Do I Really Need To Plan?

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This is Joseph Heller’s writing plan for Catch 22 (curtesy of Flavorwire.com where you can find other examples) and I admit, I am absolutely in awe!

I’m not really a planner, but I can see the merits in making sure you have an ending.

My retreat yesterday went well, but I only managed 4 of the prompts. I got too carried away with one of them (whoops), but I did enjoy it 🙂

So now I have another 4 short stories, or rather starts of a short story. So yeah, I think I better start thinking about endings. I hate having so many unfinished pieces 😦

A great article on Writability is definitely worth a read 🙂

Sooo, are you a plotter? Or do you fly by the seat of your pants?

Yesterday’s daily prompt about memory inspired a story about a guy who’d lost his memory. Tomorrow’s prompt is a lie someone told you which might be difficult lol.

Writers Retreat Day

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Today, I shall be on retreat lol…..cue music and scenes of a sun drenched beach, the sea lapping against the sand…..umm, no. I’ll be on retreat at home 🙂

Hubby is going out for the day (to a chess match) so I have the whole day to sit around in my jim jams and do whatever I want *pokes tongue out childishly*

In a way, it’s kind of like one of Peter Jones’ Boxing Days (you’ll have to read Peters book to know what I’m on about…see a previous post).

So, thanks to Judy Reeves, I have a list of prompts (for writing practice) that I will be using throughout the day:

write about a small thing
you are in a garden
it was Monday morning
write about a mirror
write a February memory
this is not about…..
one Friday night
“after all, it wasn’t what she expected”

That should keep me going shouldn’t it? Obviously, coffee, chocolate and doughnuts will also help lol 😉

The real question is, will the cats allow me? Lol…. This is what I have to contend with most days…

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Now I’m thinking a retreat in a coffee shop is very appealing 😉

Have you ever had a writers retreat day? Do you do writing practice?

Yesterday’s prompt was “write about the blues in the night” and I guess you could say I took it literally lol. I wrote the start of a story, a romance, about a guy being woken up in the night by the girl in the flat below playing her sax 😉 Today’s prompt is “Memory thick as mud” after Janet Fitch who I now know is the author of White Oleander. I’d heard of the book, so now I’ll be doing a little bit of research….see what it inspires 🙂

I’ve now got 11 “Out There’s” but determined to get that up to 20 by next Wednesday 🙂

Noise?

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Nathan Bransford asked the question on his blog recently….. “Which kind of writer are you? Do you like having a bit of noise or do you need to block everything out?”

I’ve always known I’m the kind of writer that needs complete silence. I can’t listen to music while I write, I end up staring off into space or singing along. I can’t have the TV on as I end up watching it. (I’ve said before, I’m easily distracted lol).

See the blank page? I rest my case.

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I struggle in busy coffee shops as I find myself eavesdropping on conversations lol

But….saying all that, I do love a “Write In” 🙂 The phrase was coined from Nanowrimo, where a group of writers meet at a coffee shop and, ummm, just write….literally. You don’t chat, you don’t read other peoples work (ok, we usually chat a little bit lol). We have “Sprints” when someone is struggling, ie someone suggests a time and we all see how many words we can write in that time. Most people use their laptops, but I have seen people hand write. I can’t recommend it enough….it really focuses you 🙂

Soooo, if you have a writer friend, meet for a Write In, rather than a coffee and a chat (you can do that after) and watch that word count rise 😉

What do you prefer? Background noise? Music? Complete silence?

Yesterday’s prompt was “lips as red as licked red candy” after Vladimir Nobokov and why doesn’t that surprise me. I’m thinking this quote must be from Lolita, which I read back in the mid 90’s. I don’t remember all that much about it, apart from cringing a few times, difficult to read in places. I ended up writing a piece about a girl who is trying to find out which one of the guys in the office is sending her love notes lol

Freewriting

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Prompted by an email blog update from Sue Healey a couple of days ago, i decided to do some Freewriting.

I remember when I did The Artists Way, the first time….the idea of doing 3 pages of Morning Pages every day was terrifying. I soon got into the swing, but unfortunately it just turned into a massive rant everyday, and which is why, I no longer keep a personal journal.

So Tuesday morning, I sat outside a Costa Coffee shop, and wrote the following in my notebook:

*****I’m sat here, outside Costa, with a latte in February, wanting to take my coat off. It’s the same colour purple as the ink in my pen. There are a group of rowdy workmen, about 6 of them, smoking their fags and drinking from their takeaway coffee cups. It’s not exactly what I’d call an inspiring atmosphere, but still. I may be able to finish my daydreaming story. Perhaps she runs off with a rowdy workman *snigger*

The sky is completely grey, not a cloud in sight, and matches perfectly with the paving slabs beneath my feet. In fact, the building itself seems to merge with the sky as that too is a depressing shade of grey. I can’t wait for the summer, to walk around in t shirts and feel the sun on my face. Although, my garden is a mess. Completely unusable, neglected for several years I have to confess. I guess it sets the tone for the rest of the house….neglected. There’s always something else to do though. The garden is the last item of priority on my endless list.

I’ve been food shopping and now I’m waiting for my husband so that we can have lunch. It was his suggestion that he meet me, perhaps he just needs a break. It’s nice to get out, rather than stare at the same 4 walls day in day out. I get soooo bored, and yes, I know…..I could do the garden lol*****

Ok, exactly what did I learn? Or rather, what could I use in my writing? Hmmmmm…..the only things that really stand out as being worth something are the images of the building blending into the sky and the overgrown garden.

Do you ever Free Write, and if you do, does it help? Do you end up using things in your fiction writing?

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Isn’t it funny…..there was me talking about happiness yesterday and then I discover Bridget’s beautiful post on happiness….it certainly made me smile 🙂

Oh and by the way *clears throat* I now have 7 Out There’s!!!!!! 🙂

Yesterday’s prompt about the bridge inspired a story about a young girl who’s father has been rushed to hospital….only, she hasn’t seen him for 2 years (I was going down the lines of building bridges then crossing them). I don’t know what today’s prompt is. I’m upstairs in bed, my notebook is downstairs.

As Jack Bauer would say “Damn It!” (sorry, hubby is working his way through all 8 seasons of 24) lol 🙂

What Makes You Happy?

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I recently came across an article regarding Carl Jung’s 5 Key Elements To Happiness……which are:

1. Good physical and mental health.
2. Good personal and intimate relationships, such as those of marriage, the family, and friendships.
3. The faculty for perceiving beauty in art and nature.
4. Reasonable standards of living and satisfactory work.
5. A philosophic or religious point of view capable of coping successfully with the vicissitudes of life.

Which goes kind of nicely with Judy Reeves 10 Daily Habits That Make A Good Writer:

1. Eat Healthily
2. Be Physical
3. Laugh Out Loud
4. Read
5. Experience Another Art Form
6. Practice Spirituality
7. Pay attention
8. Give back
9. Connect with other writers
10. Write

What can I say….. I love lists lol

It’s funny how similar the lists are. So, in conclusion….it’s official…..writing does make you happy 🙂

Seriously….. Is there anything you would add to the list? I think chocolate should be on there somewhere don’t you?

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I spent most of yesterday trying to write, or rather, trying to bump up the word count on a story for the Writing Magazine competition. I chose to use the story I wrote for the prompt Stolen Goods. I got it up to 750, spent a couple of hours editing (using hubby, red pen, and Autocrit) and sent it off.

Sooooo, now I can say…..drum roll please……

I have 3 Out There’s !!!!!!! *grins stupidly*

Hoping that it will be 4 by tomorrow 🙂

Yesterday’s prompt, on daydreaming was interesting…..I ended up sitting in Costa (where I also did some free writing but more about that tomorrow). So I was in the ideal spot for people watching and daydreaming 🙂 I ended up with the start of a kind of chick lit story….30+ single daydreamer looking for the job and man of her dreams. Oh well, i might be able to do something with it at a later date.

Tomorrows prompt is crossing the bridge. Hmmmm, all I can think of at the moment is the story of the 3 billy goats *snigger*

Off to my class tonight…..a Q&A session, which should be fun 🙂

Trawling The Net

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I have spent much of the last 24 hours trawling the Internet…….nooooo, I wasn’t procrastinating? (or was I? Lol). I was researching all the short story comps and possible places to submit work to.

A huge thanks to the Womag Writers Blog and Helen Yendall who have both been a wealth of information 🙂

I have discovered there are 18 competitions ending in March. I’ve got myself a folder. Done some ‘calendar’ type sheets and now, I’m ready to go LMAO 😉

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Now, if I stop eating, don’t shower, survive on cat naps (no actual sleeping) and only leave the dining room table for loo breaks and the occasional cup of coffee I might, just, be able to enter them all *snigger*

Seriously, I can enter at least a couple can’t I?

Actually…..I managed to enter 1 last night. The Writers Bureau have a monthly comp and this months was “50 Word Love Story” I can’t post my entry on here, and rest assured, I will be screaming from the rooftops if it actually gets anywhere lol 😉

Yesterday’s prompt about the crosswind inspired a story about a guy losing his toupee (thanks Danny) and a romance is about to blossom between Mr Toupee and the woman who tried to rescue it. What a sweet story to tell the grand children “I met your grandad as I was trying to rescue his toupee from the wheels of a bus” lol. Today’s prompt is it was a daydream which sounds like great fun. I love daydreaming 🙂

Procrastination

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I’ll do it next week…..well, next week might not be ideal because there’s a couple of events I’m attending, and, I really need to de-clutter my wardrobe, and, I’m out with a friend all day Wednesday.

Sound familiar? *deep sigh* 😦

Why can I always find an excuse?

So even when I do have my writing sessions scheduled I should be able to stick to them shouldn’t I? Lol…..ummmmm, nope, it seems not lol….there’s always a ‘but’ lol

I actually bought a book once, all about procrastination, but, I procrastinated about reading it lol (I’m deadly serious lol).

So I have to develop some good writing habits, set some acheivable goals……To get up Mr Procrastinations nose 😉

1. Write every day.
I already do this, well, I miss the odd day, perhaps I shouldn’t…..must try harder 😉

2. Complete short stories.
I have a tendency (esp with the prompts) to not complete some stories, mainly the ones I don’t feel are going anywhere. Will make more of an effort to finish them.

3. Have rewards.
I like goal setting, and goals with rewards are even better. Weekly goals? Monthly goals? An ideal goal would be to submit a short story a week….but can I realistically achieve that?

4. Stop feeling guilty when the house is a mess.
Hmmmmm…..with a family to look after the kids often put the guilt trip on me about dinner. So shopping and cooking is a major part of my day. I do have to do it, I just need to be a bit more organised about it.

5. Set a time for writing and stick to it.
I’ve tried setting myself up a timetable, but that didn’t work. I’ve tried a timer but there’s always something that happens and I end up resetting it lol…really don’t know how to stick to an actual time……help!

6. STOP FAFFING!
Ha ha ha…..easier said than done…..now, if someone could just arrange for the whole WWW to go down I’d be ok lol.

A lady on one of my FaceBook groups went away for 3/4 days, on her own, as a writing retreat. She said it was fantastic. All she did the whole time was walk in the countryside and write. Oh bliss, but we’re not all in a position where we can do that, let alone afford to *deep sigh* If I’m going to make it in the world of short stories I can’t take a writing retreat weekly, because that’s how often I’ll need a completed (edited, ready to send out) short story.

An interesting article on Fuel Your Writing tells me that I’m not alone 😉

So Saturday night hubby went to bed at 9.30 (can you believe it? Humph!!!!) and I had the opportunity to do whatever I wanted….. Did I start my assignment? Nope….. Did I finish one of my short stories? Nope lol….. Did I do some editing? Ummmm, nope lol….. So what did I do?

I ended up watching His Girl Friday on my iPad *snigger* Oh, well, come on…..it was Cary Grant *swoon* He was my first crush when I was a kid (along with Danny Kaye but we won’t go into that just now).

So yet again Mr Procrastination won, got the better of me lol….. I really must kick him into touch…. And quickly lol 😉

I spent most of yesterday afternoon, and the whole evening trying to be organised so that I know when all the competitions are. I’ve got a large folder now with all the info in….I’m really pleased with myself 🙂

Yesterday prompt about the closet saw me back to my old dark ways lol but todays one, write about a crosswind is going to be hard 😉

Yesterdays Workshop

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Thoroughly enjoyed Sally Quilford’s Pocket Novel workshop yesterday.

I learnt so much 🙂

Obviously, most of what Sally was telling us about was in reference specifically to Pocket Novels, but, there was also a lot of information that would be relevant to any type of writing.

I took 11 pages of notes in my notebook lol, which included 2 character sketches (a hero and a heroine) and a scene about a first kiss lol. I picked up some great tips, which will be relevant to any short stories I submit to magazines, and we talked all about Internal and External conflict.

Sally told us about The Hays Code of Filmmaking which is a very handy little guide for how a Pocket Novel should be written, and also gave us some book recommendations. Oh dear…..more to add to my Amazon wish list.

She also gave us a very useful little tip that she admits she shamelessly stole from Della Galton which is to ask these simple 5 questions to any character or situation that you’re struggling with:

How?
Why?
What?
Where?
When?

So all in all a good day 🙂 We even had cake! lol 😉

Sally does an online Pocket Novel course which starts in June….. I think I’ll be joining 😉

Today’s prompt, the long bus ride ended up being another attempt at romance. A woman on a bus on her way home from work ends up sitting next to a man who has an appointment 2doors down from her house. I have some ideas as to what the appointment is, but still not made up my mind 100% Today’s prompt is in the closet which sounds very intriguing…..so many options with that one lol 😉

The Pain Of Experience

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‘Write what you know’ isn’t that what they say? But what if what you know hurts too much?

I’ve really struggled with a couple of prompts recently ……too close for comfort lol

There’s been a lot of talk about Adele recently, due to all her Grammy awards (and Brit awards). I really don’t know how she does it. Every time she sings one of those songs the memories of how she felt when she wrote it (or how she felt at the time of the break up) must come flooding back. How do you step back from that? Distance yourself? Sorry, for those of you who don’t know Adeles album “21” was written about a painful breakup of her relationship.

Songwriters are no different to writers. Most songs are a short story, in fact you can use songs to inspire short stories, but that’s a whole new post.

We’re told constantly as writers to push ourselves, delve into places where it does hurt, tackle difficult areas, difficult subjects…..but I’m not sure I want to. I know if you’ve been through a particular event in your life you can draw on first hand experience to write about it. It will be better written from experience than say, someone who’s only trying to express those emotions, who hasn’t actually experienced them.

I try not to avoid certain subjects when I write, I try to give everything a go, but, some themes just affect me more than others, perhaps I’m just not ready to expose myself to those emotions, quite yet 😉

Yesterday’s prompt was ‘in a foreign country’ and I ended up writing the beginning of a story about 2 girls on holiday at one of the girls uncles house. I’m thinking that he’s a real nasty bit of work, although he comes across as a really nice man to start with 😉 Today’s prompt is write about a long bus ride but I’m not sure when I’ll get it done…..I’m off to the Pocket Novel workshop today, and nooooo, I didn’t get chance to actually read one lol

How To Do Everything & Be Happy

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I met Peter Jones at Swanwick last year and bought his book How To Do Everything & Be Happy whilst I was there. I have to say, he is a great advert for his own advice. The whole week at Swanwick, I swear, I did not see that guy frown. He had a smile, constantly fixed to his face. I remember thinking ‘I wanna be like that!’ so I bought the book (can highly recommend it by the way) 🙂

So here I am 6 months later, I’ve read it, made a few lists, not stuck to them, and my Boxing Days (a term used in the book) have fallen by the wayside…….

So I decided to drag my friend Jayne along to one of Peters Workshops yesterday. Thoroughly enjoyed it!!!! 🙂

I’ve set some goals and when we go back next month he’s gunna ask me if I’ve actually done anything about them lol.

Yesterday’s prompt was about lies….what can I say, I struggled 😦

Hubby’s got the day off work today, which is nice, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be reading that pocket novel lol

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