Okay, where did September go? I had every intention of getting my writing life organized this month and managed no more than daily to-do lists—effective, but not quite what I had in mind. Anyone else struggling with this? I’m looking for some accountability partners to help get me, and each other, on track.
Starting October 7, I’m going to be running an accountability group on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/hwrightwriter/. You set your daily writing goals (they can include, planning, research, outlining, writing) and each day you just check in with a “done” to say you’ve met your goal. I’ll be posting daily so you’ll have a place to add your “done” to the comments. If you’re signing up for NaNoWriMo this year, this three weeks of accountability will help you get your planning done for your November novel and/or help you get your daily writing habit back in shape, too. All good.
If you don’t have a story idea yet, here are some writing prompts that might help.
Create a poem or story using one, some, or all of the words in one of the following groups:
- History, banner, black, crystal, mage, flames
- Mountain, fear, fog, red, breath, open, hide
- Concrete, stars, shadow, windows, swoop, lights
- Shell, waves, storm, pride, darken, stone, gift
Maybe one of these opening lines will suggest a story:
- That was the last thing I expected you to bring home.
- I’m sorry. Should I have been listening?
- You want to know when I saw him last? It was Tuesday—Tuesday morning.
- The lights dimmed in the concert hall.
- Pieter huddled behind the wall and cursed the rain.
- A woman’s face peeked out from behind the curtains. Henry had told us the house was empty.
- The forest was silent. It shouldn’t be.
- Even mean girls can be kind sometimes.
- I just wanted to curl up under my blanket and forget the day had happened, but instead, I kept on moving. If I didn’t, tomorrow had every chance of being worse.
Can you think of a story to go with one of these titles?
The End of the Road, The Rest of Us, Once Upon a Rainy Day, Forgotten, The Tree House, Storm’s Ending, The Hallowe’en Mystery, Starting Line, Just a Glimpse.
See if these dialogue excerpts suggest a scene or some characters that you might like to work into a story.
- I haven’t seen you in a long time.
- I’ve seen you.
- What do you mean?
- Look what Helen found?
- Helen?
- Why the surprise?
- It can only be found by three people. And I’m one of them.
- It’s time for us to leave.
- What if I disagree.
- I’d advise you to think about that. You’d put all of us in danger.
- Henry’s coming with us.
- I don’t think that’s a good idea.
- But we can’t leave him behind.
- We’d be safer if we did.
Don’t forget, to join the accountability group at https://www.facebook.com/hwrightwriter/ and get your writing habits on track for the fall (and NaNoWriMo, too.)
Have a writerly October!