunlight filtered through the emerald leaves, creating an endless shifting pattern of shadows on the lawn. A few weak beams of light penetrated the green shelter and fell on the dark hide of the lovingly crafted tire swing horse. A late summer breeze set the horse into motion, each lonely swing pulled a rasp of rope on wood, and the day held its breath, waiting, waiting for forgotten laughter. Thoughts and Ramblings As the heading suggests, this portion of the blog is going to be a bit of a free write of my thoughts for the day. Feel free to skip it if you want. This is the first entry of a new blog. I decided to go with the concept of a Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So, good reader, here is my first step. It's my goal to add a step a day until I reach one thousand. Once I get there, we'll see if it's a Journey I want to continue, or if it's time to move on to different things. My writing life is odd. I'll go months or even years without writing, but as time passes, the urge will grow in me until I simply have to write again. Usually, the catalyst for the need to write is NaNo, as it is this year. Thankfully the urge took me now, so I have a couple of months to prepare. Last year, it was almost October before I decided to throw my hat in the ring, and it didn't work out very well. On top of that, I began another Journey last year starting August 5th, 2016. that's when I found out I was pregnant with my 2nd child. That also contributed to my utter failure at Nano last year. I was both exhausted and scatterbrained. Focus on writing just wasn't happening and it took almost a year and some change for me to climb back on the horse. I gave birth to Dante May 2nd, 2017. He was a pretty big Little Bit, weighing 8 lb 8 oz. Somehow, I managed to pull off the whole thing almost all natural, which is kind of crazy for an induced birth. I'll probably tell the whole story some other time. Back to writing. So today I've accomplished a few things. 1. I started this blog. 2. I bought a writing journal that I plan to handwrite in every day. 3. I bought some writing bribes in the form of coffee flavored candy. 4. I read 3 short stories off Sciencefictiondaily.com. My goal is to have them accept one of my short stories. I've been rejected twice so far, and have a third item submitted now for them to consider. 5. I set up an account at Create50.com. Sadly, they aren't accepting submissions at this time, but I have the account in case they do another project. 6. I'm listening to the audio book: Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques by Professor James Hynes. That's where I got the writing exercise up above. 7. I wrote the first page in my writing Journal. Not bad for the first day. I hope I can keep it up. |
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