Well, we survived another week. Tell us about all the stuff that went on in your life so you have some reason to post here regularly. Then include what writing you did or not did and why. Hopefully next week, if you did not write or did not meet your goals, you will realize next Monday is coming up and you will open some project and do something so you can say you wrote.
We all agree new writing is writing, but editing is also writing, even if it is the work of another. Critiquing is also editing and therefore is also writing. Poetry, blogging, technical writing, article writing, writing assignments, world and character creation are also writing. E-mails and board posts can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to story or writing. If you have to ask if it is writing, the answer is yes.
Many who post here have mentioned some accomplishments such as writing THE END, or submitting something, even if it is declined. I make a pont to never post again to these notes so I wish to say congratulations.
As for me, I did not write anywhere near as much as I wanted to or needed to. I had sent my latest piece for reading by a first reader and the suggestions stung a little but were completely valid. I then talked on the phone and gained some more insight. I realized I was trying to write too short, leaving out a whole lot of key information, explanation of what was going on. As a result, I added 1500 all new words to my work, nearly all of it in pre-story scenes. What is going on will make more sense, though It may be telling too much. I will have to see later. Many of the scenes ahead of me will change dramatically. I have developed a better feel for the world I am writing in. It expanded quite a bit. I also found out that I did not understand what I was writing as well as I thought. these things are good to know.
On the story idea front, I am up to date for this day of the month. I have 39 story ideas in compost pile. There were several days where I had a number of story ideas, and then there was time where I had nothing new come in. some of the new ideas look like they are fun to write. A few I wrote failed to live up to what I imagined. An example is there is a joke that says, "What keys o children carry? Cookies!" I thought that an idea would be great about where children can pick any lock as long as they have a cookie in their hand. they always had a decision as to whether to eat the treat or pick a lock. the idea fell short of my hopes.
Because of the weather, I spent my time working metal this weekend. The metal working lathe has a point on the tail stock that sticks into the metal and does not spin. I decided to make a new point just for the fun of it. I have not put it to use but it looks like it will work nice. All sorts of projects I planned to do did not happen because of the weather.
using the above for a story idea, his work involved some very large machines. Each machine had to be taken out of the barn to be used. He had a small machine shop he stuck onto an old boat since it was a comfortable place to work. When the weather got bad, he would get onto the boat and work on small projects since he could not pull the big machines out. One day, a really bad weather approached. He went out onto the boat and got to work. It was not until the boat was shaking that he stopped to look outside. Water covered the ground, too deep to wade and the wind was really strong. The trailer was the only thing keeping the boat from floating away. His wife waved from the second floor. He somehow heard that it was a bad flood coming. He raised the support of the trailer tung as one would do for traveling, and started the boat's engines. He used the propellers to move the trailer backwards with the boat still on it since the water was still a little shallow for the boat. he got it up to the porch of the house and his wife got the kids on board and then piled in supplies. Once she finally got on board, the water was deep enough for hm to disconnect the trailer and motored away from the house. They tied up to a tree as the water kept rising, having to change their tether point several times as it rose. While waiting, he sat and worked his craft. His wife and kids did not like the space it took up within the boat, but he could not put them away without damaging something. when the water subsided, he had made it back to his yard. Everything in the barn was ruined. most of his possessions in the house was lost. He was still able to do some work because of the equipment on board the boat. His wife even admitted that his equipment on the boat saved their lives. If he had not been on board the boat, they likely would not have survived the flood.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Posted by Ken S (Member # 9010) on :
Yes, I did write. I've managed to secure about an hour a day (the one just before bed, no less) that I can use to write. I'm knocking out about 300 words on average. This is partly due to my typing speed, and mostly due to the fact that I seem to be physically unable to just write without going back and editing as I go. At least, as my typing Kung-Fu improves, I'll get more words in during that hour
Additionally, I've got some critiques rolling in on the short story so part of this post next week will include some final editing before I start shopping it around.
Ken
Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :
Yes, I did.
Mostly on BLOOD IS THICKER. A little on MAGIC'S FOOL. A few tweaks to MAGE STORM.
Yep I wrote a little this week. About 10k words on my YA novel "Corsairs of Ikrith". I need to go faster than that but for now not bad.
Posted by mythique890 (Member # 8586) on :
I haven't done much this week. Well, I've blogged a lot more than usual and I wrote a new outline for the novel I need to redo. I think the plot is much stronger, but I don't know if I'm happy with it yet.
The main reason I haven't written anything is because I submitted a story to a professional publication for the first time in my life about a week ago. I'm planning on a rejection, because I know that's what happens and I don't want to get my hopes up, but I feel like part of me is just... waiting. Of course I won't stop writing when the rejection comes, but my first-time-submitter nerves aren't allowing me much focus these days. Luckily this place has a quick response time, so I should be out of my misery within two weeks.
Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
Yep, I did.
None on New Mage--almost thought of a better title though but it didn't quite come.
Did a bit on Angel Kin-- I may try for another title for that one too. Angel Kin sounds like the name of the series.
Wrote a couple of flash stories. Tried to make them what I call minis-- under one hundred words --but they are 700 and 800 words. Along with another two that came in a bit over 1800 and 1700. I think I said this before but I have two or three more hand written that I need to type out. Don't know how long those will be. Under a thousand but not sure if its under five hundred.
With no stories to work on I started a shortee western today. Hopefully it will be a mini but the way those others went probably not quite that short. I want to do at least one more western but if both go well maybe I will do a few. I do have one short story western.
I think they rejected that letter to the editor so I will be placing it on my blog with a couple of additions. It's hard to squeeze everything into 200 words but I look at it as good practice as well as getting my viewpoint out there. But I will wait a day or two to blog it to make sure my local paper as surprised me at times by waiting over a week to publish a letter of mine. There is another one I want to do bad-- which isn't unusual-- but we have to wait thirty days after a letter is published. So another reason to wait a day or so longer. Speaking of getting my viewpoint out there I thought about starting another blog just for politics and societal comments. But that would take up my fiction(No comments from the wise guys please) writing time.
But as I mentioned on another thread I'm not writing as much as I could be. Too much playing around for some strange, unknown reason-- I do have an idea for one or two reasons.
Posted by pdblake (Member # 9218) on :
Lots of editing, some blog entries and a blurb.
Back to actual writing this week.
Posted by Crank (Member # 7354) on :
My past two weeks have been a mess (that's the G rated description), so I'm only now starting to get back into my old writing groove.
I finished two flash fiction pieces (my first two ever!), and have sent to them out in search of good homes. I'm also a few dozen words away from completing a third.
I'm renewing work on my mainstream novel. So far, I've only been editing, but there will be a few spots where I'll be writing all new material.
One science fiction short story is progressing well. Another is going through an entire conceptual workover.
The first story of my YA series (some of you read an excerpt from it in the Action Scene challlenge) is in the hands of my son's friends; early feedback included the quote: "A good read so far."
Back to it! Steve!
Posted by axeminister (Member # 8991) on :
Go Steve!
I was not planning a report here, but indeed, I've latched on to a new idea and have written 1k. We'll see where it leads.
However, I'm happy to just be 1st drafting again. Definitely something that can be taken for granted.
