Home Posts tagged "writing" (Page 4)

Tag: writing

Taking Time to Try New Things

Howdy, friends! Did you see my new story on Saturday? (It’s here, if you missed it.) I wrote it completely for fun. One of the writing communities I belong to has this neat challenge every month called a genre stretch. The idea is to try writing outside your comfort zone, to try new things and to stretch your writing muscles, in theory making you a better writer overall. “Deserts and Domes” was my story for the February genre stretch. Each month, two genres are offered, and you can write in either one. Or you can combine both, which is what this story is. Genre 1: Gilded Age romance. Genre 2: Dystopia. You see the appeal. It’s like a writing prompt, but you can write basically anything as long as you incorporate the basics of both (or either) genre. I prefer to do the combo, versus just one, because it provides more restrictions and also gives a basic form to the plot. I also did April’s, which was: Genre 1–Campus Novel; Genre 2–Slipstream. So far I’ve been pretty pleased with the results. As a writer, you have stories you like and ones that you’re more lukewarm about, even when they’re decent stories, and I’ve liked both I’ve done this year. I don’t know, but there’s something about working in broad, new genres that is very stimulating to creativity. That’s what they say, right? Keep learning, keep trying new things, and you’ll only get better, and you won’t go stale. And it’s…

Continue reading

My Writing Process

So last time I talked about how writing wasn’t fun anymore. I’m still working on that problem, most recently by writing flash fiction (very very short stories). Just the other day, I finally submitted a flash fiction story that I’m happy with. Even though it’s less than 300 words, my process for that story was kind of a microcosm of my process for longer stories as well. So I thought I’d share… Step 1. Decide on a concept to write about. In this case, I was writing something to submit to a themed anthology with some specific parameters. I’ve done that before with some success–even if I don’t end up submitting to the particular anthology that sparked the idea, it helps kick-start my brain. Other times, I’ve started with a one-line “what if” idea. Step 2. Brainstorm several different stories based on that initial concept. This stage often involves research. The idea here is that whatever I come up with first is probably also what other writers will think of first, so I need to keep brainstorming until I find something more interesting or unusual. Step 3. Write an exploratory draft based on one of those story ideas, with more research as needed. At short-story length, I don’t outline much (if it’s flash fiction, not at all). I just throw a bunch of ideas on the page and see what sticks. By the end of the draft, I’ll have a clearer idea of what I was trying to do with…

Continue reading

When Writing Isn’t Fun Anymore

As a writer, I periodically hit this point. My Serious Novel work-in-progress feels too hard. (It may or may not have anything to do with where I am in the novel. Some parts of writing a novel just suck–even Neil Gaiman says so. But sometimes that’s not the problem.) Editing one of the short story drafts I have floating around feels too daunting. And starting a new novel? Forget it. I can drift along for months without writing anything. A couple of years ago, I even announced that I was quitting altogether. (It…didn’t stick.) Sooner or later I give myself a shake and go looking for the fun parts of writing–the parts I used to know about when I was a teenager, but somehow get harder and harder to find the more I learn. One year, I got out of this slump by writing Firefly fanfiction. Another year, I started plotting a contra dance–themed cozy mystery. Two years ago, I challenged myself to write the smallest possible thing every day–it led to a lot of haikus and then, eventually, flash fiction. (Which led to me placing third in a flash fiction contest and then getting to help judge it last year, as well as making my first pro-rate sale. But that’s not the point of the story.) Why yes, this does happen regularly. It’s a cycle. I know this. Doesn’t make it any easier to avoid falling in…but at least I’m getting practice climbing out of it? The current strategy?…

Continue reading

Putzing About

Oh, friends, my November was gloriously productive. It was so productive I’ve gotten cocky. No doubt that will be a mistake later, but for now, I am reveling in it. So, the time goal worked out really well. I got a ton done. So I’m continuing that for December, though I’ve lowered it to 30 minutes because Holidays and so forth. So far, so good. I’m actually ahead for the month. Aside from that, I’m still working on drawing/shading/coloring classes. It’s been very interesting, though we may be getting to the point where I should stop doing classes and actually start working on projects.  I’ve also started doing some vocal skills classes. It’s been a long time since I’ve had any sort of instruction on the matter–probably high school. All the choirs since then have just assumed you know what you’re doing and left you to flounder if you don’t. So hopefully that will be useful in the future. Right now, so far, it’s been pretty basic, and also I have a cold and singing makes me cough. AND I’m sewing again, making presents for Christmas, as well as putzing around with other random projects (including patching the pile of clothes that need patching). My mother and I went to Goodwill Outlet last week (where you can buy clothes for about $1/pound) so I now have stuff for other projects should the Christmas presents go well. It’s a creative monstrosity over here. No doubt eventually I will have so many options of…

Continue reading

Real Life Strikes Back (Again)

Two months ago I told you about my annual writing retreat and how it felt. I also shared some strategies that I was working on to keep that retreat feeling going… set up a room in my house that has NO clutter and is used for nothing but writing, reading, and other Internet-free pursuits (not a pipe dream, I’m actually working on this one) set up a writing schedule (I had one, once upon a time) — not for product, but for time spent on the process Predictably, Real Life struck as soon as I got back. Strategy number one still needs work (I am pecking away at the clutter, one itsy-bitsy step at a time) but I’ve made some progress on strategy number two. I signed up for National Novel Writing Month as a “NaNo Rebel” — doing the challenge on my own terms. Like Kit, I set a time goal for myself. My goal was 25 hours. I made it to 9. Not exactly great. But also, not bad. It got me writing for solid chunks of time again, and pushed me to do more than I would have otherwise — not a lot more, but small gains are more sustainable anyway, right? I worked a bit on the novel that Kit and I are writing, but spent most of the time wrestling with an edit of the short story that I pounded out in less than a week during the retreat. (Okay, that was first-drafting vs. editing.…

Continue reading

Learning

I’m learning my friends. Last month I talked about over-committing, submitting my musical, work, and family commitments that were weighing me down, and all the grand plans I wasn’t getting to. So, for November, I decided to make no commitments at all. (Of course, some of them are ongoing–the Christmas show and concert, kid things, Christmas in general. We’re hosting Thanksgiving again this year after me boycotting doing so last year, but I’m not going to stress about it. If people don’t like how I run it, they can go elsewhere, or they can host it themselves.) What I DID do was set a time goal. 45 minutes a day on something writing related. Literally anything counts. Outlining? Counts. Research? Counts. Watching marketing videos that I’ve had open for six months? Counts. Drawing potential children’s book characters? Counts. I made a list of things it would be nice to get down or make progress on, and off we went. And it is working so well. It’s brilliant. It’s the 13th, I’ve done a little over 9.5 hours of my 22.5 goal, and I have: Updated all my metadata after the CreateSpace/KDP move Finished my anthology story (super excited about the antho!) and edited/revised it Revised a short story Wrote my serial story section for the month (and outlined to The End, a few thousand words off) Looked over the status of the nonfiction series I’ve been working on for three years and outlined the final book (which I am going to start…

Continue reading

Writing Retreat vs. Real Life

Last week I was away at the annual writing retreat that my critique group holds. We rent a cabin on a lake (called a “cottage” in these parts), bring our laptops, take turns cooking, and sit around typing in companionable silence all day, with breaks for long walks and swims (well, not this year, too cold) and talking about craft and publishing. It’s also my Internet and news detox week for the year. I’ll read books, but that’s all. It’s always wonderful. (I wrote a first draft of a longish short story that you’ll get to see early next year, fiddled around with an edit of a different story, started brainstorming some new stuff, and even wrote some poetry.) My absolute favourite place to write is on the deck surrounded by forest, or down on the dock, or somewhere on the wooded slope in between. This year was mostly too chilly for that. But on several of the days it was crisp-not-cold, nice enough for long walks through the changing leaves. It’s like magic. The mental and physical clutter of daily life is gone. Normally I have wrist issues and confidence issues. Somehow, on retreat, the one gets managed* and the other just…vanishes. *Okay, it’s not a mystery. I managed by being very careful. I took lots of breaks, switched between my laptop keyboard and my external keyboard, did lots of stretches including solid 15-minute sessions of yoga each day, and also switched to Dragon dictation software at the first…

Continue reading

The Best Laid Plans

Oh, friends. I was so excited for September. The trees are already starting to turn and autumn (the best season, fight me) isn’t far away. Plus, for the first time ever, all my responsibilities will be in school, at least for part of the week. Free time! ahahahahah Or, at least, that was the plan. I made a list of all the writing things I was going to get done in September. It looks something like this: -Children’s books -Nonfiction series -Finish draft -Write anthology story -Edit first chapter on submission novel -Work on Sekrit Project II Admittedly, that is a lot of stuff. But I have guaranteed free time! For the first time in years! ahahahah Unfortunately, two things have combined to destroy all my writing plans. The first is that I have decided I need a change in day job. Admittedly I’m not really day-jobbing on a regular basis at the moment, but it turns out that editing/working on other people’s stories kills my enthusiasm to work on my own. So in a few years all my responsibilities will be at school full time, and I can go back to work in an industry that is creative, but differently creative. So I’m learning how to program. I picked out a course on Coursera and am about halfway done with it. But man, does it take a lot of work! More than I’ve spent working on my freelance and contract jobs in recent years. That by itself is eating…

Continue reading

Planning for Never

Have you ever spent a ton of time of a project you suspect you’ll never do? If you’re anything like me, you love the idea. You do research. You plan things out. Everything would be ready to go…if you would just start it up. Sometimes I even go so far to buy supplies that never get used. (Though I try not to get to that point, because that’s a waste of money that could be used for coffee and books.) There’s something so lovely about an idea, isn’t there? Because it isn’t real, because it doesn’t exist, the possibilities are endless. Of course, there are sometimes reasons not to go through with something–if it’s too expensive, if you don’t have the skills to pull it off, if you can’t fit anything else in your schedule, if you can’t or won’t actually do anything with it when it’s done… The nice thing about ideas is that there’s lots of them. Another one will come along. Or maybe things will change, and that idea will become a reality. I had that happen recently–I planned a short story years ago, but never wrote it. Except now I have, and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, as well. And it doesn’t hurt anything to plan. It’s fun. It’s practice. And maybe something will actually come out of it. Currently I’m poking fantasy clothing. We spend our summers at festivals–medieval festivals, renaissance festivals, Scottish festivals–you name it, and we’re game. And I don’t…

Continue reading

Filling Plot Holes For Fun (and Profit)

So, I’ve been doing edits on Fireborn, our August release. This book has had an interesting life. I wrote it in January 2015 as a sequel to Reaper Girl, the novelette that was published in the Under Her Protection anthology. It was 23,000 words, too short on plot, not enough murder (lol) and I set it aside to work on other things. Then last year, it was time to work on this year’s production schedule and I thought, hey, if I just expanded it, I could have a novel to publish in one of our empty slots. Never mind that I had about five months before the deadline (January 1st) and had hardly any ideas about what precisely I would expand it with. (I’m pretty sure my fellow TDPers thought I’d lost my mind, but I saw it as a challenge). I wrote like a madwoman for three or four months, then submitted it on time, no less, on January 1st. I was supposed to get editorial feedback on March 1st, but there were some delays, so I got it on April 1st, with a revised release date of August 1st. With me so far? In late April, I had a panic attack because I was sure my next deadline was May 1st and I was pretty sure I couldn’t finish on time (for health reasons) and emailed my people and asked for a two-week extension. I believed I could finish it by then. Ha, ha. Hahahahaahahahahaaha. Nope. (But, good news:…

Continue reading