Writing Blogger Challenge Day 2

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The prompt for Day 2 is:

Make 10 writing related confessions.

1. I still get confused between nouns, verbs, adverbs & adjectives. it’s just not sinking in šŸ˜¦

2. I’m comma happy. I use far too many lol

3. I have approximately 450 unfinished short stories. Whoops!

4. I have a huge problem with Tautology in my writing. A really bad habit that I must get under control.

5. I prefer to Handwrite than type. I’m actually considering doing the next novels first draft all by hand.

6. I feel that my vocabulary is lacking. And that goes back to my education levels.

7. In real life I swear like a trooper. But my characters don’t tend to lol.

8. I am the Queen of Cliche. See number 7 *giggles*

9. I hate writing in first person. They always sound like me lol

10. I still haven’t sent off my first Writers Bureau assignment! EEEK! (Should really do that lol).

Well, that was pretty cathartic lol…. Go on, give me a writing confession, so I don’t feel such a loser šŸ˜‰

41 thoughts on “Writing Blogger Challenge Day 2”

  2. I tend to be “comma-lite” so I could probably do with all your excess commas….!
    450 half finished short stories!!!!!!! What a back catalogue of potential. Deeply, sincerely, madly envious.

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  3. Mini workshop of (1) when I see you šŸ™‚ And, yet another book recommendation which might help:
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Elements-Style-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X/ref=sr_1_1/276-9605620-4830023?ie=UTF8&qid=1374397370&sr=8-1&keywords=the+elements+of+style

    As for building up a vocabulary, stretch yourself with your reading. What I do is to alternate between a light read and a really literary novel. If straight literary daunts you, then pick something that is still a genre novel, so it has a decent plot, but is at the more literary end of the scale in its writing style, with in-depth characterisation. i.e. literary crime, or literary science fiction.

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    • Ha ha ha, as long as that workshop involves lattes and the beach Sarah, bring it on! šŸ˜‰

      Ooooo, I am ashamed to say I have that book, I just haven’t read it! *blushes*

      Thanks honey, yeah, that’s a good tip. I was reading a John Updike recently but I gave up because I got fed up with all the French references, I just didn’t get them *sighs*

      Xx

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  4. My stories rarely go in the direction I intend. I’ll sit down to write something short and lighthearted and end up writing an epic tearjerker. Also when I want to concentrate on one writing task I get lots of ideas for other things, go off to make a quick note and never get back to what I intended to do.

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    • It’s funny you should say that Patsy because all the short stories that I have are really the beginnings of novels lol šŸ˜‰

      Awwwww, yeah, I have a friend who is “haunted” by new ideas. I guess doing the prompt every day in 2012 meant that I found it easy to move on to something else, but is WHY nothing ever got finished šŸ˜‰

      Xx

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  5. I tend to overuse the word “that” way too much. I’m confused by the term “writer’s voice”, no matter how much I read trying to clear it up. I’d much rather write in first person than anything else…lol. Last confession…no matter how much I try, I have trouble remembering where the punctuation goes with quotation marks…inside or outside the quotes.

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    • Ha ha ha, oh don’t even start me on words I overuse, I’m sure there are LOADS! Lol

      Ahhhhh, that’s interesting Sabrina, I was talking to a writer the other day who has been writing for like 30 years and I was shocked when she said she still didn’t think she’d found her voice (sorry J if you’re reading this) so I don’t think you’re alone in that šŸ™‚

      Oooooo, yeah, I have that problem too with the speech/quote marks lol. I think my confession list could have run into the 20’s lol

      Xx

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  6. Vikki, in relation to comma happy etc, I’ve just bought the Penguin Guide to Punctuation. It’s a fabulous little book. Slim and succinct. I think it’s going to be a lifesaver for me. Worth considering?

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  8. That makes my ten short stories that need editing seem pathetic.
    I totally agree with no.1 and I think I’m in the same boat with Vocabulary. I never paid much attention at school so I blame myself for that.

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  9. 450 unfinished short stories?? Donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever started that many. I do have a couple of stories Iā€™d like to complete some day but only a few. Iā€™m glad to meet another person who knows the word tautology. Donā€™t think there are many of us.

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    • Yep, I did a prompt a day during 2012 plus extra ones and most of them stand at about 1000 words (plus 30,000 words of short stories for Nano). I wrote the equivalent of about 4 novels last year lol

      Oh excellent! Great to meet a fellow “tautologist” (is that a word? Lol) šŸ˜‰

      Xx

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  11. Vikki … Shrunk & White should be a writer’s bible. Many of us get confused with parts of speech or the use of comma’s. Try that new “The Artist Way” … I should look it up for you. But you know what it is and you should try it. Or make a deal with yourself to FINISH one of those over 400 stories šŸ™‚ Don’t worry. So far you have all the same issues other writers have only they don’t always admit it.

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  12. Gosh, I share all these flaws with you. We reciprocate each other across the world. Except I can’t pick up a pen and notepad anymore, it makes me feel funny (such a geek!) and one other difference…I have to go and look up what you mean by tautology, before I can say I have that problem too.

    The only course I ever failed at was A Writer’s Bureau one. I never did send in that second assignment. Don’t follow me in that one.

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    • Well, thank heavens for that! šŸ˜‰

      Did you look up Tautology? I’d never heard of it until someone in my writing group told me that that’s what I do lol….I went home and looked it up šŸ˜‰

      Ooooo, did you do the complete course? My 2nd assignment is non fiction, writing an article and I’m like, hell, what bloody publication would I write for? šŸ˜¦

      Thanks honey xx

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      • No. It sounds like I enrolled for exactly the same course as you, mine was attempted several years ago. I did the first assignment fine, and appreciated the feedback. But when the second assignment came – asking me to do something journalistic, I vaguely remember, and talking about submitting to a publication – that’s what showstopped me. I was more interested in learning creative writing, had no motivation to suddenly submit to local papers or mags – I never did send that assignment in. My tutor never bothered to prompt me for it either. Money for Nothing, and your Chicks for Free, I guess.

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