Writing always on my mind

Less than three hundred words written today but it felt marvelous. I keep telling myself to stay on task and get one of these manuscripts finished and then another story intrigues me and before you know it I have written nine thousands words on it. I stall on that plot and then visit my other characters that have been patiently waiting for me to continue on with their story and inbetween I read. I read like a glutton. Young Adult fiction like; 'A Thousand Splendid Suns', 'Ophelia', 'City of Ember', 'Inkspell', etc. I love to read the scriptures, non-fiction like 'Merle's Door', the back of a cereal box.
I love references in stories about writing. The latest is from Lloyd Alexander's 'the Arkadians'. Fronto, the Poet turned talking donkey, says, "Prose however is a different piece of business. Tales, anecdotes, narratives. All quite simple. Any fool can tell a story. take a few odds and ends of things that happen to you, dress them up, shuffle them about, add a dash of excitement, a little color, and there you have it."

Triptaphine

Turkey eaten, leftovers fill the fridge, my birthday thoroughly celebrated and a quiet afternoon combine to give me several hours of uninterrupted writing time. More than a thousand words written. I was able to start an interchange between two prospective sweethearts, muddle through a emotional wedding and get some letters posted.

Happy Halloween!

Nothing could be finer than to get past a writer's block. I finished chapter 18 in the big novel. Was able to get almost 900 words written. I read what I wrote to my daughter and she said, "You wrote that? It's really good." I love getting strokes.

I got to write the villian today, it was really fun. What's the point if the villian isn't villianous? There is no conflict without him, no sense of impending danger. What is there for the hero or heroine to triumph over without him? What is there to push the characters to go outside themselves?

I have disengaged my self from the online writing groups. For me they tended to just be distracting. I got some lovely feed back from one fellow, Bob and will definitely take his comments to heart. But for now I just need to write.

Progress

I worked today on the big novel. I organized it. Now my novel sits in two folders. Folder one has the first sixteen chapters (75,092 words). Folder two has chapter seventeen and will hold the other chapters as they are finished. The exciting part is I have finished chapters 23-28; have eliminated chapter 22 and am almost finished with chapter eighteen. That means I only need three chapters for the two parts to meet and then two chapters to finish. I am closer than I realized. I wrote 437 words today and why that little bit should give me such a thrill I can not say.

Mike Gordon and Sting

Daniel, my son, is a huge fan of the improv band Phish. Today he told this story. Mike Gordon went to see Police in concert and after the concert he got to meet Sting. Sting gave him this advice. Don't listen to any music for six months and every day write something even if it's gibberish. Like 'my dog walked the baby in the park'. Eventually he said to work at getting a song from the idea stage to the finished and ready to record in one day Sting said that's how he got his album written and recorded.

The little light in my head went on. Of course this would work for writing stories as well as songs. I have read enough books to last a life time. I don't need to read anymore, at least for a while, that way I can put all my energy into writing.

I have people in ten different states wondering when I will ever get these stories I keep talking about published. And the feed back I got from writing.com has been very positive and very helpful. As always I'll keep you posted.

writing.com

Where do would be writers go? Not authors who's words are published in the slick pages of magazines or in the bright white pages of hard back tomes, but the dabblers who's heads are full of stories, We are the glassy eyed who sit in a room but are not there, instead we travel the halls of far off kingdoms, battle against evil and fall unrequitedly in love. Here we can open a window into our souls and hope for a gentle word from those who stop to take in the view. Welcome.
This is my intro to my portfolio on writing.com.
I am going to try this forum out to see if I can get my writing reviewed by other would be authors and to keep me motivated. I have spent the day on the forum when I should be cleaning my house or writing so it may turn out to be just a big distraction.

Oh joy and rapture! Have I mentioned that I got a laptop for my anniversary gift? I can sit anywhere I am comfortable and write to my hearts content.
Since last I blogged I have sent Callen and Thayla shopping at a bookstore (Tree of Life)[Chapter 4], Rosanna has had a close encounter with a ferocious bear (One Kiss)[Chapter 9] and Braden has explained resurrection to Jazmire at his father's wake (Heir)[Chapter 18]. I also added a scene in the hospital to Character Sketch, it may not stay it really doesn't further the plot. I think I must resolve myself to the idea of that story staying at the novella stage.
Progress is too slow and not steady enough but still it's progress.

Thin skinned dabbler

I recently entered a writing challenge. A story is outlined then the contestants write the first 13 lines of the story. The idea is based on the premise that the first page of a manuscript will probably only have about 13 lines on it so those lines need to be good enough and hooky enough to get an editor to read on. For the last two weeks my entry has been heavily panned. Notably this week,"That error, along with some sloppy writing, turns me off from this story".
It's hard to recover from such negative feedback when I get so little feedback of any kind on my work. It puts me in mind of the Harry Chapin song "Mr. Tanner." I posted that last stanza. I know how he feels. I am my best audience therefore that is who I will write for.
I love to write, I have stories swirling through my mind all the time, five at a time. I just don't have the tools I need to write effectively. I know what good writing is, it pulls you into the story so you aren't even aware of the writing. The words become amazing settings, well realized characters and story lines that draw you in emotionally.
I told myself last week I need to use my creative energy to write on my own stories, no more writing challenge but it is so seductive to hope someone will think your few short lines are magical.
Oh to have Shrunk and White poured into each crease of my brain so that my ideas come out as lyrical prose.
I will stop referring to myself as a writer, I am only a dabbler. It is enough if I enjoy the imperfect scrawlings.