Showing posts with label Worth Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Worth Reading. Show all posts
I have officially done it
Kamakazi writing
I wrote about this last year, but didn't end up doing anything about it. The idea is to write 50,000 words of a novel from scratch in the month of November. I've made excuse after excuse--some legitimate, some desperate, some completely unnecessary--as to why not to participate in this and it occurred to me this year that I am ridiculous. When in my life am I ever going to have time, or have patience, or not have a million other reasons why I shouldn't be doing this? So... over the next month I'm going to go even more insane than I already am, but won't it be fun? To be honest, I've decided to pseudo cheat and use an idea I already have, but it is a bare bones outline at best, so I'm not feeling too cheater-pants-ish. I'm also fairly certain there is no way on earth I'm going to make it to 50,000 words, but...Thirty days and nights of literary abandon here we come!
Time Is On My Side (at least it is when I say it has to be)
I have a bunch of lovely magnets* to place on my calendar board every day/week that tell me that today is laundry day, or floor cleaning day, or errand day, etc. and they really are lovely (everything is better with cute magnets to move around). They do keep me on track concerning the never ending household to dos for the most part, but today I added the newly deemed all important "Project" magnet and I'm pleased as punch. I really think this is going to give me a shot at getting at least one of my books done as I will likely use this largely for writing.
So research has commenced and I'm writing again. I've checked out my body weight in helpful books from the library** and it's full steam ahead (for at least one day a week). All-in-all I think this is going to be a very helpful development both for my writing and my sanity.
*Thank you Shannon for the fabulous idea. It may or may not have literally saved my life.
**Thank you to anyone who commented on the best advice books/advice on my previous blog post and if anyone has anymore ideas they are still very welcome.
What's in a name?
One of the things I find hardest about writing: names. Character names, names of places, etc. I always have the hardest time with the names. I want them to be perfect, but it seems like they never are. I have only found one name that I really liked for a character in the history of the whole history and that story I'm not even ready to start really writing yet. No good.
NaNoWriMo
I've heard about this NaNoWriMo that comes around every November for a while (for the record their motto is: "Thirty days and nights of literary abandon" which makes them awesome from the get go). They have been doing it since 1999 and essentially it is a challenge in the month of November to write 50,000 words of a novel from scratch. The point is not to write an amazing novel, or even a good one for that matter, the point is to get a bunch of crazy novel aspiring/writing people together, and through the thrill of the challenge, force them to crank out a novel that they might end up throwing away entirely, but forcing the creative juices to get flowing either way. As they put it, "The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly." I love them for this, but I haven't yet worked up the courage to do it. Every year I have the great debate and every year I find one or more marvelous (albeit occasionally far fetched) excuses that prevent me from participating. And of course this year is no different; even though I'm coming a little late the party this year, I haven't made up my mind whether I'm actually going to give it a go or not. I keep running into the fact that, a: I barely have any time as is, and b: I am a big fat chicken. I don't know if I'm ready to pull 50,000 words out of my head at the risk of simply throwing them all away.
I'll let you know by the end of the month if I took the challenge this year or succumbed to my many excuses, but I wanted to share it all the same just in case anyone I know who is a closet writer like me would like to take them up on it.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano
Advice on Advice
I am attempting to do a little research for one of my works in progress and I need a little help. I’m wondering two things:
1. What is the best relationship advice book you have ever read?
2. What is the best relationship advice you have ever been given/have to give?
Feel free to answer either/both/none of the questions, but any comments would be much much much appreciated.
This Bites
My stories run up and bite me on the leg—I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off—Ray Bradbury
I respectfully request that these ideas leave off for a bit so that I can be productive and focus on the one that I needs me. I am trying to finish a book in my spare time which is little enough time as it is without adding the fact that I keep getting distracted by the other maybe-someday-will-be-books. I need to just buckle down and finish the darn thing already.
YA Fiction
I love this post and I completely agree so I thought I would share:
Some YA romances are not ok. My sister and I were just barely talking about this problem the other day agreeing that the abusive or ridiculous relationships in most teen fiction these days is one of the reasons we want to get our books out there--in the hopes that someday soon the trend will change and someone will see that you don’t need to have an abusive/lusty/completely surface relationship to make a YA book sell. We’re female. We love a little romance. And romance in teen books can be great, but since when did I-fell-in-deep-and-abiding-love-at-the-age-of-15 or you-are-essentially-an-evil-stalker-so-you-are-my-soulmate become the norm? Not ok.
Welcome, Welcome
I’ve started a blog. It’s official. I finally gave in because… Frankly, it just seemed like it was time. I can’t make any promises, but will endeavor to keep up with it the best I can and use it to share our escapades whenever possible.
In addition to that… I have an announcement, a confession really: I’m writing a book. More like five of them if we are being accurate. They seem to keep spawning. It started with one idea, and then that idea begat another, and then that idea decided that it was actually two ideas, and so on and so on. No good. Or good I guess, but better if these little ideas would stop getting ideas of their own and allow me to finish one idea before creating twelve more.
Either way, I have always been a closet writer, never quite brave enough to own up to the fact that yes, I would indeed love to publish one of these ideas. Not that I have delusions of going straight to publishing all my works and becoming world famous and beloved by generations to come or anything, but it’s time to admit it: Like every other housewife in America
The point of this is, I decided to start a blog in an effort to
a: see if these spawning ideas are anything worth,
b: write what we do that is of worth, and
c: get some blabbing out of my system.
a: see if these spawning ideas are anything worth,
b: write what we do that is of worth, and
c: get some blabbing out of my system.
That said, welcome to the blog.
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