daily writing

April Challenge Update

IMG_5709I’ve been having an interesting time working on my challenge this month to write first thing every morning. I can honestly say that I have written every day, but I haven’t managed to do it every morning, first thing, which was the plan. Now that my semester is ended, I’m hoping to manage to meet the challenge for the rest of the month–and forever. I really have found it a useful exercise. I don’t write on my current project most days. But I do settle my thoughts, make my lists, get frustrations off my chest, and think about how thankful I am for the people in my life. And when I do get to write later in the day, I really do get into “writing mode” sooner, which is a nice benefit. So all good.

I had a couple of fun writing gigs last week. One included my visiting nurseries and finding out about new gardening trends. The other involved a trip to Lowe’s to find out about the latest in power tools. My family thought the latter was pretty funny. My feelings about treking around hardware stores are no secret, though I definitely do my share when home repairs are on the list. Both articles were fun to write, and, as usual, I learned something new. That is one of the best parts of being a freelancer. I get to talk to interesting people, learn new things, stretch my writing muscles with new topics and audiences–and get paid. I’ve posted one of the flower photos that I took while on my nursery visits. Spring is slow to come here, so seeing things in bloom was a real treat.

What writing projects have you worked on lately? Have you learned something from your research or from an interview that you didn’t know before?

I hope you are having a creative April.

 

 

My April Challenge

DaffodilsI follow Kristi Holl’s blog and own 2 of her books, Writer’s First Aid and More Writer’s First Aid. I find her blog and her books inspiring.

For the month of April, Kristi is running two challenges. One is called Writing on Schedule. Inspired by writer Dorothea Brande, this challenge asks you to commit to writing at one particular time every day. This can be tricky, but Kristi believes that it’s worth the effort to make that deadline stick: ‘Persevere! Ignore all the little voices that tell you it doesn’t really matter when you write, or won’t matter if you skip it just this once. Push on doggedly. If you do this, Brande says the “unconscious will suddenly give in charmingly, and begin to write gracefully and well.” From experience, I have to agree.’

The second challenge is called Harnessing the Unconscious. This challenge, also inspired by Brande, requires writing first thing in the morning before the rest of the day intrudes on your mind. Kristi explains, ‘This exercise helps you “train” your unconscious to flow toward writing (instead of something else). As Brande says, “the first step toward being a writer is to hitch your unconscious mind to your writing arm.” This exercise is to help you make that automatic connection so that later you can do this on demand.’

Well, this is definitely the challenge for me. By the time I get to my writing, I’m so fidgety and my brain is so full of to-do lists and other things that I would rather clean the bathroom than look at a screen or my journal. The words ‘flow’ and ‘writing’ have been strangers for quite a while. I really need to find an ‘automatic connection’ that will help me write ‘on demand’ and if that means waking up fifteen minutes earlier every day, I will do that.

If you need a writing challenge for April, one of these two might just be the answer. I’d love some company next month, so let me know if you’re signing up, and we can encourage each other to make these positive changes to our writing lives. I’ll be posting some new writing prompts for April soon, in case you need some inspiration to get the words on the page.

p.s. I reviewed Kristi’s book here http://wp.me/pBoEr-6U

p.p.s A reminder that my book 201 Writing Prompts is on sale at Smashwords, at 50% off the $2.99 price with this code ZA54M until March 31st.

Day 8 Writing Challenge Check-In

For someone who for months has been despairing that any creativity she professed to own had the life spark of mud, the fact that words have been hitting the page for seven days is a small miracle. Maybe they’re being written because I’ve left the laptop unopened, and I’m using paper and pencil instead. Maybe the words are coming because I have committed to writing something every day–not something great, long-lasting, or toward a goal of publication–just something. Whatever is going on is just fine with me.

I’ve been totally surprised at the workings of my brain. (Okay, that might be a surprise to a few people.) What I mean is–where do these stories and people come from? I just start writing and things happen. So far, though, all the protagonists have shared one thing–isolation. They start out alone or apart from others. In one story she is fairly content where she is–until she meets ‘him’. In two others, she is curious about something strange in her environment and that leads to a suprise (in one case a corpse.) In another, he is desperate to finish a manuscript that holds a secret, knowing his life is in danger. In the story that I’ve been working on for 3 consecutive days, she is a grumpy tourist who leaves her group long enough for them to be all gunned down. (Of course, I would continue the one with the highest body count!) Do you have a pattern to the beginnings of your stories? What do you do go get the creative sparks lighting? Do you write only on the computer? With pen and paper? A combination of the two? Do you find yourself suprised by stories or ideas that seem to come out of nowhere? I’d love to hear your surprise stories and how you tap into your imagination.

Writing Tips and a Writing Pledge

Image courtesty of Laura Ritchie WANA Commons

I just found this link a few days ago and want to pass it along. CBC Books is a website containing all things writerly created by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. (I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to live where a national broadcaster promotes reading and writing.) Within that site is a set of pages called Canada Writes, which contains a series of writing tips from Canadian authors. I’ve only had a chance to read a couple of them and I’m already printing and saving them to read again. So if you’re looking for some great writing tips, check out Writing Tips at Canada Writes.If you’re a mystery writer, you also might want to explore Louise Penny’s five-part series on writing mysteries. Here’s one to explore: http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2012/05/louise-penny-master-class-things-i-wish-id-known-before-starting-my-first-book.html

You can tell that the muse/creativity/inspiration and I aren’t on speaking terms at the moment because that’s when I read about writing rather than do the writing. I’m hoping that our separation doesn’t last too much longer, but in the meantime, I think it’s okay to fill the cup with some reading, too.

I have a friend who does daily writing exercises, whether they are about her book or not. I admire her enormously, and I think she’s absolutely on the right track. I also believe that it’s something I should be doing, too. If I want to keep calling myself a writer, I feel that I should be writing every day. I have writing gigs with deadlines that help pay the bills, but my creative writing has stagnated for a long time—and I miss it. So, I’m going to pledge to write every day for a month and keep you posted on my progress. If you want to join me, we can keep each other motivated, and I’d love the company!

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