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Planning Your Writing Time

April 12th 2010 12:29
In an attempt to help balance life, school, and writing, I've tried many times-and failed many times-to plan structured writing time. This includes scheduling which hours to write in, what to write in those hours, which days to do how much writing, and a constant debate in my head-does reading blogs count as writing time?

If you've been following my blog for a long time, you've probably seen my attempts to schedule my time. If you haven't, then you might have missed them. Long story short, in the last six months I've tried several times to schedule my writing, but I've never fully succeeded. I'll always reach one or two sessions, but other than that, my writing time just happens when it happens.

This month (and next month, and the month after that) I'm going to try something different. In the past I've tried to schedule hours based on when I thought I would be getting home and when I thought I would be waking up. My sleeping patterns are so erratic, as are my day to day patterns, that this didn't work out too well.

Instead of planning out specific times, this time around I'm going to try to plan out days. I'm going to decide what is going to get done each day, and a general idea of when I'm going to do it, but other than that, I'll leave it up to the flow.

You can see the beginnings of my 'schedule' here. As time goes by, I'll let you know how well I'm managing to follow it.

Do you schedule your writing time? Why or why not?
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The Last Day

March 31st 2010 13:17
Today is the last day of Nanoedmo and of March. It's also the last day of this editing workshop.

To those of you who have finished or will finish by the end of today-congratulations. You've come a long way this month and done a lot of hard work. Give yourself a reward.

To those of you who haven't finished your second draft and who probably won't have finished your second draft by the end of the day, don't beat yourself up. Just keep working at it, give yourself a pat on the back for what you've done, set a new completion date, and work at it bit by bit, day by day. Don't give up on your novel if it's a complete mess-as long as you still love your story, it's worth rewriting until you've done it justice.

I'll be continuing my own editing, hoping to finish my second draft by April fifteenth. The workshop is over, but you can expect to see updates here throughout the coming month on how my novel's coming along, and you're welcome to comment here and let me know how yours is doing.

Thanks for reading.
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Final March Prompt

March 30th 2010 12:11
Today I want you to write to the following prompt:

Falling out of a tree.

Go crazy with it, and if you end up with something awesome, I'd love to read it.
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Almost Closing Time

March 29th 2010 12:06
NanoEdmo, and the month of March, is almost over. With any luck, and minimal interference, you should be finishing off your second draft, almost ready to write 'the end' once again. During these final days, you're going to be concerned with how your novel will end, reaching an ending that will give both you and your readers satisfaction.

If you're writing a stand alone book, read through your rewritten chapters and make sure there aren't any plot threads that have been dropped. If there are, pick them up again and finish them off. Write a satisfying end to the story you've been writing, but don't end your book on a static note. Just because the evil overlord has been defeated or the two characters have been married doesn't mean that your world and your characters won't face future challenges. It's not 'happily ever after'. Your characters are living, breathing people and they will continue to be so after the book is done


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Simple Editing Exercise and Update

March 25th 2010 12:04
Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I've been really tired this week. My editing is coming along slowly but nicely, my words for the year are 84K plus change, far behind where I wanted to be but still better than last year at this time.

Today I've got a simple exercise for you to do


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Prompt Time!

March 23rd 2010 12:58
Sorry I didn't post yesterday; let's just say the weekend was eventful, shall we?

If you're terribly behind, I am too, but rather than dwell on how behind you are, use this prompt to get the words flowing and then go on to start your editing for the day


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Three Great Editing Links

March 19th 2010 12:35
Some more great links for you:

~He said, she said: thoughts on dialogue is a post on Magical Words talking about dialogue. It's got several interesting points to consider when editing your own dialogue scenes


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Editing Exercise Two: Dialogue Tags

March 18th 2010 12:06
Today's exercise is about dialogue tags.

You want dialogue to stand on its own. Dialogue tags shouldn't have to explain how your character said it. A reader should be able to tell who's speaking fairly easily without any dialogue tags at all, but you also don't want to go too long in a scene without dialogue tags


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When Everything Is Just Too Much

October 4th 2008 23:28
So let me tell you something. School is stressing me out; I'm trying to force myself to go but it isn't working very well. Things at home aren't pleasant either. I'm stressed; so stressed that I've been sick on and off for two weeks now. Nanowrimo is on the horizon.

It's times like these when anybody-writer or otherwise-starts to wonder about all their obligations and if they're worth it. It's times like these when normally I would abandon the blog for weeks at a time; I'm trying not to. It's sort of working. It's times like these when we just want to throw in the towel


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Rants

August 10th 2008 04:01
Soon I will be beginning a series of my own fantasy rants, in the tradition of Limyaael. These will be about things I like/don't like/think of stuff done in fantasy. Specifically things that I would point out in a crit if I noticed it.

I'm going to say this now. These are personal opinion and if they offend you, too bad. But fantasy is wrought with cliches and badly written books, and I'm hoping to reduce the number-and if nobody takes my advice, oh well


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To the true writer, to the serious writer, writing is a passion; an art. It is more than that though-it is the writer's soul, their life, their purpose. Writing isn't about mechanics. It's about love.

Only someone who truly loves the work they're doing can become a truly amazing writer. It takes so much time and effort to write something beautiful, especially a novel, but more than that it takes passion and love. You have to feel for your characters-or as your characters-and you have to feel connected to the plot


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Words On A Page

June 16th 2008 03:56
Writing: the art of putting COHERENT words on a page... and so much more.

Just because you can perform the act of writing words coherently doesn't make you a true writer. A true writer takes talent and hard work. To be a true writer you have to be determined to write, to want to write, to love writing


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A Writer's Work

June 13th 2008 23:14
What good is writing?

Let me tell you what writing is good for


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Trying To Start Again

June 13th 2008 21:09
It's so hard... so hard. I've been through hell the last few months and I've lost all drive to live. All drive to write.

But I'm back. I'm going to try again. I HAVE to try again. If I am to survive the hardest trials of my life, if I am to survive these things, I must write. I have always written. It is my release. It has been with me since grade three, one of my hard years. It was there when I had to move, Daddy got sick, my parents split up. It was there all throughout the worst school ever


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A Lack Of Drive

March 11th 2008 00:47
I haven't been writing much and to be honest a lot of my drive seems to have disappeared with a stressful weekend. I'm sick, lacking smokes, possibly being broken up with, among other things.

It sucks to be me. And when it sucks to be me... sometimes that's good for my writing, other times it's horrible. Right now it's horrible


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Writing Is My Work

February 27th 2008 04:40
Writing is my work, my passion, my joy in life. Writing is everything to me; it is the one thing I have had for six years, the one thing that I rely on and trust in.

And there may be something called a 'day job' but I'm praying I'll never need one. I guess I didn't really see much hope until that publication. Now I'm out searching for more of the same and I'm ridiculously happy


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Back

February 14th 2008 12:41
Have you ever noticed that the best writers go through some of the hardest times? I cannot begin to describe to you how much I have suffered in the last two months. I was fighting with my mother; I went into an open relationship before being dumped by a guy I'm completely head over heels with, I managed to fail all my first semester classes, and I suffered a hospital overnight after which I became severely stress sick for over a week.

All writers go through times like these. And I have written so much and been so inspired during this whole time that I'm almost grateful for the pain. In the end though, it all worked out well


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Writing for yourself

January 25th 2008 01:04
There are those who write for money; those who write for others; but in the end, the best of us are those who write for passion, for themselves before all others.

Writing for yourself is one of the most rewarding activities in the world. When you write for yourself, there's a certain pleasure gained. You write because you love to write, and when you do that, the words can pour out


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A Notebook-The Poor Man's Laptop

January 24th 2008 03:36
As a writer, odds are you're going to want to write outside of your home, quite plausibly away from your desktop. And we're not all rich enough for a laptop.

This post is, in essence, the guide to stationary. Starting with notebooks


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To Be A Writer

January 23rd 2008 05:16
The arts; very few of us competely lack passion for all of them. I have a passion for most of them, even if I don't have a talent for them. Each and every last one of them is a cut-throat business in which it's a one in a million chance you'll succeed in.

And to walk along an artsy path is difficult. But for those of us truly passionate about our writing, we will walk along it, we will travel, and we will try and try again where others might give up and walk away


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