Well, it’s been a long busy summer and the last challenge about did me in! I jumped in at the very last possible minute, completely unprepared, and scrambled through it, always feeling about 3 steps behind as I limped forward. Never again! While it was great to get into the habit of posting on a regular basis, daily is definitely not workable for me. I have a day job, edits on my first novel to complete and three more stories chomping at their bits.

And, Chuck Wendig hasn’t shared his time-stopping elixir recipe. How else can someone produce as much as he does, post constantly on his own Terrible Minds blog, twitter, and many other social media sites, attend and present at conferences, signings etc., and co-raise a tiny toddler-tornado? I can’t keep up with reading all that he publishes (I think 4 have come out in as many months), let alone write that much.

I’m trying, though.

I am ready to commit to this:
• I will catch up on my book reviews.
• I have two right now for Delilah S. Dawson, another incredible and talented outputter and favorite tweeter with small children. I think Chuck slipped her the Elixir recipe. Or she distracted him with her bludbunnies and stole it.
• I will blog weekly.
• I will Tweet daily. (I tend to be a lurker & retweeter, absorbing all the tweety goodness but don’t feel I have a lot of pertinent stuff to add, being a newbie. I’m getting over that)
• I will finish my last round of edits and submit. For real this time.
• I will continue to tweak and add onto my blog, sharing the links of the things that help, amuse, and/or inspire me.
I hope you’ll bear with me, and prod me with a stick if I’m slacking off.
We’re all in this together, one way or another.

is for….

Planning. As you can see from this challenge, planning has been an epic fail. In my defense, I stumbled upon the challenge 2 days before and signed up 12 hours before it began. If I do the challenge again (and I probably will just to prove to myself that I can do it RIGHT), I’ll prewrite, preplan and auto post as much as possible.

I’m a “pantser” at heart with my writing. I’m trying to break this habit, or at least tweak it so that it serves me better. I like the organics of letting the story and characters write themselves, but I’ve written myself into too many corners. I WIP2 that I’m working on has evolved in fits and starts. I write scenes or chapters, but they aren’t flowing together the way I want. Probably because most of them were written out of order, just a series of smash cuts flashing forward, backwards and sideways. I’m  happy with the individual scenes, but it’s much more difficult to spackle them together when even I’m not sure of the order.

This is not a productive use of my time.  I haven’t been able to murder my darlings yet, but I’m afraid there might have to be a serial killing spree for the greater good.

Are you a planner or pantser, and how is that working for you? I’d love for you to share some of your tips and techniques!

 

 

is for…

Queen of Denial.

Boy! This has been a tough challenge! I now know that with the dreaded Day Job plus regular life challenges, daily posting is just not feasible for me. So here it is, Cheat- the Sequel!

I had the best of intentions. After the original Cheat, I was going to write two posts a day, banking the extras so I could auto post them on their appropriate days. That obviously didn’t happen. But, that’s still my goal. Both kids are in town this weekend, which rarely happens., so I doubt I’ll get much, if any, writing done. Maybe they’ll leave early enough on Sunday so I can get a jump on next week’s posts—or at least Monday’s…

I guess I’m not quite ready to abdicate my throne…

What are your areas of denial? It’s always comforting to know we’re not alone!

 

 

 

is for…

Revision.

I have managed to sqeeze in a little work on my primary project—the Revision That Just Won’t End. But I’m really getting anxious to work on WIP2—the pantsing nightmare. I’ve tied my hands, refusing to work on #2 until I finish and send off #1. And #3 is chomping at the bit. I think my muse has ADD.

Here’s another goal for me: If I can’t get this revision done properly this time, I’m going to take a long weekend, lock myself in and do a power editing extravaganza!

Dragging this out by squeezing in lunch time and evening edits is just not working. By the time I get to the end, it just seems like it’s time to begin again. I’ve dragged this out for far too long.

What are your favorite (and most productive) techniques for revision?

 

is for Imagination.

Writing is one of the few vocations that encourages us to actually plunge into a fantasy world of our own creation and live there, creating its every inhabitant and vista

Most Day Jobs (at least most that I have had and still have) tend to suck the creativity and creationism out of its employees. We have a tiny little corner of someone else’s world to maintain and keep functioning while drowning under the fluorescent lights that make us feel as green as the wilting plant gasping in the corner.

But when I leave, I get to submerge myself in a world of sunshine and thunderstorms, with beautiful heroines and heart-melting heroes, curious characters and terrifying villains. You get to kill off those that displease, sacrifice darlings for the greater good, embark on quests, adventures and new frontiers. You can create the world you want, or want to destroy, and ride off into the sunset on a unicorn, or starship, merman…wait…that’s a different kind of story.

And we can do it anywhere we please, as long as there’s a power source for our laptop or a enough light for our notebook.

It truly is a wonderful life, if we create it that way.

What’s the dream world you’re working on right now? I’d love to visit, if you’ll let me.