Write, write, write!
This blog post is part of the Moms' 30-minute Blog Challenge over at Steady Mom.
Ten days in and I am still an active participant in National Novel Writing Month. Which is thrilling for me. I hit my initial goal of 10,00 words (50,000 words is the goal of the project) and set a new goal of 30,000. After sitting on that for a few days, I realized that I should just leap for the big one....so my new new goal is the whole shebang of 50,000 words.
19,250 words down; 30,850 to go.
Things I've discovered:
*LP is willing to go head to head with my desire to be writing. She has upped the whining ante but also is having some breaks in the whine when she is distracted by entertaining herself in play.
*Participating in Steady Mom's 30-Minute Blog Challenge the past few weeks has helped me see that I can write in a restricted amount of time. While I try to a chunk of time of 30-60 minutes at least once a day, I've also discovered I can pound out 100-200 words almost anytime I get my fingers on the keyboard.
*I would not have been able to do this challenge years ago. Back then I think the goal-oriented word count focused nature of the beast would not have inspired, where as now I'm somewhat addicted to checking my word count.
*It feels great doing something that is completely for me.
*LP is less likely to interrupt me if I stand up while I write.
*The temptation to reread and edit is so strong; I have to constantly remind myself that crafting the novel, forming its shape and honing and refining character and action are all a future activity, now is just about letting the words flow.
*Improv is so helpful for the writing process! Whenever I'm stuck (say every 10 minutes or so), I use some improv activities to trigger my imagination and get going again. Here's two of my favorites with links to descriptions (I modify them to use for writing):
Ten days in and I am still an active participant in National Novel Writing Month. Which is thrilling for me. I hit my initial goal of 10,00 words (50,000 words is the goal of the project) and set a new goal of 30,000. After sitting on that for a few days, I realized that I should just leap for the big one....so my new new goal is the whole shebang of 50,000 words.
19,250 words down; 30,850 to go.
Things I've discovered:
*LP is willing to go head to head with my desire to be writing. She has upped the whining ante but also is having some breaks in the whine when she is distracted by entertaining herself in play.
*Participating in Steady Mom's 30-Minute Blog Challenge the past few weeks has helped me see that I can write in a restricted amount of time. While I try to a chunk of time of 30-60 minutes at least once a day, I've also discovered I can pound out 100-200 words almost anytime I get my fingers on the keyboard.
*I would not have been able to do this challenge years ago. Back then I think the goal-oriented word count focused nature of the beast would not have inspired, where as now I'm somewhat addicted to checking my word count.
*It feels great doing something that is completely for me.
*LP is less likely to interrupt me if I stand up while I write.
*The temptation to reread and edit is so strong; I have to constantly remind myself that crafting the novel, forming its shape and honing and refining character and action are all a future activity, now is just about letting the words flow.
*Improv is so helpful for the writing process! Whenever I'm stuck (say every 10 minutes or so), I use some improv activities to trigger my imagination and get going again. Here's two of my favorites with links to descriptions (I modify them to use for writing):
- Color/Advance (also called Narrative, Color, Emotion)
This is my main one. When I'm stuck on the action, I move to coloring in the picture or feelings. When I'm tapped out on those, I see if I can move the action forward.
I use the most simple version of this...really I just take a breath and ask myself "what comes next?" and try to take the simplest, smallest thing that comes to mind.
- Ask for a suggestion/blind offer
Sometimes it helps trigger my imagination to get something from the outside to work with...much like starting an improv scene from nothing is often more challenging that getting some kind of audience suggestion (a location or name or feeling). Last night I asked LP what the next word in my novel should be and she replied, "Please." (Which surprised me but also says a lot about what's been going on around here). So that will be my next word and I'll find out where that goes.From a lots-of-things-happening the rest of the month (like a show opening! Let It Snow goes into previews on Nov 19th!) (and teaching "Every Day Improv" next Sunday), it is going to get more and more difficult to find pockets of time to write AND I'm going to keep pushing forward and writing words as fast as I can.
posted by Susan at
7:57 AM
2 Comments
