With NaNoWriMo fast approaching, and me not exactly having the clearest idea of what I want to write yet, I've started looking up basically all the writing prompts I can find to get the wheels greased and going. I've already found one list of Sci-Fi prompts that do well in getting me to think outside the box. Or perhaps it's inside...it is bigger on the inside...(you're welcome fellow Whovians). I think I would rather have my "writing box" to be more like a TARDIS for that very reason, come to think of it.
One of these days, I'll eventually make it through my ever growing list of writing prompts. One day. But while I was searching, I came across this picture that said to describe it without using any of the obvious things in it (beach, people, sand, etc). Basically, the same concept for Taboo. Making that connection, it got me thinking, "Of course! Why haven't I thought of that before?" One good writing exercise is just that-to describe something and forcing oneself to not use any of the obvious words. Use the senses other than sight perhaps, how a place smells, how it makes you feel. I'll go on ahead and say it right now, that would be a fantastic exercise for me to do. I need more practice doing that.
And then I remembered this long (I'm talking 6 months here) writing exercise I've had since last year. I kept telling myself last fall that I would set aside the months starting from the summer, and go until the end of the year and I would complete the exercise. And according to what it says, "be a better writer". I remember it saying that you (the writer) would hate him for challenging you to do this, but in the end, you would be a better writer. I'm not really sure what or when it happened, but I've noticed lately that I am again going through another time in my life when I want to truly be a better writer. One worthy of having my stuff read. I want to be happy with what I write and be perfectly ok-content even-with the idea (and hopefully it would actually happen) of people reading what I write.
Anyway, I think perhaps next week I'll do my blog post on the six month writing exercise. For now though, I still can't make up my mind on what I want to do for NaNoWriMo. So from now until the end of this month, if you want to help me decide, I'm including a poll with the three options I keep bouncing between. The first is to do the third re-write of my first novel I started. I am determined to finish it one day and hopefully publish it. I love the story, but it needs serious updating. I shudder when I remember the things 15-yr-old me wrote way back when. But it is the story that made me really want to be a writer for the first time, so it's special to me. :)
The second is to start from scratch on a new story idea that I got in the past couple of months. It's not very well fleshed out at all, so I would probably end up pantsing through NaNoWriMo. A concept I'm still trying to get used to sometimes.
And the final one is to just work on a bunch of short stories I've had promised to post for a long time. If I concentrated on my list of short stories, I think I could potentially get up to ten (length of each one varying) stories done and posted on my Wattpad. Part of me really wants to do this because I feel like I've been neglecting y'all by keeping on promising I would post a new story or chapter, and it hasn't happened yet. And I feel like I would have a sense of accomplishment seeing more short stories ready and waiting to be read.
So. If you want to help me decide what I should do for NaNoWriMo, then let me know! :)
Well, I think that's about it for this week. I'm sorry today's post is so late in the day, today's been an off day. But the important thing is the post is up now for the second Blogging Friday. Here's hoping I can manage to keep this consistant with how crazy life is, lol.
Liz
Friday, October 17, 2014
Friday, October 10, 2014
The Blog Life
So I recently went back to look over my blog history for how often I've blogged since I first started a few years ago. I know it's been extremely sporadic the past year or so, to say the least. And I want to do better about that. But life's been crazy with everything going on in the family, so it's hard to balance everything and keep writing, let alone blogging. Of course, I will be trying to focus on writing a lot more for NaNoWriMo. I mean, in my mind, that's my writing month. It might as well be called Writember instead of November, lol.
But anyway, I realized that the first couple of weeks of this blog was pretty much just non-stop blogging. I would blog once, even twice a day for a week straight. That's definitely a lot more than I've been doing since. So I've been thinking it over, and I think I'm going to try to designate a blogging day. One day a week, I will set aside some time to update a new blog post. Hopefully over some time, this will become a habit I don't even need to think about. I would like to have maybe two a week eventually, but we'll see how this goes. I have to get one habit started first. While I'm at it, I'll probably just have a day set aside for writing as well, that way I'm more guaranteed to have at least one day out of the week to write. Right now, with things as they are, I'm getting less than that done. Maybe it's just NaNo Prep, but I've had that writing stirring inside me and on the brain a lot more than it has been. I still don't know exactly what I'll be working on come NaNoWriMo, I may very well end up trying to multi-task as I tried doing in July Camp NaNo. There's so many ideas stirring around, and I've discovered in the past year or two that if I let that energy build up, then I'll have more excitement and drive when I actually get to writing. If I jump on whatever pops in my head, then my energy and ideas run out fast. Perk of waiting: most of the ideas I have are one little piece and tend to be a bit on the obscure side, so in waiting for my idea tank to fill up, the words generally pour out more at a time. And it's better that way. I can flesh it out a little better having thought it out a little more.
Chances are, once I decide on a writing day, you'll probably see posts about no interruption days or #WritingWednesday...something like that. I rather like Writing Wednesday, now that I think about it. Anyway, whenever I decide on a set day, there will more than likely be posts popping up here and there about it. Heck, I may even have a daily total at the end of Writing Wednesday (or whatever day I pick). That is...if my total word count isn't embarrassingly low, lol. Then again, anything is a step in the right direction. And it would be more than I'd have gotten done the day before. I think while I'm at it, I'll go on ahead and say I'll start today with Blogging Fridays. I'll start trying to get a new blog post out each Friday. The November posts will be the same as usual-stats at the end of each week, then it'll go back to normal posts. I rather like this designating a day thing. I'm thinking maybe I should've started that from the beginning, but back then I was blogging all the time. It'll be nice to get back to blogging more often again. Who knows? Maybe I'll even break my previous record for posts in a year (grand total of 20).
So here we go, first Blogging Friday in what will hopefully be a long line of Blogging Fridays. I'll say it now, if I don't make it one week, I probably have a very good reason. And I'll announce when I finally settle on a writing day as well.
One last thing...I just want to take a minute to thank anyone who's read anything of mine-whether you're a first time, or returning reader of this blog. Or maybe you're a reader on Wattpad/Booksie. Or a follower on Facebook/Twitter. Whatever it may be, I thank you, and I am flattered that anyone would take time out to read whatever it is. Lately there's been a peak in Twitter followers, and I just want to say thank you everyone! I've watched that number slowly climb since I started on Twitter, and seeing it climb higher since this summer just reminds me that my dream of writing is happening. Slowly, but surely, one day I will hold in my hands the proof copy of my debut novel. And a lot of the reason why will be because of you, dear readers. Because your support and encouragement-whether voiced or not-will be a big thing that pushes me to really go after writing. I'm getting there more each day. So thank you, everyone, anyone who has been there through all of this so far, and whatever may come. You mean more than you could know. :)
Love always,
Liz
But anyway, I realized that the first couple of weeks of this blog was pretty much just non-stop blogging. I would blog once, even twice a day for a week straight. That's definitely a lot more than I've been doing since. So I've been thinking it over, and I think I'm going to try to designate a blogging day. One day a week, I will set aside some time to update a new blog post. Hopefully over some time, this will become a habit I don't even need to think about. I would like to have maybe two a week eventually, but we'll see how this goes. I have to get one habit started first. While I'm at it, I'll probably just have a day set aside for writing as well, that way I'm more guaranteed to have at least one day out of the week to write. Right now, with things as they are, I'm getting less than that done. Maybe it's just NaNo Prep, but I've had that writing stirring inside me and on the brain a lot more than it has been. I still don't know exactly what I'll be working on come NaNoWriMo, I may very well end up trying to multi-task as I tried doing in July Camp NaNo. There's so many ideas stirring around, and I've discovered in the past year or two that if I let that energy build up, then I'll have more excitement and drive when I actually get to writing. If I jump on whatever pops in my head, then my energy and ideas run out fast. Perk of waiting: most of the ideas I have are one little piece and tend to be a bit on the obscure side, so in waiting for my idea tank to fill up, the words generally pour out more at a time. And it's better that way. I can flesh it out a little better having thought it out a little more.
Chances are, once I decide on a writing day, you'll probably see posts about no interruption days or #WritingWednesday...something like that. I rather like Writing Wednesday, now that I think about it. Anyway, whenever I decide on a set day, there will more than likely be posts popping up here and there about it. Heck, I may even have a daily total at the end of Writing Wednesday (or whatever day I pick). That is...if my total word count isn't embarrassingly low, lol. Then again, anything is a step in the right direction. And it would be more than I'd have gotten done the day before. I think while I'm at it, I'll go on ahead and say I'll start today with Blogging Fridays. I'll start trying to get a new blog post out each Friday. The November posts will be the same as usual-stats at the end of each week, then it'll go back to normal posts. I rather like this designating a day thing. I'm thinking maybe I should've started that from the beginning, but back then I was blogging all the time. It'll be nice to get back to blogging more often again. Who knows? Maybe I'll even break my previous record for posts in a year (grand total of 20).
So here we go, first Blogging Friday in what will hopefully be a long line of Blogging Fridays. I'll say it now, if I don't make it one week, I probably have a very good reason. And I'll announce when I finally settle on a writing day as well.
One last thing...I just want to take a minute to thank anyone who's read anything of mine-whether you're a first time, or returning reader of this blog. Or maybe you're a reader on Wattpad/Booksie. Or a follower on Facebook/Twitter. Whatever it may be, I thank you, and I am flattered that anyone would take time out to read whatever it is. Lately there's been a peak in Twitter followers, and I just want to say thank you everyone! I've watched that number slowly climb since I started on Twitter, and seeing it climb higher since this summer just reminds me that my dream of writing is happening. Slowly, but surely, one day I will hold in my hands the proof copy of my debut novel. And a lot of the reason why will be because of you, dear readers. Because your support and encouragement-whether voiced or not-will be a big thing that pushes me to really go after writing. I'm getting there more each day. So thank you, everyone, anyone who has been there through all of this so far, and whatever may come. You mean more than you could know. :)
Love always,
Liz
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Gone running with the Doctor. Be back soon.
Borrowed for a few adventures.
The Doctor
I seem to be doing a lot of apologizing for hiatus' in blogging, don't I? I had meant to keep up with blogging, even had a growing list of blog ideas to keep me going. But then I met the Doctor. That is to say, I finally got around to sitting myself down and watching this show I kept hearing so much about. I'd watched the first reboot episode a long time ago, but had yet to watch anymore up until roughly a month ago. Almost five seasons in, I am definitely a hooked Whovian now. Heck, I was a hooked Whovian before the first season was over. I think it's safe to say that until I get caught up (which should be soon-only three more seasons to go), my writing and blogging will probably suffer a little. My goal is to get caught up in plenty enough time to participate in NaNoWriMo as usual. I have two ideas I'm going back and forth between.
I know I promised a summary of how the Camp NaNoWriMo session back in July went, but there isn't much to tell. Still, I'll get on that and post how it went soon. Somewhere in between all the running with the Doctor.
Other than my newfound Whovian-ism, life has been a bit crazy. My mind is spinning with everything I have going on, or the things I need to get done. Plus some things going on with my grandparents for the past few months. I'm trying to get a handle on things, but it's just a lot. Please bear with me. I'm trying to get back to writing and blogging, but there's so much else lately that's grabbing my attention. Once I manage to make a decent dent in my to-do list, hopefully I'll be able to really get back to writing. But sadly, for right now, writing takes a break while I work on other things in life. But come November, rest assured one way or another, I'll be back to writing. One thing I can say about July NaNo is it gave me newfound confidence in knowing that I can hit 500 words in 30 minutes-something I never knew about myself before. Knowing even a portion of my potential does wonders for confidence for my writing in general, but more specifically in NaNoWriMo. Sadly, I have a standing record of not hitting that 50k goal all of the years I've participated. Only one year have I gotten even close. I doubt this year I'll hit it, but then you never know. One year though, I will hit that goal. And one year, I will be attending The Night of Writing Dangerously. Knowing me, I'll probably talk and socialize all night instead of writing like I'm supposed to, but I have no idea if I'll even get to go more than once. Although, it would be really cool to hit that 50k goal that night. I think they take your picture or give you a crown or something like that. It's been so long since I really looked at The Night of Writing Dangerously.
Anyway though, just thought I'd drop a quick note saying that I'll be running with the Doctor for a little bit longer. But come November, I'll have writing on the brain again. I have actually been thinking more of writing lately, but there's just too much else going on for me to have the time right now. Once I get some of that checked off my list and off my mind, I'll be more free up to focus on writing for NaNo. :)
Always running...
Liz
The Doctor
I seem to be doing a lot of apologizing for hiatus' in blogging, don't I? I had meant to keep up with blogging, even had a growing list of blog ideas to keep me going. But then I met the Doctor. That is to say, I finally got around to sitting myself down and watching this show I kept hearing so much about. I'd watched the first reboot episode a long time ago, but had yet to watch anymore up until roughly a month ago. Almost five seasons in, I am definitely a hooked Whovian now. Heck, I was a hooked Whovian before the first season was over. I think it's safe to say that until I get caught up (which should be soon-only three more seasons to go), my writing and blogging will probably suffer a little. My goal is to get caught up in plenty enough time to participate in NaNoWriMo as usual. I have two ideas I'm going back and forth between.
I know I promised a summary of how the Camp NaNoWriMo session back in July went, but there isn't much to tell. Still, I'll get on that and post how it went soon. Somewhere in between all the running with the Doctor.
Other than my newfound Whovian-ism, life has been a bit crazy. My mind is spinning with everything I have going on, or the things I need to get done. Plus some things going on with my grandparents for the past few months. I'm trying to get a handle on things, but it's just a lot. Please bear with me. I'm trying to get back to writing and blogging, but there's so much else lately that's grabbing my attention. Once I manage to make a decent dent in my to-do list, hopefully I'll be able to really get back to writing. But sadly, for right now, writing takes a break while I work on other things in life. But come November, rest assured one way or another, I'll be back to writing. One thing I can say about July NaNo is it gave me newfound confidence in knowing that I can hit 500 words in 30 minutes-something I never knew about myself before. Knowing even a portion of my potential does wonders for confidence for my writing in general, but more specifically in NaNoWriMo. Sadly, I have a standing record of not hitting that 50k goal all of the years I've participated. Only one year have I gotten even close. I doubt this year I'll hit it, but then you never know. One year though, I will hit that goal. And one year, I will be attending The Night of Writing Dangerously. Knowing me, I'll probably talk and socialize all night instead of writing like I'm supposed to, but I have no idea if I'll even get to go more than once. Although, it would be really cool to hit that 50k goal that night. I think they take your picture or give you a crown or something like that. It's been so long since I really looked at The Night of Writing Dangerously.
Anyway though, just thought I'd drop a quick note saying that I'll be running with the Doctor for a little bit longer. But come November, I'll have writing on the brain again. I have actually been thinking more of writing lately, but there's just too much else going on for me to have the time right now. Once I get some of that checked off my list and off my mind, I'll be more free up to focus on writing for NaNo. :)
Always running...
Liz
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