Hatrack River Writers Workshop: 10-22-07 Did You Write?

This is topic 10-22-07 Did You Write? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :

10-22-07 Did You Write?

The question is intended to embarrass me into getting my bottom into the chair and writing something. It does not always work. It is posted in hopes that it helps others to force themselves to write. I hope it helps.
Writing is not just new rough drafts. It can be editing your piece, editing someone else's work, or doing the work in preparation for starting a new project. It does not have to be stories either. It can be poetry, short stories, articles, columns. I guess long E-mails could count, though I might draw the line there because of all the E-mailes I write and don't count them.

Someone asked if there was a problem of them posting this DID YOU WRITE? note when it was not posted by me. Anybody can post anything they want. If I am late, it does me a favor. I will try to be on time with it though.

AS to the question at hand, I can excitedly say "Yes, I did write. In two sessions, I wrote five pages, 2800 words on a new story. This is roughly based on a character I have used in my Waxy Dragon stories, and is about two fairy dolls I was given.
The character is a woodworker who can actually see what is inside the wood, which is patterns that remains in the wood after Elfin children hid their presents within trees until it was time to gift them. He just removes the excess wood around the pattern within the wood to come up with his art.
The fairies get him to help bring their gardens back to a pretty state, preventing weed fairies from taking over their garden. I am writing it by ear right now (maybe I should try my hands) and I think I just got the handle on the story in that last sentence. Thanks.

I have continued with my story ideas. I am at this moment, one idea ahead for this moment of time in the month. I have had some fun ideas to write and have a couple more that are begging to be written. I might be able to get another idea ahead for the month this weekend if I put my mind to it. The more ahead I am, the better it is the whole year. Two years ago, Hurricane Wilma passed by and I had two weeks without power so I could not post. I had seen the storm coming and got several ideas ahead. I then only needed to catch up just a few more ideas the following month when I had power, to be where I was supposed to be for the year. Being ahead, though, helped a lot.
To write regularly, it is an advantage to not have a life. I have about an hour a night to write my story ideas, and another hour to post them and other notes I write on line. Not many people have two hours a night to spend on writing. Any other writing I do is fit into any spare time I get. My place looks like a bachelor pad for a good reason.....

I finished my duck bowl and it came out good. I can see where I can improve on it, but right now there is no rush on it. I asked someone in the know what he thought it was worth. We cam upon two hundred dollars. The only problem is finding someone who will pay that much.....
I have started a similar bowl, but this one will be a turkey. No, it won't be that bad, it will have a turkey head and I might also add feathers. I have a good start on the bowl and the bowl will dictate everything else about it. The way the wood looks now, if I do not destroy the bowl, I will have a really good looking project.

The way I would use my bowl making in a story, is to have someone try something really difficult, something they really wanted to avoid, but had to do it. After a long, difficult struggle, they finish the project. The suddenly realize it was not so bad. They decide to try something a bit more difficult "for the fun of it" because they already had success.
This could be hunting down and killing a monster, building palaces, taking out bandits, manufacturing something of power, or cleaning a storage space. The basic story is the first project, and the ending would be their deciding to try another one.

As to the question of the day,
I can say, "Yes, I did write!"
Did you?

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

Yes. I'm working on a new first chapter for my collaboration piece.

AND I've been reading and critiquing the work of others, too.

Not to mention, doing artwork (making my living) and illustrating a short for the Hatracker-based online magazine: Flash Fiction Online.

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

Yep! It's been a good couple of weeks for me. More to come.

I did another draft or two of blog posts for the tech mom blog I'm launching (some day soon here...) I want to launch it with a number of posts, so there's some content to browse right from the start. So far I have a draft of the mom side of myspace, a draft of cool productivity tools (palm pilot + wireless keyboard), and a mental draft of digital housekeeping.

I wrote 2800 words today on my Apocalyptic Taco Mix story. I'm about 1/3 of the way through, which means I have a lot of editing in my future since the word cap is 7k.

I am still noodling away on my outline for my nano project. I'm excited about it. Lots of fun ideas to explore, I just need to generate more events, more scenes, and keep the stakes high and the action moving.

Posted by KaliAngelKat (Member # 4064) on :

Write? Not much today. I sat and read articles on the Church's website most of the day. Too much strife in the house to do any constructive writing.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

Well, I managed to print out what I'd written of my novel---came to three hundred seventy nine pages and took two cartridges to finish---but I haven't done more than browse through it. My plan is to read it and make extensive notes as I do---but these things have a way of changing as I do them.

Other than that, the tail end of my vacation consisted of me settling in and reading, and sleeping at night for up to ten hours at a time---things I won't be able to do once I go back to work Wednesday night.

Posted by RobertB (Member # 6722) on :

I've done some work on a section of my novel which is only just beginning to shape up properly. Apart from that, I'm rather bogged doen in proofreading some work of my wife's; technical writing in her second language is a major hurdle!

Posted by Tricia V (Member # 6324) on :

I've been rethinking what I want to write for Nanowrimo and also my principle career goals in life. That is, do I want to be a writer who does something else to pay the bills, or something else that writes on the side.

Posted by Sparrol (Member # 5734) on :

Yup, a few thousand. Finished and 'published' a chapter, consisting of roughly 7500 words.

Posted by annepin (Member # 5952) on :

Okay, going to try to get into the swing of things here. Just came back from a 3-week trip to France. It was fantastic (my first time), but I didn't get a sentence of fiction writing done. It's going to take me a while to get to full-steam again. Luckily, nanowrimo is coming up. Of course, I have no idea what I'm going to write. Not even a character or scene idea this time, which I've always had before. I'm afraid Nano is going to keep me from my WIPs, though.