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More Questions
A Bunch More Discussion Questions For Writers I have been mostly talking to myself over the last four days, trying to make sense of some questions I have that don’t flat seem to have answers. Or at least not easy answers. So on the idea I might keep this up, I thought for a short post tonight I would just toss out a few more questions that would be fun to talk about in coming posts. Again, just sort of talking with myself, but feel free to chime in with other ideas. —Why is every writer I know in a hurry? —Why are most writers totally incapable of planning longer…
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What Is Special?
With Writing, What Exactly Is Special? A nasty question I got a hunch I shouldn’t ask. Making a project, a chapter, a story special is a quick way to problems and critical voice issues. Making the speed of writing a project special is also a problem I just fell into. And have fallen into a number of times over the last few years. I did a book of blog posts called Writing a Novel in Ten Days where I did my last ghost-written project. Then I did another series of blogs into a book called Writing a Novel in Seven Days. And then to make writing speed even more special,…
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Become a Better Storyteller… Write Faster
The Problem of Writing Faster… You Get Better… I mentioned this in yesterday’s post and it went right past most everyone. So I figured I would tap dance on this concept a little to see if it would help a few people. What is Writing Fast? As I said yesterday, writing fast doesn’t mean you write sloppy or type faster. Or take shortcuts with plotting or story. Writing faster is simply spending more time in the chair telling stories. That’s it. Every moment you are in the chair writing you are doing the best you can. You just spend more moments in a day and a week is all. An…
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Excuses and the Fine Art of Self Sabotage
Excuses… Last week I came to the sudden realization that most of us modern writers are lazy. While at the same time convincing ourselves we are not. We convince ourselves that the time and energy we spend writing is exactly what we are supposed to be doing. And we seldom question those rules or guidelines or beliefs that lead to the “supposed-to-be-doing” issue. I’ve been questioning those rules and guidelines for a decade now, writing articles about Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing and Killing the Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing. And yet it was when I finished writing a novel in five days while traveling that I realized I had…
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Saturday Night Again
I worked on workshop stuff, watched a bunch of television, wrote a bunch of words, and had a good day. And that, my dear friends, makes this a filler post to keep the streak of posting every day alive. Back tomorrow night with some more questions from the discussion started last week about why modern writers are such wimps. Night.
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A Question…
Why?… Such a dangerous question when asked in relationship to so many different things. Yesterday, in the last chapter of the book I did about writing a novel in five days while traveling, I made a comment near the end that I found the exercise fun to be able to (just for a few days) feel like I belonged in the world of the pulp writers. And I made a comment that I was born too late. A reader wrote me privately with a good comment. Basically the reader reminded me that I should feel lucky to have the modern things we writers use such as computers, control of our…
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Epilogue: Writing a Novel in Five Days While Traveling
WRITING A NOVEL IN FIVE DAYS WHILE TRAVELING… Epilogue… I am writing this from the comfort of my office at home, the day after I got back, which was late last night. I ended having to fight a pretty nasty storm coming in, but made it fine. The drive from Las Vegas to the Oregon Coast took two days, with a stop in Redding. As I said, the novel came in at 37,100 words. But I know for a fact that I will need to flush out the ending slightly because I figured out the end, was tired and did a lot of “and then this happened…” So more than likely the final…
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A Second Filler Post
The drive from Redding, California, over the mountains and down into the valley with Portland, Salen, Eugene Oregon was fine. But from there it got sort of tricky. Hitting with 70 mph winds tonight here on the coast and nasty rain. I came in over the coast range through it. Tiring drive. White snow along the road, heavy fog, hard rain, and wind. Places I couldn’t see anything, let alone the road. Not fun. But I made it. So I managed to get the workshop assignments done tonight and will be back at everything full tomorrow and will do a wrap-up on the travel book here. But tonight the power is…
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Chapter Seven: Writing a Novel in Five Days While Traveling
WRITING A NOVEL IN FIVE DAYS WHILE TRAVELING… CHAPTER SEVEN… Fifth and final day of writing on the novel and it turned out fine. Yup, got the book finished. Go figure. I’ll explain more below. I ended up with 9,500 words today including the 1,600 I did after I finished yesterday’s chapter here. Book came in at 37,100 words. But I might need to flush out the ending because I figured out the end, was tired and did a lot of “and then this happened…” And actually, all the novels in this series have run from 36,000 words to 43,000 words, so this is spot on for length for the series. However,…
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Chapter Six: Writing a Novel in Five Days While Traveling
WRITING A NOVEL IN FIVE DAYS WHILE TRAVELING… CHAPTER SIX… Fourth day of writing on the novel and it turned out fine, but I didn’t make up any ground. But I had a great day both writing and on the vacation part. I ended up with 8,200 words, but had been hoping for a few thousand more. I might still get some more in, but I’ll add them onto tomorrow if I do since it’s 4 a.m. Detailing Out the Day… Once again I made it out of bed by noon and by 1 p.m. I had showered, gotten dressed, and was headed for lunch with the guys in the buffet. Yes, we…