From the first page

So, first off, writing's going wonderful. I'm taking part in word wars and the like on twitter and, as I'm a competitive person, it works for me. I joined a forum for writers and am learning so much. Short stories are coming fast and easy. The novel is stalled again but not because I don't know what's coming yet. In fact, I'm excited about it. I just a break from that world for a few days so I can get hyped about it. My excitement about it will grow and writing it will be a reward instead of a chore. I think short stories will sharpen my skill for the novel also. Some of them tie into the story and I may leave one at the end of it. It isn't needed for the story but it's a neat little story that is concluded in the main. All very good. Grade: B The not so good is all the drama that's going on. So many authors have decided that reviews need punishment or something for reviewing them badly or ignoring them. I won't give links to the sites in ques...

Samuel Beckett, you “try again. Fail again. Fail better.”   I'm not going to lie, I love outlining and then I love to go about writing and ignoring all my outlining ( I am trying to get better). However, recently I 'pants-ed' a story. For those of you unfamiliar with that it means to sit down and write until it's finished with no idea where the story is going to take you. I learned a few things by doing this. The first is that it is an extremely free way to write. You don't have to worry about research or time or word count or how to get from point A to point B. It's also quick. I had the first draft written before I knew it. It gives you a really good sense of where you would like you're story to go. It gave me a huge insight into my characters and how'd they would at and react to what I threw at them. Then, if you're like me, you have to change everything about it. That's the not-so-fun part. I learned that I am incapable of keeping ...