Describe all the colours in this photo. Describe each colour five different ways.
writing
Weekly Photo Writing Prompt
Imagine four characters, one stuck in each attic. How are their lives different, how are they the same? Describe life as it would be stuck in an attic forever.
Weekly Photo Writing Prompt
A bit of dust and a sniff of flower petals. This will make one wish come true for you. What do you wish for and why?
O-M-G It’s Almost NaNoWriMo! What do I do now?
I’ve been here before. In fact, I’ve been here many, many, times. Sea-Witch was one of the first NaNoWriMo novels I ever wrote. Scratch that, Under Jupiter was the first NaNo novel I wrote! I’ve written a lot of words during NaNo, yet every year it creeps up on me so that I feel that I am once again looking at doing NaNo for the first time ever.
I have one week left, how the heck am I supposed to prepare for this crazy marathon that is NaNoWriMo.
Well, the short answer is: buy a notebook.
A good notebook, a great notebook, the kind of notebook you don’t want to leave your side ever. Take this notebook with you everywhere you go, in your car, on the bus, to the washroom, to work, to school, to your kid’s gymnastics class, to the zoo to watch the bears, to your Nana’s to watch a knitting marathon, to the bar, to your favorite cafe.
Find a notebook and never let it leave your side.
And, while you’re carrying it around, you might as well find a pen. Or a pencil. Or any kind of writing utensil that looks awesome tucked into your pocket or purse or behind your ear. The kind of pen that you never want to leave your person. The kind of pen that makes you feel awesome. And carry that pen around everywhere with you.
Now, with a notebook and pen in hand, you have no excuse. You’re ready. It’s time to start thinking about your story.
Think about your story while your cooking, exercising, walking, or watching TV. Or one of my favorites thinks of your story when you’re trying to fall asleep at night. Fall asleep dreaming of your story. And every now and then, write down the plot points that fall into your lap.
Collect the locations that your main character has to visit. Write down your MC’s favorite food and whether or not they enjoyed that song you just heard on the radio. Write down the name of your MC’s first-grade teacher, mother, siblings, and friends. Write down all the little tidbits about your story and the world it encompasses. Don’t aim for sentences, just little bullets.
- like fries hates burgers
- wants a pet rabbit
- thinks that smell down the hallway is awful
- wishes for magic
- finds magic and ruins their life
Bullets are wonderful.
Bullets are magic.
If you’re getting ready for NaNo, start bulleting. And good luck!
JEH
Writing Photo Prompt
The flowers do something magical. What is it? How does it work?
My Writing Life Update June 2019
It has been a very busy month! Primarily because I got a new day job, and that has been all kinds of insanity, BUT, the new job serves my eventual goal of writing more (even though in June I wrote less… much, much less). I was also trying to get my garden in, and then I was trying to get the weeds out, I was coaching soccer, and I was trying to catch up on my annual GoodReads Goal—I set this at 60 books and am only at 21, and in four days I’m supposed to be at 30! Yikes!
But, in other good news, I head off on a week of vacation on Friday. Time at the lake will hopefully equate to both books read and stories written, but I’m also hoping just to stare off into the wilderness and relax, so if I don’t get much done, I can’t get too angry with myself.
Project-wise, I’m working toward getting The Chain ready for publication, and it’s close. I’m hoping to push through on the holidays and then send it off for final edits, which means likely another 1-2 months before the last Artifacts of Avalum book is on the e-shelves.
After Avalum, I want to finish my standalone book, Society of Ink, which I love and is about half finished currently. After that, it’s going to be another young adult series, which I’m planning to outline over the next couple of months when I’m busy with my day job, but not to busy to plot!
The blog has been quiet, I know, but as always, I’m hoping to spend a bit more time on it going forward, but it is definitely near the bottom of the list, as most days if I only have 30 minutes to write, that time is going to be spent on stories, not discussions. Though other times, like tonight, blogging suits me just fine!
What have you been up to?
JEH
How to Be a Writer with a Day Job: Part 3 – Making Progress
The one thing I have been struggling with most lately, as a writer with a rather demanding day job, is progress. What do I mean by progress? To me, progress means writing a page of new words, rewriting a book scene by scene, or sending something out on submission. It means moving further along on the path toward finishing something. But lately, I’ve been standing in a deep puddle of stagnated water, the finish line far, far away.
I’ve been here before, I know how to get out of it. But when I come home from work exhausted and tired of computers (already having stared at one for 8 hours), sometimes I just want to curl up and binge watch Grey’s Anatomy (after not watching for a couple years, I’m three seasons behind and have a lot of episodes left to go! Tempting!)
As a writer with a day job, exhaustion can be your worst enemy. There are many ways to try to combat this, ways you can trick yourself into sitting down in your desk chair with your writing computer and start. Not all of the following suggestions will work for everyone—they certainly don’t all work for me. But if you try them all, hopefully, you’ll find one that works. Because one of the most important things about being a writer with a day job is consistency. Here are some small things you can do to continue making progress on your Work-In-Progress.
- Wake up Really Early – I’m going t be honest, I do not do this. I am not a morning person and this would not work for me. But I know a lot of writers who do follow this practice and it works for them. This is about setting aside to write before heading to your day job and spending your best time writing before you feel wiped out. If you’re a morning person, this might be for you.
- Write Really Late at Night – This is my chosen method. I find that when I first come home from work, I’m exhausted. I need a break, so I give myself one. I open up my computer after I’ve had three or four hours to compress from the day job, maybe done some exercise and had supper. Then I take about a half an hour to get some work done. The key thing here is to not do this immediately before going to bed since staring at a computer screen might mess with your circadian rhythm. Instead, work up until 30 minutes before you want to go to sleep, and then switch to reading or some other calming activity.
- Write on a couple specified days a week (most likely the weekend) – Almost everyone out there says to be a writer you have to ‘write every day’. If you have a day job, this is likely not your reality and I don’t believe it has to be. Writing can mean more than sitting down and getting out words every day, it can just be thinking over your plot lines or character development or doodling in a notebook. But it is important not to let too many days go by or you might forget where you were at (on this note, make sure to leave yourself a good note about what you need to do next). Lately, I’ve been squeezing in writing time on Wednesday nights and on Saturday or Sunday, and I find this is often enough that I don’t forget what I’m writing about.
- Find a Writing Group – As mentioned about, I have a writing group. We meet weekly just to sit in a quiet space and write. This group is all about productivity which is what I need right now. A writing group that spends hours talking and providing feedback might not fill the same purpose, so consider what your needs are when looking for a writing group of your own.
- Set Goals and Track Them – This can be important, especially for those that are motivated by seeing numbers on paper. The other year, when I wrote 365,000 words in a year (only 1,000 words a day), my productivity shot sky high. I tracked my daily writing goal in an Excel spreadsheet, and seeing the running total was a big motivator for sitting down and getting stuff done. (I’m no longer doing this and my productivity has dropped, surprise surprise).
No matter where you are in your writing journey, it is important to a writer’s happiness to see progress being made. Keep in mind that this doesn’t have to be large progress – you don’t have to write a book in a week, or even a book in a month, but you do need to move forward if you want to reach the finish line!
JEH
