Is My Writing Improving? Part 2

Posted on by

to follow on from the previous post…..

Since the first of January I have been using The Writers Book Of Days by Judy Reeves to encourage me to write every day. It’s been hard at times, to the point where I’ve wanted to give up, but I haven’t, and I’m determined to see it through until the 31st of December.

As I’m kind of half way in the book (and because Judy provides a checklist), I thought I’d do the exercise How Can I Tell If My Writing Is Improving here on my blog

Soooo, after 6 months of daily prompts, let’s see shall we….. PART 2

You can find Part 1 HERE

11. Do I layer my writing with sensory images, including smells, sounds and textures. Crafting tasted emotions, heard colours and hence, creating mood?
Oh definitely, but I’m not a huge fan of synesthesia. I’d love to fill my work with it, but, I dunno, that just wouldn’t be me lol

12. Have I learnt not to overwrite, or be stingy with words?
Ha ha ha, I don’t think I could ever be accused of overwriting lol

13. Have I expanded my language, learned new words?
Hmmmm, not really. I write as I talk. So, usually, if it’s a word I wouldn’t use in real life, you wouldn’t find it in my writing, unless it’s in dialogue and the character speaks using long words that no one understands 😉

14. Have I found my voice?
Oh, a resounding YES but I’m not sure whether that’s been totally down to the daily prompts. I think it’s helped, but also blogging daily has helped too.

15. Do I save the strongest word for the last sentence without the sentence sounding false?
I’m aware of this tip, but I often forgot it *hits fore head with palm* so I must make more of an effort.

16. Have I stopped rushing through to get to the end and now take my time, lingering and savouring, letting the tension build?
Sometimes, I think, no, oh I dunno, sometimes I have to rush if I haven’t got much time. It really depends on how inspiring I find the prompt lol

17. Do I take more risks?
Ha ha ha, well, I have been writing more 1st person pieces. I was so scared of it a few months ago. I thought that surely, each time I wrote in 1st person it would sound the same. But hubby has said he can tell a difference now….go me! Lol

18. Have I stopped pulling punches?
Not really sure I understand this question lol. If it means what I think it means, I still avoid certain subjects in depth because I find them too emotional to write about.

19. Have I eliminated generalities, write in specifics?
I think so lol

20. Am I willing to experiment, to try out, go to unknown places in my writing?
No, not exactly, but I would like to. I would lie to experiment with other genres but I’m not too sure where to start 😦

Sooooo, the second lot of questions didn’t have as many positive answers as the first lot, but I’m pleased over all 🙂

A HUGE thank you to Judy Reeves for certainly enriching my writing life. The book has been an incredible help, it really has. I can’t wait to start work on her other stuff 🙂

Exciting!!!!! 🙂

20120625-134923.jpg

Here’s a difficult question for you….. what’s been the most valuable thing you’ve learnt that has improved your writing? For me it has to be the use of all your senses. When I first started writing I didn’t even think about smell or sound *blushes* 😉

24 thoughts on “Is My Writing Improving? Part 2”

  1. I’m an overwriter. I sometimes can’t help myself either. What is the most valuable thing I’ve learned? I’m not sure about that. I’m hit or miss on the show don’t tell rule. I’d have to think about that.

    Like

    Reply

    • Ahhhhh, yeah, overwriting, I know what it is but I don’t think I do it lol

      Oh gawd, yeah, show don’t tell. Why is it we’re all so hung up about that and then you read a successful book that has been published and it’s all tell? *pouts*

      xx

      Like

      Reply

      • I know! I was thinking just that when I read a book a bit ago. My next post will be a rant about rules writers are forced to obey and the fact that they don’t really matter.

        Like

  3. I have learned to allow the reader to breathe. i tended to get so wrapped up getting the words doen I would forget to punctuate. Anyone attempting to read the would have passed out through oxygen deprivation before the end

    Like

    Reply

  4. Writing something daily is my number one. The other is trying to read sentences aloud without certain words to see if they are unnecessary words, which are not needed. I tend to right a lot of lengthy sentences.

    Like

    Reply

  5. I havent had a defining moment as such, have learnt a lot over the past couple of years, and finally I think I understand the show and tell thing whether I choose to use it is a different matter, as there is a lot of tell in the books I have been reading lately so maybe they got it the wrong way round.
    Tell not show! lol And my favourite is dialogue.

    Like

    Reply

  7. I love how you answer these questions with so much honesty. 🙂

    I think the most important thing I’ve learned is to be fearless. Don’t be afraid to try a new genre or take a story to a different level. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  8. How great it is to have those kinds of questions to measure your progress!

    I would have to say that the latest improvement to my writing has been when I learned to incorporate ‘white space’ into my dialogue, by eliminating a lot of needless tags, and just letting the words fly back and forth. Letting it sprawl across the page like that is so visually appealing to me, that I’m kind of hooked on it.
    Only critiques will tell if I’m overdoing it. 😉

    I’m still working on paring down my long rambling sentences …

    Like

    Reply

  9. The most important thing I’ve learned is that ‘writing is rewriting’. Learning that most successful authors not only hate editing but recognise that it’s totally necessary – and do loads of edits – was a big moment for me. I used to write in a very constrained way, trying to get everything right first time because I hated the idea of throwing stuff away. But now I accept that process as part of writing and feel freer to write stuff I might throw away 🙂

    Like

    Reply

Lets chat!