I feel like I should post something, but I don't have much to say right now that won't take some time to put into coherent words. Actually, the only thing that I'm really capable of speaking about right now is history, since it's coming out of my ears.
Skip the following to avoid excessive complaining.
History is also why I'm so tired right now...since I got 3 hours of sleep in the last *checks clock and counts on fingers* 30 hours and counting. Completely my fault, since I fell prey to Procrastination over the week and ended up with 250+ pages of a book on the Nez Perce Indian War, 2 chapters from the textbook, and 10 of the documents from that time period that I hadn't read that needed to be read by the today at 11 AM. So I was up until 2 finishing the book, and then got up at 5:40...
But you don't really need to hear me complain. But here's a question for you - are you a night owl or a morning...I can't think of what we normally call morning people. Anyway. I'm a night owl, and I often get some of my best writing, especially poetry, done in the wee hours of the morning, right around 3-5 AM. Signing off for now, although I hope to have a tips post up later this week. Don't expect too much from me in the near future though, due to the large number of exams and whatnot that are creeping up on me. :)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Writerly Warriors
One of my favorite ways to make myself write is to get involved with a writing group. I use this term loosely, since I include just a couple people word-warring under the category "writing group". Today I met up with a couple people at a coffee shop.
One of the people had done NaNoWriMo with me (2011), and the other was a new person that she had brought. It was a bit small, but it was nice seeing each other again and catching up. We wrote for about an hour - she hand writes and I have no idea how she does it. My hand would cramp.
So as I typed away - rather slowly compared to my NaNo-speed - I finally made it past the final fight scene! I feel it was a bit anticlimactic though. It only took nearly 10,000 words to get through the freaking thing. Of course, I don't personally think I'm very good at fight scenes to begin with. But perhaps a more climactic moment will come soon, when I have my main character - but no, I shouldn't tell you. You'll have to wait until it's completed to read it for yourself.
As a side note, I have no idea why I titled this post Writerly Warriors. I thought it sounded cool, and I commend everybody who even attempts writing.
Do you have any writing groups you're part of? Do you like it or not, and how do you think it affects your writing?
One of the people had done NaNoWriMo with me (2011), and the other was a new person that she had brought. It was a bit small, but it was nice seeing each other again and catching up. We wrote for about an hour - she hand writes and I have no idea how she does it. My hand would cramp.
So as I typed away - rather slowly compared to my NaNo-speed - I finally made it past the final fight scene! I feel it was a bit anticlimactic though. It only took nearly 10,000 words to get through the freaking thing. Of course, I don't personally think I'm very good at fight scenes to begin with. But perhaps a more climactic moment will come soon, when I have my main character - but no, I shouldn't tell you. You'll have to wait until it's completed to read it for yourself.
As a side note, I have no idea why I titled this post Writerly Warriors. I thought it sounded cool, and I commend everybody who even attempts writing.
Do you have any writing groups you're part of? Do you like it or not, and how do you think it affects your writing?
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Mushy - Ew!
Have you ever noticed how there's an awful lot of love poems? I think it's possible to categorize all love poems into three categories - wishing for love, in love, and breakups. What other categories can you categorize poetry into?
The following poem is just something that I spit out - I don't particularly like it. Oh well.
Empty
My heart is empty,
Because I can't breathe,
With that look in your eyes,
That says you hate me,
Even though you say you don't,
If I could have one wish,
I would wish for us to go back in time,
Back to the way we were when I didn't feel this way,
Back to the way it was when you said you loved me,
And I believed you,
I shelter my heart behind an iron wall,
Pretending that what you say doesn't matter,
Trying to convince myself that you weren't good enough for me,
But I still loved you,
And I still love you,
So I can't go on,
While my heart is empty.
The following poem is just something that I spit out - I don't particularly like it. Oh well.
Empty
My heart is empty,
Because I can't breathe,
With that look in your eyes,
That says you hate me,
Even though you say you don't,
If I could have one wish,
I would wish for us to go back in time,
Back to the way we were when I didn't feel this way,
Back to the way it was when you said you loved me,
And I believed you,
I shelter my heart behind an iron wall,
Pretending that what you say doesn't matter,
Trying to convince myself that you weren't good enough for me,
But I still loved you,
And I still love you,
So I can't go on,
While my heart is empty.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Mommy, why is the sky blue?
Why? If you've spent any time at all with a toddler, you will probably be sick of this question to the point where just the sound of the word makes you ill. But it's a question that you should always be thinking of when creating a story. You may have heard this called "motive".
Motive is why characters do anything. It is also what makes the story believable. If you have a character that decides to randomly start fighting the guy passing by on the street, it is very strange. This lack of motive is why we don't have people just walk down the street and start fighting in real life, with the exception of drunks, but even then, there is a reason no matter how small.
Without motive, your characters are not believable, because they don't act in ways that you would expect of any being. This includes irrational beings, because even if someone is irrational, there will be some sort of twisted logic that makes sense in their mind which provides a logical (at least to their point of view) reason for what they do.
In addition to unbelievable characters, the entire story is then made unstable. If any plot points happen without a suitable motive, the entire story is destabilized and the reader won't be able to immerse themselves into it. Ideally, your reader will be able to completely imagine the story that you tell, because there are no flaws in it. I'll have several more posts on this I believe.
This is why it's really important to have a motive for all characters to have a motive. Large, very important motives will affect the main plot, and thus be more obvious if they aren't there or are flawed, but even the small motives are problems if they don't logically make sense. And if just one of these small motives is flawed, it casts doubt on all the other motives, large and small alike.
What motives do you find in your characters, and what motives do you notice the most? A couple common ones are revenge and love – what else have you seen?
Friday, January 20, 2012
Contest News
Well, I know I already did a post today, but I just got home, and had mail! I'd entered a poetry contest over at Creative Communication (www.poeticpower.com) which someone (can't remember who, if you know who you are, tell me and thank you!) told me about. And what d'ya know, they want to publish my poem in their collection of the top poems! I'm still in the running for the prizes, but I'm gonna be published! :D Here's the poem that I entered.
Oh yeah, and it's slightly shorter than what it originally was (I wrote it a couple years ago and just pulled it out for this), since it had to be under 21 lines...I looked through my considerable collection of poetry and could not find a single good one under 21. So this one was shortened a few lines. I kind of doubt I'll get a prize, since I don't actually think this is a very good poem, but it's cool that they picked it to be published!
Oh yeah, and it's slightly shorter than what it originally was (I wrote it a couple years ago and just pulled it out for this), since it had to be under 21 lines...I looked through my considerable collection of poetry and could not find a single good one under 21. So this one was shortened a few lines. I kind of doubt I'll get a prize, since I don't actually think this is a very good poem, but it's cool that they picked it to be published!
Voices
The voices tell me,
To try and fail,
To try and succeed,
They talk to me,
They whisper to me,
They force me,
To do things,
So I suppose I am grateful to the voices,
For making me do anything,
But I wish they would go away,
Let me live my own life,
Without the voices in my head,
I could be just me,
Not me and the voices,
With the voices in my head,
Talking,
Babbling,
I'm not crazy,
I'm not hearing things,
My mind is sane,
But for the voices in my head.
To try and fail,
To try and succeed,
They talk to me,
They whisper to me,
They force me,
To do things,
So I suppose I am grateful to the voices,
For making me do anything,
But I wish they would go away,
Let me live my own life,
Without the voices in my head,
I could be just me,
Not me and the voices,
With the voices in my head,
Talking,
Babbling,
I'm not crazy,
I'm not hearing things,
My mind is sane,
But for the voices in my head.
The White Cross
A few months ago, I was searching around for writing contests to enter. I did enter a few - not really expecting to win anything, but I figured it would be good practice to write something based on a prompt given. What's some of the best contests you have found, and have you ever won anything?
This is a short story written for a contest - I like it. What do you think?
The White Cross
This is a short story written for a contest - I like it. What do you think?
The White Cross
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Posting and Poetry
All right, I feel like I should have more regular posts. I did good at this the first week, 'cause I didn't have school, but now that school's started up again, I don't really have time to create good tip posts except for the weekends. So I've decided (just now, actually) to have tip posts on the weekend, and during the week, I'll do either samples of my writing, samples of other people's writing, or random things that catch my attention.
(If you have a piece of work that you want shown on my blog, um...contact me in some way. A comment below, email, message through this blog thing...I don't know how that works actually. Anyway.)
Before I get to the thing I'm sharing, I have one more thing. You've noticed the ads on here. If they're in the way - tell me, and I'll move them! They are where they are because I thought that would be the least obtrusive. ;) Thanks!
And now that that bit of awkwardness is over, here is a poem that I wrote a while ago - around last fall I believe. Tell me what you think!
Would You?
A smile flashes across her face,
She lights up the room with her sparkle,
But a black film taints the light,
Pretending to be happy, she
Cries
Deep inside where no one can see,
Her tears are falling,
And no one sees,
the light that once existed,
Vanish from her eyes.
If someone knew,
Could they help?
Would a confiding soul be able to save the
-------sparkle,
Rekindle the flame,
Heat the forge of life,
In her,
Where the tears extinguish the flicker,
If someone could see inside,
Would her light still flare?
But No one knows,
No one knew,
And now she is lost, drowned
In the tears,
That she hid so well,
An actor born, an actor gone,
The facade perfection to a flaw,
And no one knows,
Because no one knew,
If there was a someone,
-------to help,
Would you?
(If you have a piece of work that you want shown on my blog, um...contact me in some way. A comment below, email, message through this blog thing...I don't know how that works actually. Anyway.)
Before I get to the thing I'm sharing, I have one more thing. You've noticed the ads on here. If they're in the way - tell me, and I'll move them! They are where they are because I thought that would be the least obtrusive. ;) Thanks!
And now that that bit of awkwardness is over, here is a poem that I wrote a while ago - around last fall I believe. Tell me what you think!
Would You?
A smile flashes across her face,
She lights up the room with her sparkle,
But a black film taints the light,
Pretending to be happy, she
Cries
Deep inside where no one can see,
Her tears are falling,
And no one sees,
the light that once existed,
Vanish from her eyes.
If someone knew,
Could they help?
Would a confiding soul be able to save the
-------sparkle,
Rekindle the flame,
Heat the forge of life,
In her,
Where the tears extinguish the flicker,
If someone could see inside,
Would her light still flare?
But No one knows,
No one knew,
And now she is lost, drowned
In the tears,
That she hid so well,
An actor born, an actor gone,
The facade perfection to a flaw,
And no one knows,
Because no one knew,
If there was a someone,
-------to help,
Would you?
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Tick Tock Goes the Clock
Since my last post was kind of long, I'm going to try to make this one shorter, since I can't imagine you'd want to read a novel in one of these posts. (Actually, I don't know - do you prefer long or short posts?) So, jumping right in...
Time Management. That wasn't correct capitalization. I'm sorry. But I'm not going to change it because that would require me to move the mouse and click. (It's late - I will ramble, and hence this being short might not actually happen.)
In any case, time management is something that I'm generally not very good at, as evidenced by the fact that it is currently 1:00 AM exactly. Not anymore, now it's 1:01 AM.
Even though I'm not very good at time management, I've gotten a lot better in the recent past. (That sounds kind of weird...not sure why.) The reason for this improvement? I had to fit more stuff into the same amount of time.
Everybody only gets 24 hours a day, no matter who they are, how hard they work, or how much money they have. But some people use that time wisely, and others let it slip by without much thought at all.
Of course, if we had unlimited time, we'd be able to do everything and anything we wanted to, but I wonder if we would. Would we simply waste away, thinking that eventually we'd get to the really important stuff? Or would we be super productive? I think personally, I'd be the first.
I work best under pressure - really, I only work under pressure. Some of the things that I'm most proud of came because I was under pressure. In other words, I had a deadline I had to meet. Whether for you that's writing a novel, turning in homework, earning money to pay the rent, or whatever, I believe that it is pressure, or deadlines, that make us do anything. (This sort of ties in with Procrastination.)
Now, I really only have one thing that I can suggest, since I'm not very good at time management myself. But that is prioritize. You've probably heard this before. But I'm going to say it again. Prioritize. Take everything that you do on a daily basis, that you want to do, and that you need to do, and write it down. Or if you have a stunning memory, don't. But pick out the ones that ABSOLUTELY need to get done RIGHT NOW. Those are your top priority. This would be that fifteen page essay that you haven't done anything on that's due tomorrow.
Next, pick out the ones that need to get done, but maybe aren't quite so time sensitive. For instance, personal hygiene. No, I'm just kidding. Maybe. If it's only for that one day when you're writing 15 pages, then yes. Otherwise, probably not. But anyway.
Continue categorizing the things that you need/want to do, right down to the ones that you really want to do, but really don't need to do. Now here's the trick. Normally you'd think that I'd say, "Ok, now your top priority needs to get done first, so do all those, and then you can get to the fun stuff." But that never lasts (unless you have that iron, super power will that I mentioned in my post about Procrastination).
No, what I find works the best is to then figure out which of your "want to do" things take the least amount of time/a manageable amount of time. And then do a NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW thing, switch to a "want to do" thing, then back to a NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW thing, and back to a "want to do" thing, and so on. That way, you don't burn yourself out with the NEED TO DO list, and not be able to keep it up.
That's probably not the best option when you have a ton of NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW things, but hopefully those days are few and far between, because then you can power through for a day or two, catch up, and get back to doing things that you want to do. Because what is the point of living a life where you don't do anything you want to do? Everybody needs some fun in their life. :)
--------------
I don't actually think that ended up being shorter at all. Oh well. Anybody else have tips for managing time well? I'd love to hear them.
Time Management. That wasn't correct capitalization. I'm sorry. But I'm not going to change it because that would require me to move the mouse and click. (It's late - I will ramble, and hence this being short might not actually happen.)
In any case, time management is something that I'm generally not very good at, as evidenced by the fact that it is currently 1:00 AM exactly. Not anymore, now it's 1:01 AM.
Even though I'm not very good at time management, I've gotten a lot better in the recent past. (That sounds kind of weird...not sure why.) The reason for this improvement? I had to fit more stuff into the same amount of time.
Everybody only gets 24 hours a day, no matter who they are, how hard they work, or how much money they have. But some people use that time wisely, and others let it slip by without much thought at all.
Of course, if we had unlimited time, we'd be able to do everything and anything we wanted to, but I wonder if we would. Would we simply waste away, thinking that eventually we'd get to the really important stuff? Or would we be super productive? I think personally, I'd be the first.
I work best under pressure - really, I only work under pressure. Some of the things that I'm most proud of came because I was under pressure. In other words, I had a deadline I had to meet. Whether for you that's writing a novel, turning in homework, earning money to pay the rent, or whatever, I believe that it is pressure, or deadlines, that make us do anything. (This sort of ties in with Procrastination.)
Now, I really only have one thing that I can suggest, since I'm not very good at time management myself. But that is prioritize. You've probably heard this before. But I'm going to say it again. Prioritize. Take everything that you do on a daily basis, that you want to do, and that you need to do, and write it down. Or if you have a stunning memory, don't. But pick out the ones that ABSOLUTELY need to get done RIGHT NOW. Those are your top priority. This would be that fifteen page essay that you haven't done anything on that's due tomorrow.
Next, pick out the ones that need to get done, but maybe aren't quite so time sensitive. For instance, personal hygiene. No, I'm just kidding. Maybe. If it's only for that one day when you're writing 15 pages, then yes. Otherwise, probably not. But anyway.
Continue categorizing the things that you need/want to do, right down to the ones that you really want to do, but really don't need to do. Now here's the trick. Normally you'd think that I'd say, "Ok, now your top priority needs to get done first, so do all those, and then you can get to the fun stuff." But that never lasts (unless you have that iron, super power will that I mentioned in my post about Procrastination).
No, what I find works the best is to then figure out which of your "want to do" things take the least amount of time/a manageable amount of time. And then do a NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW thing, switch to a "want to do" thing, then back to a NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW thing, and back to a "want to do" thing, and so on. That way, you don't burn yourself out with the NEED TO DO list, and not be able to keep it up.
That's probably not the best option when you have a ton of NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW things, but hopefully those days are few and far between, because then you can power through for a day or two, catch up, and get back to doing things that you want to do. Because what is the point of living a life where you don't do anything you want to do? Everybody needs some fun in their life. :)
--------------
I don't actually think that ended up being shorter at all. Oh well. Anybody else have tips for managing time well? I'd love to hear them.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Under the Spell of Procrastination
As probably about half of the people who will see this post already know, I spent part of the day writing (yeah, you know 'cause you were doing it with me xD). In the afternoon, I did some word wars with a few people, all writing something or other. And lo and behold, in ten minutes I could produce about 250 words on average. I'm not too thrilled with this rate - back during NaNoWriMo and whenever I've done any similar challenge previously, I've been able to crank out at least 400 in 10 minutes, although it's usually closer to 500, with the occasional 600s when it's really going well.
(Personally, I think that "going good" looks better due to the alliteration, even if it isn't grammatically correct. But that's beside the point.)
Unfortunately, even at this snail's pace, I wrote more today than I have in a long time. Which, on the one hand, is good, since I'm writing again, but on the other hand, it's bad because it shows just how even more bad I have been. This failure to write has absolutely nothing to do with my desire (or lack thereof) to write, but everything to do with Procrastination.
Yes, that word was worthy of being bolded and capitalized.
I think anybody who isn't Superman or at least in possession of a Superman will knows the beast that is Procrastination all too well. If you happen to be one of those rare people that has never procrastinated, I commend you and will tell you not to read the rest of this post lest you also be captured by the beast.
Now that I have done my superhero duty in saving that poor person from being devoured by Procrastination, I will go on to help the rest of us, who have already been attacked once, to fight back.
Procrastination is rather addicting. Once you start procrastinating, you find more and more things that really aren't very productive in any way whatsoever, which makes it easier and easier to start procrastinating in the future. For instance, the person that I saved up there by telling them not to read on has never spent time on MLIA or FML or anything of the sort. There was once a time when I had not either. Unfortunately, Procrastination hunted me down and I succumbed to the lure. So now I know about MLIA and FML and various other sites that I can *waste* use time on to procrastinate. In the future, though I may fight back against Procrastination, it will be harder for me since I now know more places where I can go to procrastinate.
(Another side note: I still have a hard time saying waste time or kill time after reading The Phantom Tollbooth for the first time. If you haven't read it, finish reading this post and then go read that book.)
However, though there are many sites that you can go to that are frequent feeding areas for Procrastination (he/she visits them often to make sure his/her prey is obeying him/her), there are also sites that you can go to that are prime fighting arenas. Though this post is rather long already, I'm going to go on with those sites and other ways to keep yourself writing.
Number 1! My personal favorite, is Write Or Die. (Links to sites mentioned will be at the end of the post.) This site (created by Dr. Wicked) has a web app. It's essentially a text box that you write in - but! If you slow down (i.e. don't type), the background starts turning red in gradually darkening shades. If you don't type for long enough, it turns completely red and starts playing some awful noise to remind you. Oh, and there's a pause button in case you need to go to the bathroom in the middle of your time - but to fight Procrastination even more, you can't go to any other tabs while WoD is on pause.
Personally, I find that the noise isn't that bad - the most useful part is the shades of pink to red. Usually by the time it gets to the second or third shade, I'm sufficiently reminded to start writing again. Because that's how Procrastination starts: first you stop doing what you're doing, even if you don't realize it, and then before you know it, you're surfing the web under the spell of Procrastination.
Number 2! I don't particularly like this one, since I don't find that it fights Procrastination enough. But I know many other people like it so I'm putting it here anyway. Written Kitten! For every 100 words (number of words variable), you get a new, cute, adorable picture of a kitten on your screen! This one's more of a positive reinforcement site - perhaps that says something about me. I prefer the "do or die" sentiment than the "good job, here's a carrot" sentiment.
I suppose the carrot comes from the carrot and the stick saying, but I think that a piece of chocolate would work better than a carrot. Of course, the saying was talking about a donkey, not me.
Number 3! Moving on from the sites, these next two require another person to join you. Team work! Sort of the opposite of divide and conquer. Anyway, word wars! If you don't know what a word war is, it's when a group of people (group being more than one) decide to start writing at a certain time, for a certain period of time, and when the time is up, whoever has written the most words wins. Main point is to add a little competition to try to inspire faster production than Procrastination would otherwise allow.
I really like word wars because I'm competitive, and it gets me to the point where I can say, "Ok, at such and such time, I'm going to write as fast as I can for this amount of time, now GO." Short attention span works for me. Usually I and whoever I'm doing it with will do 10 or 15 minute spurts, with around 5 minutes in between.
Number 4! Word sprints. I don't use these very much myself. But they are similar to word wars - you need 2+ people. Set a word goal, and write as fast as you can, starting at the same time as the other person, until you reach that goal. Then see who got to the "finish line" first. Sometimes I'll throw one of these in with the word wars just to change things up, but I prefer the word wars due to the fact that I don't have to keep track of the number of words. It's really helpful to have a program that automatically tells you how many words you have as you're writing for word sprints, so that you don't waste time checking your word count.
What are your favorite ways to procrastinate? And when you don't want to procrastinate, how do you stop the beast? (answer the last one especially - I need more help in that area. The first area I'm doing just fine in.)
Write Or Die: http://writeordie.com/
Besides the web app, which is free, you can also get an app for Ipad and/or Desktop, which cost 10 dollars each, but well worth it.
Written Kitten: http://writtenkitten.net/
(Personally, I think that "going good" looks better due to the alliteration, even if it isn't grammatically correct. But that's beside the point.)
Unfortunately, even at this snail's pace, I wrote more today than I have in a long time. Which, on the one hand, is good, since I'm writing again, but on the other hand, it's bad because it shows just how even more bad I have been. This failure to write has absolutely nothing to do with my desire (or lack thereof) to write, but everything to do with Procrastination.
Yes, that word was worthy of being bolded and capitalized.
I think anybody who isn't Superman or at least in possession of a Superman will knows the beast that is Procrastination all too well. If you happen to be one of those rare people that has never procrastinated, I commend you and will tell you not to read the rest of this post lest you also be captured by the beast.
Now that I have done my superhero duty in saving that poor person from being devoured by Procrastination, I will go on to help the rest of us, who have already been attacked once, to fight back.
Procrastination is rather addicting. Once you start procrastinating, you find more and more things that really aren't very productive in any way whatsoever, which makes it easier and easier to start procrastinating in the future. For instance, the person that I saved up there by telling them not to read on has never spent time on MLIA or FML or anything of the sort. There was once a time when I had not either. Unfortunately, Procrastination hunted me down and I succumbed to the lure. So now I know about MLIA and FML and various other sites that I can *waste* use time on to procrastinate. In the future, though I may fight back against Procrastination, it will be harder for me since I now know more places where I can go to procrastinate.
(Another side note: I still have a hard time saying waste time or kill time after reading The Phantom Tollbooth for the first time. If you haven't read it, finish reading this post and then go read that book.)
However, though there are many sites that you can go to that are frequent feeding areas for Procrastination (he/she visits them often to make sure his/her prey is obeying him/her), there are also sites that you can go to that are prime fighting arenas. Though this post is rather long already, I'm going to go on with those sites and other ways to keep yourself writing.
Number 1! My personal favorite, is Write Or Die. (Links to sites mentioned will be at the end of the post.) This site (created by Dr. Wicked) has a web app. It's essentially a text box that you write in - but! If you slow down (i.e. don't type), the background starts turning red in gradually darkening shades. If you don't type for long enough, it turns completely red and starts playing some awful noise to remind you. Oh, and there's a pause button in case you need to go to the bathroom in the middle of your time - but to fight Procrastination even more, you can't go to any other tabs while WoD is on pause.
Personally, I find that the noise isn't that bad - the most useful part is the shades of pink to red. Usually by the time it gets to the second or third shade, I'm sufficiently reminded to start writing again. Because that's how Procrastination starts: first you stop doing what you're doing, even if you don't realize it, and then before you know it, you're surfing the web under the spell of Procrastination.
Number 2! I don't particularly like this one, since I don't find that it fights Procrastination enough. But I know many other people like it so I'm putting it here anyway. Written Kitten! For every 100 words (number of words variable), you get a new, cute, adorable picture of a kitten on your screen! This one's more of a positive reinforcement site - perhaps that says something about me. I prefer the "do or die" sentiment than the "good job, here's a carrot" sentiment.
I suppose the carrot comes from the carrot and the stick saying, but I think that a piece of chocolate would work better than a carrot. Of course, the saying was talking about a donkey, not me.
Number 3! Moving on from the sites, these next two require another person to join you. Team work! Sort of the opposite of divide and conquer. Anyway, word wars! If you don't know what a word war is, it's when a group of people (group being more than one) decide to start writing at a certain time, for a certain period of time, and when the time is up, whoever has written the most words wins. Main point is to add a little competition to try to inspire faster production than Procrastination would otherwise allow.
I really like word wars because I'm competitive, and it gets me to the point where I can say, "Ok, at such and such time, I'm going to write as fast as I can for this amount of time, now GO." Short attention span works for me. Usually I and whoever I'm doing it with will do 10 or 15 minute spurts, with around 5 minutes in between.
Number 4! Word sprints. I don't use these very much myself. But they are similar to word wars - you need 2+ people. Set a word goal, and write as fast as you can, starting at the same time as the other person, until you reach that goal. Then see who got to the "finish line" first. Sometimes I'll throw one of these in with the word wars just to change things up, but I prefer the word wars due to the fact that I don't have to keep track of the number of words. It's really helpful to have a program that automatically tells you how many words you have as you're writing for word sprints, so that you don't waste time checking your word count.
What are your favorite ways to procrastinate? And when you don't want to procrastinate, how do you stop the beast? (answer the last one especially - I need more help in that area. The first area I'm doing just fine in.)
Write Or Die: http://writeordie.com/
Besides the web app, which is free, you can also get an app for Ipad and/or Desktop, which cost 10 dollars each, but well worth it.
Written Kitten: http://writtenkitten.net/
Happy Birthday
Hello everyone! As you might have guessed from the title, it's my birthday today. I'm 17! I don't really have any special birthday plans though. :) I stayed up until about 2 last night, and didn't get up until 2 this...afternoon I guess is more accurate than morning. Then my brother gave me the card he made - pretty hilarious.
Dear Helen,
You know all that stuff about you being born with a younger sibling, being born from a short woman and a tall, strong father? That's a boatload of rubbish. Want to know your real past? Come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Just kidding. Everything above is rubbish. Below.... not so much.
Happy Birthday Helen! Have some money.
hehehe. Anyway, I'm going to be writing today (60days/60k, I've been neglecting you), and then later going out for dinner. :) I'll probably have another update later.
What would be your ideal birthday?
You know all that stuff about you being born with a younger sibling, being born from a short woman and a tall, strong father? That's a boatload of rubbish. Want to know your real past? Come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Just kidding. Everything above is rubbish. Below.... not so much.
Happy Birthday Helen! Have some money.
hehehe. Anyway, I'm going to be writing today (60days/60k, I've been neglecting you), and then later going out for dinner. :) I'll probably have another update later.
What would be your ideal birthday?
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Random Ranting
Well, I don't really have anything specific to write about today - I was planning on doing another couple writing tips posts, but those haven't happened yet. So instead, I'm going to fairly randomly blurt out some things in the hopes of making this post at least sort of fun.
So today I got to use my credit card for the first time - super exciting, right? But what did I use it on? Textbooks. *headdesk* Although I did buy trail mix as well so that I could have something to celebrate with.
Then later in the day, after I'd gotten back home, I was humming a song. This is a fairly common occurrence for me, so long as I'm at home or where no one can hear me. Otherwise I feel too self conscious to hum. Anyways, I didn't know what song I was humming - also fairly common. I'll frequently hum/sing songs that I don't know what they are. Just little snippets, a couple phrases from a part of the song I particularly liked and hence, has stuck in my head. So there was nothing at all unusual about this.
In any case, I was humming, and I thought, "You know, I kind of like this song, I wonder what it is?" Then I realized it was my song.
...
I suppose it's a good thing that I liked my song, although I'm not sure how greatly it speaks about the actual song that I didn't remember it was mine. xD (By the way, if you'd like to listen to this song, well, you can't. At least not yet. Although within the next week I promise I'll have finished writing and recording it and it'll be up on my Youtube channel, FlipFlyFall.)
And now, since I don't have anything else remotely funny to blurt about (I think that should be an official verb, blurt. I mean, rant is now a verb or maybe it always was, but this isn't really a rant, and it's not just a normal blog post...it's a blurt. I guess that's a noun. Anyway.), here is a "humor poem", which I wrote as my entry to a humor poetry contest. (I don't normally write things like this...but one of the past winners of the contest had written complete gibberish, so I figured I could give it a shot.)
An Alphabet Is Fine
A pflluh and a splat and a cloppity clop,
And fly away – Balloon!
Be serious please,
Bah bippity boppity – Bah Humbug!
Cookity cockity clue,
Clip clop go the shoes,
Co Co Co Caw!
Kee Kee Kee Kraw!
Lop a-dally doo
Oh, an alphabet is fine,
For a very short time,
P-R-S-T-V-X-Y
Who cares any more!
Do you?
So today I got to use my credit card for the first time - super exciting, right? But what did I use it on? Textbooks. *headdesk* Although I did buy trail mix as well so that I could have something to celebrate with.
Then later in the day, after I'd gotten back home, I was humming a song. This is a fairly common occurrence for me, so long as I'm at home or where no one can hear me. Otherwise I feel too self conscious to hum. Anyways, I didn't know what song I was humming - also fairly common. I'll frequently hum/sing songs that I don't know what they are. Just little snippets, a couple phrases from a part of the song I particularly liked and hence, has stuck in my head. So there was nothing at all unusual about this.
In any case, I was humming, and I thought, "You know, I kind of like this song, I wonder what it is?" Then I realized it was my song.
...
I suppose it's a good thing that I liked my song, although I'm not sure how greatly it speaks about the actual song that I didn't remember it was mine. xD (By the way, if you'd like to listen to this song, well, you can't. At least not yet. Although within the next week I promise I'll have finished writing and recording it and it'll be up on my Youtube channel, FlipFlyFall.)
And now, since I don't have anything else remotely funny to blurt about (I think that should be an official verb, blurt. I mean, rant is now a verb or maybe it always was, but this isn't really a rant, and it's not just a normal blog post...it's a blurt. I guess that's a noun. Anyway.), here is a "humor poem", which I wrote as my entry to a humor poetry contest. (I don't normally write things like this...but one of the past winners of the contest had written complete gibberish, so I figured I could give it a shot.)
An Alphabet Is Fine
A terrible terrible flompatromp!
A terrible hullabaloo!A pflluh and a splat and a cloppity clop,
And fly away – Balloon!
Baby go wahh,
Buh buh buh ba ba ba bloop!Be serious please,
Bah bippity boppity – Bah Humbug!
Cookity cockity clue,
Clip clop go the shoes,
Co Co Co Caw!
Kee Kee Kee Kraw!
Lop a-dally doo
Oh, an alphabet is fine,
For a very short time,
P-R-S-T-V-X-Y
Who cares any more!
Do you?
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Day 3 of 60days/60k
All right, it's time to come out and admit it. I'm behind. Shall I list all the things that have made my word count soar to the ground? Well, I'm going to anyway, so whatever you're thinking now doesn't really matter. (This is your cue to skip if you don't want to read my woes.)
So first of all, I don't know what's wrong with me, but after a month break from the wonderful writerly abandon that is NaNoWriMo, I'm having a really hard time just writing. There's no flow to the words that I'm sticking up on the screen, and I'm finding that I have to force myself to write even a hundred words. During November, a hundred was nothing. Easy peasy. (With the exception of at 5 am, having written 10k already that day, and knowing that you have to get up again in another three hours.) Now though, it's like that rushing river of words that I had in November has hit a drought.
A side note: Down to the last drop. Actually, when I said the river thing, I thought "down to a trickle", but then I figured drop would sound better than trickle since it starts with a d, and then I thought that would make a nice title. Too bad writing novels isn't that easy.
The second thing that's decided to hinder my word count is my brain. Even in the thick of NaNo, when my story and everything was fresh, I was having a hard time keeping everything straight. Now, it's worse. Who's who, who likes who, what are so and so's powers (which I'm not sure I knew to begin with), what's this person's vendetta, why do they do that, who's fighting who, etc. I don't want to go back and read it all, because A) that would take too long, and B) it's going to suck, as first drafts always do. But I have had to go back and skim over some parts just so that I could come anywhere close to having a coherent story.
Hopefully I'll catch my brain back up, and this story will actually come out. I'm now a bit worried about the other novel I need to finish - which I haven't touched since last August.
On a random note, I noticed, as I skimmed through my novel trying to figure out my own plot, that I have a tendency to add random "e"s to the ends of my characters' names. I have absolutely no reason to do so, and yet, I've found it several times. The last letters aren't even near "e", so it's not typos. Completely random. I have no idea why.
I'm sure you're bored by now, and this post is getting rather long. There was really nothing of worth in this post, besides me complaining/ranting about how I'm having problems (not that that's anything new). Apologies for that. But to make up for it, I'm planning on writing a blog post about inspiration - perhaps that will make me inspired too.
So first of all, I don't know what's wrong with me, but after a month break from the wonderful writerly abandon that is NaNoWriMo, I'm having a really hard time just writing. There's no flow to the words that I'm sticking up on the screen, and I'm finding that I have to force myself to write even a hundred words. During November, a hundred was nothing. Easy peasy. (With the exception of at 5 am, having written 10k already that day, and knowing that you have to get up again in another three hours.) Now though, it's like that rushing river of words that I had in November has hit a drought.
A side note: Down to the last drop. Actually, when I said the river thing, I thought "down to a trickle", but then I figured drop would sound better than trickle since it starts with a d, and then I thought that would make a nice title. Too bad writing novels isn't that easy.
The second thing that's decided to hinder my word count is my brain. Even in the thick of NaNo, when my story and everything was fresh, I was having a hard time keeping everything straight. Now, it's worse. Who's who, who likes who, what are so and so's powers (which I'm not sure I knew to begin with), what's this person's vendetta, why do they do that, who's fighting who, etc. I don't want to go back and read it all, because A) that would take too long, and B) it's going to suck, as first drafts always do. But I have had to go back and skim over some parts just so that I could come anywhere close to having a coherent story.
Hopefully I'll catch my brain back up, and this story will actually come out. I'm now a bit worried about the other novel I need to finish - which I haven't touched since last August.
On a random note, I noticed, as I skimmed through my novel trying to figure out my own plot, that I have a tendency to add random "e"s to the ends of my characters' names. I have absolutely no reason to do so, and yet, I've found it several times. The last letters aren't even near "e", so it's not typos. Completely random. I have no idea why.
I'm sure you're bored by now, and this post is getting rather long. There was really nothing of worth in this post, besides me complaining/ranting about how I'm having problems (not that that's anything new). Apologies for that. But to make up for it, I'm planning on writing a blog post about inspiration - perhaps that will make me inspired too.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Titles
Titles. Kind of strange that my first post on any sort of writing craft is about something that usually comes at the end of the creating process. I'll start with novel titles, but the basic principles are the same no matter what you're titling.
Ideally, a title should grab the reader's attention. But you probably already knew that. It's actually more important to think of that as creating almost a cliff hanger with the title. Your title shouldn't give away the entire story, because even if it's a great story, your reader won't be inclined to read it if they already know what happens.
For example, if I titled a book "Great Adventures of Survival: Involving a Dragon that Burns the Hero, Who Then Must Be Saved by the Princess", it wouldn't be nearly as attractive to me as a reader as a title like "A Fiery Rescue".
Now, I'm not saying that the first one is really something that you'd title your book, since it's a bit of an exaggeration, or that the second is really that great (I just made those up). But having a more concise title that doesn't give it all away will make someone who just sees the title more likely to read it.
You can pull title ideas from anywhere really. I've taken titles for my novels or short stories anywhere from a small icon in the story to a major section. Titles can come from a particular message or icon that keeps popping up in the story, or from something that happens in the story, or from the theme of the story.
I mentioned that titles are usually produced at the end of the creative process. I think that's probably because that's when you know your story the best - when it's all finished. Especially with a novel, there are so many things that you'll find out along the way, about your characters, your world, and your plot, that it's easier to look back and pick out something iconic that would make a good title.
I'm a rebel though, and I often pick a title before I even start writing. It doesn't necessarily mean I'll keep that title, but sometimes it's the title that gives me the inspiration for the story, and so it's the very first thing that gets put down on paper for the story.
Where do you get your titles? For titles that I come up with before the story, I'll usually be thinking about something when I come across a particularly catchy phrase. For instance, yesterday I was making a (delicious) sundae, when I thought "Sweet Sin". Sure, it was in regards to ice cream, but then my mind caught hold of the idea and spun off to interpreting it as a vengeful murder.
Here's a challenge. Come up with your own interpretation of Sweet Sin, and if you like it enough, write something following that interpretation. I would write a short story about that murder if it were me - and now that I'm writing this blog post, I'll have to. :)
Ideally, a title should grab the reader's attention. But you probably already knew that. It's actually more important to think of that as creating almost a cliff hanger with the title. Your title shouldn't give away the entire story, because even if it's a great story, your reader won't be inclined to read it if they already know what happens.
For example, if I titled a book "Great Adventures of Survival: Involving a Dragon that Burns the Hero, Who Then Must Be Saved by the Princess", it wouldn't be nearly as attractive to me as a reader as a title like "A Fiery Rescue".
Now, I'm not saying that the first one is really something that you'd title your book, since it's a bit of an exaggeration, or that the second is really that great (I just made those up). But having a more concise title that doesn't give it all away will make someone who just sees the title more likely to read it.
You can pull title ideas from anywhere really. I've taken titles for my novels or short stories anywhere from a small icon in the story to a major section. Titles can come from a particular message or icon that keeps popping up in the story, or from something that happens in the story, or from the theme of the story.
I mentioned that titles are usually produced at the end of the creative process. I think that's probably because that's when you know your story the best - when it's all finished. Especially with a novel, there are so many things that you'll find out along the way, about your characters, your world, and your plot, that it's easier to look back and pick out something iconic that would make a good title.
I'm a rebel though, and I often pick a title before I even start writing. It doesn't necessarily mean I'll keep that title, but sometimes it's the title that gives me the inspiration for the story, and so it's the very first thing that gets put down on paper for the story.
Where do you get your titles? For titles that I come up with before the story, I'll usually be thinking about something when I come across a particularly catchy phrase. For instance, yesterday I was making a (delicious) sundae, when I thought "Sweet Sin". Sure, it was in regards to ice cream, but then my mind caught hold of the idea and spun off to interpreting it as a vengeful murder.
Here's a challenge. Come up with your own interpretation of Sweet Sin, and if you like it enough, write something following that interpretation. I would write a short story about that murder if it were me - and now that I'm writing this blog post, I'll have to. :)
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