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The Fresh Start Challenge With Kris…
A Challenge with Kris for the Month of January… The challenge is to write as many consumable words from Monday, January 1st through Wednesday, January 31st 2024 as Kris writes. The goal is to get writing and focused on the writing for the month of January. What are “consumable” words? — Any fiction of any type (no requirement to publish during the challenge time) — Any nonfiction that others will consume such as blogs, introductions to collections things like that. You can NOT count emails and comments on Facebook and other social media or comments on blogs. They do NOT count. No genre limitations. Rules 1… Every day Kris will…
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Step Three… Clean Up and Plan…
Two Things to Get Ready to Go… Cleaning Up… Stunning how much just basic stuff gets forgotten or left behind as a year goes on. Some of my most brilliant organization plans at the start of any year are often in tatters by the end. For me, this year was no exception. For some reason, while I was in a sling, my writing computer just decided to alphabetize all my files. Yeah, that was a shock. So the last two nights I have been cleaning up my writing space, putting notes in order, and getting files back with their series. Oh, joy, but by the 1st I will be rolling…
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Step Two… Ramp Up
Starting From Zero Seldom Works… For any of us, no matter how much practice and years we have under our fingers. And I know, I have tried to just start writing at full speed. Many times, actually. Most of the time it fails in frustration or at best turns into a ramp-up I should have done earlier. How much time does it take to ramp into writing, get comfortable, after taking some time off? Got a hunch that number changes with each person, but honestly, two or three days at most for me and most other writers I know. For me, I sit down (after I have everything organized… another…
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Sometimes Just Take a Day Off…
So It Is Christmas Eve… I have no plans to take any time away from my office, mostly because after this last fall, I am just so far behind, and I want to be ready to get writing solidly into the new year. But even with that, I watched a holiday movie tonight before heading up here again. I doubt that Kris will take any time off either. She has sent out six updates on her challenge Sprint to 2024 and she is really enjoying the writing. But as two professional writers, we will spend some holiday time together, including a turkey meal (sort of taking the place of our…
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Step One: Getting Ready for the New Year…
Looking Back (for only a moment)… Step one of planning ahead is to spend just a little time looking back at the past year, see how you did, how the actual production matched up to your goals last January. Right now it is still a number of days before Christmas, but I want to get this step out of the way and really start working on the new year’s goals and focus. I want to turn my attention forward. But first I have to look back for just a moment. I know, without even looking hard, that my year sucked by my standards. It started off with me dealing with…
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Bringing Forward. FAILURE MUST BE AN OPTION
A Series of Posts to Get Ready for the New Year… (I first did a version of this post in 2012, then brought it forward and updated it for 2014, and updated again in 2017, and here it is as part of this year-end flurry of posts to help get ready for 2024.) I’ll bet a few of you got very uneasy by me starting off a blog post with: “Failure Must Be An Option.” This post is about how to move forward with your writing. And to do that, you must fail, over and over to become an artist in this business and to just survive. And that’s normal and perfectly…
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Beautiful Trophy Challenge Is Back!!!
Last Day to Sign Up for Kris Sprint Challenge. Starts tomorrow. The challenge is to write as many consumable words from Monday, December 18th through December 31st 2023 as Kris writes. What are “consumable” words? — Any fiction of any type (no requirement to publish during the challenge time) Rewriting does not count. Only the final publishable words. — Any nonfiction that others will consume such as blogs, introductions to collections things like that. You can NOT count emails and comments on Facebook and other social media or comments on blogs. They do NOT count. No genre limitations. Rules 1… Every day Kris will send a letter through the class…
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Two Days To Get Into the Challenge with Kris!
A Two-Week Writing Challenge With Kris! Just two days left to join. Starts Monday morning sign-ups cut off at that point. The challenge is to write as many consumable words from Monday, December 18th through December 31st 2023 as Kris writes. What are “consumable” words? — Any fiction of any type (no requirement to publish during the challenge time) — Any nonfiction that others will consume such as blogs, introductions to collections things like that. You can NOT count emails and comments on Facebook and other social media or comments on blogs. They do NOT count. No genre limitations. Rules 1… Every day Kris will send a letter through the…
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To Be Clear On A Couple of Things…
I Got Questions From Writers… In the Sprint Writing challenge with Kris, yes she will report in to those in the challenge every day about what her writing day was like and how much she got done. SHE NEVER DOES THIS NORMALLY!! I live with her and I don’t have a clue what happens in that office when she is writing. So this is stunning and should be a real learning experience for all of us. If you are not in the challenge, there is no way to get these reports or even how many words she wrote. If you are in the challenge, you only report in once to…
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Sprint to the New Year With Kris!
A Two-Week Writing Challenge With Kris! The challenge is to write as many consumable words from Monday, December 18th through December 31st 2023 as Kris writes. What are “consumable” words? — Any fiction of any type (no requirement to publish during the challenge time) — Any nonfiction that others will consume such as blogs, introductions to collections things like that. You can NOT count emails and comments on Facebook and other social media or comments on blogs. They do NOT count. No genre limitations. Rules 1… Every day Kris will send a letter through the class email system to just those in the challenge talking about the words she wrote…