This is a method to try to embarrass me into writing, by giving me a fixed goal to aim for to produce something. While the date is in the title, it is just marking what date it was posted. It is really referring to the entire week since this was last posted. This is also posted to give yourself a target to try to write, or feel embarrassed if you don't meet any goals. I have no shame so I myself, am never embarrassed by not writing or reaching any goal....
I restarted my woodworker story. the new version has 1010 words, and is on page 2, single spaced. I had a habit years ago, and am starting it again, to put the word and page count at the bottom of the page when I write something. This shows I am accomplish something. Now, I will keep the old figure there, and update a new figure until the next time I have to post this. If I am editing, I will show the word count and page count changes, the original and new, and helps me know what kind of effect I am having on the work. Last week's DYW? note was where I got the handle on what I was writing. What I now have is basically an old woodworker getting in the middle of a battle between weed fairies and plant fairies. He will end up coming up with a peaceful solution while bothering both groups. It is a stronger story already and I have barely started.
I am still one idea ahead on my story ideas. I am hoping tomorrow or Wednesday to add an extra idea for the month. That will put me at about five ahead for the year. I would rather be fifty ahead, but five will be good.
With my story ideas, I am always needing a name for some character. Usually, I will come up with something out of my head, a regular name, likely alternating between some twenty names. I got the idea a while back that since I am getting all these junk mails, I don't use a junk mail filter, I should collect the interesting names I see as the sent names. I did it a for a while, and then my computer died on me. Luckily, I sent a copy to my writing partner. I had built up a new list and then had her send me a copy and have since added to the list. Some of the names I am adding are not really names, but they will go good for monster, alien, organization names. Slight modifications, or using one of the spell check selections gives me even more opportunities with the names. I am adding to the list all the time. This is a single column of names, one name per line. I have 21 pages of names, for a total of 871 names as of this writing. Periodically, I do an initial caps on the names since I generally write them down in lower case, and then I do a sort to get them in the proper order. Finally, I will scroll through the names looking for any that have been repeated. Now the hard part is to choose the name that feels right for the situation.
I have the bowl for the turkey bowl just about done, I have the head roughed out and mainly need details cut into it, and have picked out the wood that will make the tail feathers but have not decided how I will mount them to the bowl. It already is looking good. I did some tests on a couple ornaments I have wanted to try. my wreaths came out pretty good. They are basically wooden rings with a bow carved into them, and the rest of it is roughed out, then I paint them with different colors. I need to glue beads onto them and they will be done. Two down and another ten to go. My candy canes are pathetic so far. I will make another try and if that does not work, I will not do them. A lot of my problems are due to mistakes of the idiot working the wood. I know how I want them but am not getting things right. Maybe if I measured, I might have better luck....
There is a tropical storm in the area of South Florida. where I live. The weather fairies are in mating season, speaking breathlessly about the approaching storm. It seams like every year, there are more of them to get excited about a strong wind. The real difference between a weather fairy and a reporter, is that a weather fairy is too dumb to get out of the rain.....
For holloween, I am going out as a moron. Everybody I know says I have had a lot of practice.....
The answer to the question of the day, for me, is, Yes I did write.
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Yes, finally finished (with exactly 24 hrs to spare, or 48 depending on how you look at the deadline) my Apocalyptic Taco Mix story. It weighed in at a hefty 7600+ words. I did better with this story than most, in that I was able to drive a lot more conflict and action, I think. Whether it's BELIEVABLE conflict, and ENTERTAINING action, well - that's up for debate. But at least I let go and let my character end up with things not going his way for most of it.
I've got to dig out my Nano outlines and character sketches now. It's time to go into high gear there.
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Nah. Still stuck in neutral, what with adjusting to going back to work and trying to clean up my so-called office. But I'm hopeful of the future...
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I did write, though painfully, and slowly. It's hard getting back into the swing of things after three weeks off. I had several false starts. I almost called it quits entirely ("I can't do this! I suck as a writer! Everything I write is so terrible it should never see the light of day!". But I stuck to it, and gradually I'm beginning to pick up steam, and starting to feel better about things.
I'm still wrestling with my WIP. It's been inspirational, seeing people here move forward with their WIP from first to second draft. I keep dreaming of the day I'll get to post my 13 in the novels section, and actually solicit readers. Secretly, I work out a query in my mind, fantasizing of the day I'll get to post that, too!
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Yes, I wrote my Apocalyptic Taco Mix short story, 'Halos, Husbandry and Hallucinogens,' 2400 words of SF. I quite surprised myself. I've never entered a challenge before, and found this topic singularly uninspiring - until I ruminated and googled upon it for a while, whence a story emerged, kind of. I had the concept, the problem, the main characters, but not the resolution.
I don't like starting to write until I have it all worked out in my head -- an old habit from my software engineering days. But the deadline was looming so I had to start writing regardless of how comfy I felt. I was completely surprised when the characers(including one I thought was minor but wasn't) took over and sorted it out for me.
I don't mind how well or otherwise the story does in the competition. I'm more pleased with it than I expected to be, and learned two things from it: even the most uninspiring target phrase can lead me to a story; starting to write with a deadline, even without a clear idea of what will come out, might work for me after all.
Also, I critiqued one or two stories for other Hatrackers.
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I've done a fair bit of writing trying to get my head on straight for Nanowrimo. Not really sure it's there, though.
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But at least I let go and let my character end up with things not going his way for most of it.
