| Wednesday, October 01, 2008 |
| Getting back into the swing of things |
Gee, I'm horrified to realize that I haven't been blogging at all. I used to blog fairly regularly over at the Moonglade Elite Authors blog, but that site has been having lots of technical problems and hasn't been available for what seems like months.
I need to change that no-blogging thing,s o here I am.
This week, I'm participating in a Book In A Week class directed by April Kihlstrom. If you're a writer and haven't come across the concept, it's an eye-opener.
For one week, you clear the decks, prepare your storyline, gag your internal editor and spend the whole week just writing. No editing, no reading over what you've already written. Every day, just get as many words done as you can. Squeeze it in around meals, family, work, school, whatever. Pen and paper, PC, laptop, Alphasmart, anything you have access to.
The goal is to produce a first draft of a book in the week you set aside for it. Editing can be done later, when the whole story is structured and ready for the meaty work of layering in sufficient emotion, foreshadowing, action and dialogue. Make notes to yourself on index cards or use MSWord's Comments feature, which lets you embed your notes for later research right there, where it's needed.
One thing I've learned this week is that while navigating the obstacles that life throws at me, I forget how magic the cumulative totals can become when even just a little gets written each day. Writing a full page a day, anyone can finish a book in a year. Writing 1,000 words a day, I can finish a novella in a month or four books a year. Not bad!
If you writers ever get a chance to participate in April's workshop, jump at it! You'll increase your productivity for at least that week, you'll learn a lot about how you write, you'll learn about how others write, and you'll have fun.
Hugs,
Liddy |
posted by Liddy Midnight @ 1:33 PM  |
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