Love, Discipline, Writing

The month of love has nearly left, but this year it gives us an extra day to appreciate what we have.

Do you love to write?

I do.

And I have a new favorite quote:

Remember, you are the master of inspiration, not its slave.

Whoa.

Finding the inspiration you need is up to you (or me)! We can CREATE it by creating a space that is conducive to writing.

This month I have written many things down as notes. I managed to capture some ideas on paper in tiny phrases, but I have not had the motivation to write them out in paragraphs and well-wrought sentences. I do not have a space conducive to writing.

But it's all up to me. I can't wait for the right moment. If my butt is in the chair, I should be writing. Nothing will happen if I am not writing. If that means I need to clear my desk of distractions, or set a timer and only have my word processing program open on my computer, then so be it!

Discipline!

Now, if only I could use the same principals to workout.. :)



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Editing

• Grammar IS important, so we can understand it, but in the first draft write what your heart has inside and go back and edit it later.
• The heart of a writer beats with Story. The mark of a good Storyteller is being able to embellish it and polish it to an entrancing tale.
• We've been editing ourselves since we first needed to impress another human. :)

This week has been about editing.

Firstly, a writer by the name of August Rode supplied a wonderful blog post on ficly.com about editing.

Secondly, I've gotten my first rejection and gone back to really look at the query with fresh eyes. I made a few changes.

I'm always growing and learning, but not only that, I change my mood between readings of my work and that alone can make me notice some errors!

It is true that when we write, we are too close to the work and need to step away from it. I cannot truly edit the same day. Sure, spelling, punctuation, typos are easy, but I have to take time away and look at it much later.

Sometimes I have even revisited a piece a year later, after I had nearly forgotten it, and things jumped out at me that were unclear in my writing, but clear in my head when I wrote it.

If you cannot wait, have others read it, others who are honest and not afraid to tell it like it is. Your part is to accept their words, not fight them.

Lastly, I have had some really awesome sparks of inspiration and been able to jot them down! Even when I build my outlines, I am editing. I write it all out, adding, and then going back to fix the beginning so it all makes sense.

Editing.

It's what makes or breaks a writer.

Some of you may disagree. My good friend Lane does. He has been arguing his viewpoint on ficly.com for a week that people who edit or focus on the elements on editing must obviously view writing as a system and never will see the beauty inside.

Sure, sometimes people get tripped up in pet peeves and refuse to read on, but the tolerant ones can find the good in the misspelled and grammatically incorrect passages.

My co-author also feels similarly, but as I pointed out, that actually makes us teaming up a fortuitous pairing. I smooth his rough edges with a bit of editing and he gets his thoughts out freely. My meticulous and metaphorical writing style gets balanced with the action and villainy of imaginative characters.

What do you think?


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Writing Resolutions for Me

Inspired by K.M. Weiland's 12 Writing Goals for the 12 Months of 2012 and following the link there to 10 Writing Resolutions You Can Fulfill, I will attempt my own Writing Resolutions.

Firstly, I will finish this short story about underground two humans who stumble upon albino creatures, sprites, and dryads while out in the woods at dusk. I will get it published on smashwords.

Then, because I have to return to work for 5 months, my focus will be on editing, ficly writing, reading and blogging. I schedule these things in the evenings when I am winding down, often between 8 and 9 PM. Sometimes I start earlier, sometimes later, but I never forget the boys' bedtime story reading at 8! Then there's the weekend which opens up a lot of time, when we are not doing something else.

In other news, I sent out my first query. Yeah, that's a pretty big step, however, I felt like it was a tiny tendril reaching out and will probably grasp onto nothing. I queried this particular agent because she seems to want to publish what this book wants to be. My hope is that she can see its potential. But I think that this will be the first of many rejections.

One thing I need to do is get a critique partner. While I have plenty of writing friends and fans, not many are willing to settle down with 30,000 words and a red pen for me. 2,000 sure, but a full length novel? They have day jobs, too! I respect that. K.M. suggests trading manuscripts with someone. That's what I have to do.

Another goal that matches hers is to exterminate those cliche's! I also use so, just, and that too often in my first drafts.

Lastly, this platform thing.. I need to research and work on that. I have new inspiring ideas for my third blog on wordpress Spoonfuls of Sugar, I just cleaned up my first blog here on blogger, and this is my second, the one I reserve for writing news only. I thought it was going to be my platform, but I realize that everything is interwoven online, so my platform is me. If I stay true to myself, I can't go wrong.




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.