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 ...

The good: I'm out of a job I hated. I wasn't afraid of the work. I'm lazy on my own time, thank you. No no no. It wasn't an atmosphere I wanted to stay in. It was temporary for just 10 weeks. I was counting down the days from week 2.  I have time to shop, cook and eat well even if I lack the money. (I think I'll make big batches and freeze) Banana toast is yummy!  It's only two months until I get to see one of my favourite people.  Exercise is actually happening. My muscles hate me but the dog is delighted. I've made out a schedule for the blog. So be prepared for well-planned fun and frolicking. The Bad: I haven't been writing so much. You may have guessed that from it being missing from the good list. I have been project switching like crazy but still find it slow going.   I haven't been editing either. I now have the time and no excuses. If I were someone else I'd hit me. Or yell at me. I'd at least give a dis...

My awful reading habits: I devour books. I'm a speed reader by nature. Even when I try to slow down I end up racing to the epilogue. I don't care much for detail or conversation. I just have to know how it ends. I need my story fix. My process: 1. Read it fast, read it now. 2. Anyone who distracts me is risking life and limb. As a teen I was serious skilled at two things. While I read I could hold conversations. (The second is that I could sleep with my eyes open. It was great for boring classes.) I can't do either any more. Sigh. 3.Skip the boring bits. Not this kind of skipping. (Source) I was an author's nightmare incarnate. I disregarded whole paragraphs (and sometimes chapters when I was very naughty) that they spent hours or days or months or years writing. And I didn't care. The worst part? I still do it. I try not to. But I have limited free time and I don't want to know about the colour of the sun in exact details as it climbs over the o...

I have a voice in my head that's sole purpose is remind me of all those doubts and how things could go wrong. I call it the anti-me. The anti-me is jealous when I want to be happy for other, mean when I want to be nice and rains over my parade even after I accomplish something to be proud of. This same voice ignores rationality so it's not my sub-conscious being cautious. It told me that a coat in the dark was a face, that the wind was something howling for my five-year-old blood. It seems to thrive on making me hate myself and everything I write. If I could shut it up by punching my face, I'd take the black eye. I know better now. Most of the time I don't even register the little nag whining away. The exception seems to be when writing first lines. That's why it'll be the last thing I do with this one. (Even though I am writing down 'maybe' first lines) Are the times when the anti-you gets too loud to ignore?

That word sends shivers down your spine, doesn't it? When you're looking at 20,000+ words, the task of editing can seem really daunting. Well, don't worry because it's supposed to feel that way. There will be things you want to change. There will be grammar and spelling errors. There will be rewrites. There will be plot holes. There will be scenes you love that need to go. There will be characters  you love that need to be cut. There will be paragraphs that make you wonder how sober you were when you wrote them. -_- This will all happen no matter how long you spent planning and plotting and detailing. Some seemingly glaring mistakes will only show up after you've spent months writing the whole damn thing. You will hate your book as much as you love it as this point. It won't take away your pride in finishing, but it will certainly diminish it. The first draft will suck. Well, it will suck when you compare it to the second draft. Which will suck when...

When writing news articles, we use something called the inverted pyramid. This means putting the most important fact first. It's hard for two reasons. The first is that it goes against your nature. Every story you see, hear or tell has a start, a middle and a end. Usually in that order. It's the best way to explain a series or events. However with news it's different. People don't care how or why an event happened. It's the event itself that is important. What happened? Why? Sometimes only a line or two of the whole thing will be read and that has to be enough. The other thing is the importance of a fact is subjective. The fact as I see as the most important might seem trivial or obvious to you. The one you choose to focus on is the angle of the story. You aren't changing the facts, you're just putting in your choice of importance. It might be an idea, after you've plotted out your story, to do this with your key scenes. What's the most im...