Month: March 2013

My April Challenge

DaffodilsI follow Kristi Holl’s blog and own 2 of her books, Writer’s First Aid and More Writer’s First Aid. I find her blog and her books inspiring.

For the month of April, Kristi is running two challenges. One is called Writing on Schedule. Inspired by writer Dorothea Brande, this challenge asks you to commit to writing at one particular time every day. This can be tricky, but Kristi believes that it’s worth the effort to make that deadline stick: ‘Persevere! Ignore all the little voices that tell you it doesn’t really matter when you write, or won’t matter if you skip it just this once. Push on doggedly. If you do this, Brande says the “unconscious will suddenly give in charmingly, and begin to write gracefully and well.” From experience, I have to agree.’

The second challenge is called Harnessing the Unconscious. This challenge, also inspired by Brande, requires writing first thing in the morning before the rest of the day intrudes on your mind. Kristi explains, ‘This exercise helps you “train” your unconscious to flow toward writing (instead of something else). As Brande says, “the first step toward being a writer is to hitch your unconscious mind to your writing arm.” This exercise is to help you make that automatic connection so that later you can do this on demand.’

Well, this is definitely the challenge for me. By the time I get to my writing, I’m so fidgety and my brain is so full of to-do lists and other things that I would rather clean the bathroom than look at a screen or my journal. The words ‘flow’ and ‘writing’ have been strangers for quite a while. I really need to find an ‘automatic connection’ that will help me write ‘on demand’ and if that means waking up fifteen minutes earlier every day, I will do that.

If you need a writing challenge for April, one of these two might just be the answer. I’d love some company next month, so let me know if you’re signing up, and we can encourage each other to make these positive changes to our writing lives. I’ll be posting some new writing prompts for April soon, in case you need some inspiration to get the words on the page.

p.s. I reviewed Kristi’s book here http://wp.me/pBoEr-6U

p.p.s A reminder that my book 201 Writing Prompts is on sale at Smashwords, at 50% off the $2.99 price with this code ZA54M until March 31st.

Word Count and a Book Sale

Well, I said I’d report on word count this week, but I have realized what a dumb measure of writerly activity that can be. I finished a short story draft for the anthology (1190 words) and worked on a second story (771 words), which is the sum total for my creative writing word count. I’ve also rewritten the introduction to my book, 201 Writing Prompts (more on that later), many pages of handwritten journal notes, lots of information updates on Amazon’s Author Central, and a pile of research notes (also handwritten.) I also, finally, finished formatting my middle readers’ fantasy for ebook and hard copy publication–not a speedy process, but greatly helped by a set of book design templates created by Joel Friedlander. Yes, word count really doesn’t reflect the writing and writing-related work that does get done in a week and doesn’t count the staring-into-space thinking time that also makes up a part of my writing life.

The rest of the week was busy with classes, finishing a crocheted afghan for my mom, lots of driving my son around during March break to music lessons and friends’ houses, a visit from a plumber for a leaky pipe, a fun trip to Chapters, and, most scary for me, a trip to the licence bureau for my son’s learner’ permit. Although, after the most recent pick up, at midnight last night, I’m thinking we should have started on that sooner. All in all, a good week.

As I mentioned above, I’ve done some revisions on 201 Writing Starters, including changing the title to 201 Writing Prompts to land it in the right place in searches on Amazon, etc. To celebrate finishing this long overdue change, the book is on sale at Smashwords, at 50% off the $2.99 price with this code ZA54M. Here’s the extended blurb about the book:

All writers have th201 Writing Promptsose days when inspiration just seems to fly out the window—when the blank screen becomes a sadly accurate reflection of the sorry state of your imagination and you start your fourth game of FreeCell in ten minutes. Or you have a day when the current writing project just sits there like an ugly pile of February slush—all memories of the lovely white snow it started out as are gone, and all it’s good for is creeping in that one small hole in your boots and making your life miserable, wet and cold.
Some people call this writer’s block. I call it a temporary pause in the creative process—actually,I call it a lot of other things, too, but I’d have to change the rating on this book if I printed them.

The writing prompts in this book are for those days.

But they’re also for the days when you just want to play with words. They’re for those times when you need to clear your brain of the messiness of your day and warm up before tackling the project that means so much to you. They can serve as prompts for your daily writing journal, too. Trust me, if you break them down into their individual components, you’ll have enough to last a year! Maybe you could share one with your writers’ group one night and enjoy the completely different stories that emerge from the same prompt.

How you use the prompts is up to you, but I encourage you to use them for whatever purpose works for where your writing is right now.

The book is divided into chapters of ten random writing prompts each. The prompts come in a variety of formats from lists of titles and opening lines, to reflective questions, to random snatches of dialogue and brainstorming topics. Work through them in order, or dip into the book anywhere you please.

I hope you enjoy exploring these writing prompts, and I wish you many, many hours of imagination and creativity.

I still have to make changes to the book/cover on Amazon, and it will take a while for the other ebook distributors to get the current issue. All on the list for my next writerly week!

What writerly things are on your agenda for next week? Hope you have a creative and fun seven days ahead!

 

 

The Gift of Time

photo by Jenny Kaczorowski WANA Commons
photo by Jenny Kaczorowski WANA Commons

This week was the time for one of those palm-to-the-forehead “duh, how could I have been so silly” moments. On the plus side, I did figure things out eventually. What I figured out was that, thanks to a great teaching timetable, I had been given the gift of time to write this semester, and I wasn’t using it as much as I should be. I mean, am I a writer or not?

Well, “not” judging by my output. I’m very talented at wasting time on the computer, checking business email, LinkedIn, two school email connections, Twitter, RSS feeds, and too much solitaire. I have done quite a lot of brainstorming, but I haven’t sat down and actually cranked out the words. Typical fear of blank screens at play there. And I do mean typical–I do a lot to avoid LED-face time. And I was particularly effective last week.

However–

I will not be letting time slip away this week. Maybe it’s spring fever, but I feel energized and positive about moving forward–something that’s been missing for a while. Maybe it was getting my author copies of Sherlock Holmes and Orphanage Mystery and seeing how amazing the finished product looked with all the illustrations. Maybe it was coming up with a new story idea for the anthology.  Maybe it was getting excited about doing some research. Maybe it was having a lot of marking to do and having to put the writing aside to get that done–and finally realizing that I can write and mark and that that was no excuse. A lot of things.

The marking pile is lower now, and I’m going to sit down this week with my Alphasmart Neo to get some writing done. If you haven’t seen one of these great contraptions, here’s a link. It’s a sturdy plastic keyboard that runs on AA batteries (for 700 hours!) with a very small screen and no Internet connections. It’s robust, portable, and distraction free and with a fuss-free USB connection, it loads your work into a Word document on your computer. It solves 2 of my distraction problems at once –no Internet and no solitaire–and I can use it anywhere.

So onward to a busy week of marking, writing, house chores, etc.–but there will be writing. You’ll get my wordcount report next week!

So much fun getting my author copies this week from Caramel Tree/JLS Storybook Project
So much fun getting my author copies this week from Caramel Tree/JLS Storybook Project

March 2013 Writing Prompts

Feb. 28, 2013The photo shows how February said goodbye in my part of the world. The snow looked very pretty yesterday morning, but once you’ve admired the view, the realities of shovelling the stuff lessen the glow a little. And after the plow has gone by and filled in the end of the driveway–again–the white stuff, now slush 2 feet high and weighting what seems like a ton, has definitely lost its appeal.

So, I’m more than ready to welcome March today. Though the temperatures will be registering in the minus 10s Celsius, the forecast holds no snow–and I and my very sore back are truly grateful.

Here are some writing prompts for the month to keep help you creative while you wait for spring.

1. Use one, some or all of these words in a story or poem.

a) milk, bulb, frame, grass, candle, brick. b) sack, nail cuff, page glass, leaf.

2. Try one of these opening sentences.

  • The noise was enough to wake the dead–except in Bill’s case.
  • Rainbows? And ponies? All I needed was a unicorn and all hope would be gone.
  • Helen shivered in spite of being dressed warmly for a late October midnight.
  • Whoever said “silence is golden” hadn’t heard the scream that preceded it.
  • Erik reined in his horse and saluted. “I’ve seen them.”
  • Light. Finally.

3. Try these pieces of dialogue and see what happens.

a) Pitir pointed to the east. “Sandstorm, sir?”

I followed his gaze. “I think I would prefer it. The wind’s coming from the west.”

b) Did you see that?

No.

Good. Then I’ll pretend I didn’t see it either.

c) Stop.

Why?

The price is too high.

d) Pass me that will you?

I can’t.

Why?

It’s stuck.

4. Here are some titles. What story or poem might go with them?

The Lion and the Lamb, By the Book, Table for Three, King’s Chance, In the Cards, Heart’s Winter, Counting Down, Clean Sweep.

5. Here are some things that are commemorated by their own day or week in March. Some were a suprise to me. Can you think of something that would be fun to celebrate in March? What kind of event would you host?

St. Patrick’s Day, Vernal Equinox, Easter, Passover, World Kidney Day, International Woman’s Day, National Frozen Food Month, National Peanut Month, National Bubble Week, National Crochet Week, National Pig Day, If pets had thumbs day, Be Nasty Day, Johnny Appleseed Day, Potato Chip Day, Chocolate Covered Raisin Day, Waffle Day, Something on a Stick Day and March 14 (3.14) is National Pi Day.

 

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