Writer’s Block

Anatis November 25th, 2007

Todays blog visit was to Annie’s Blog at http://unfinishnovel.blogspot.com/

And boy… do I know what she’s talking about. Been there. Done that. Got the stack of paper to prove it.

Right now I’m revising because I found out some 56,000 words into the story that… the heroine is wishy washy and has no goal. No life. She’s BORING.
Gotta fix that.

So I made it my goal to give her a goal. Poor Tia doesn’t know what hit her, she’s being revised to pieces. That’s my 70 Days challenge, and actually… I find it much harder to do than a simple wordcount. I can write a lot of words, no problem. But writing words that make sense and will enhance my characters… that’s another story.

I’m at 9/20 at the moment. I’ve read ahead to chapter 14 and it’s damned hard to revise from 9 onward at the moment.

Tags: 70 Days, Revising, Writing

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Anatis November 11th, 2007

I’m not talking about the General Medical Council. Or General Motors Company.

No.

I’m talking about Goal, Motivation, Conflict. Things that should be in a novel, or you have a problem.
Guess what.
I have a problem.

My heroine is… goal-less. It’s a damn pain, to say the least, because I found this out toward the end of the first draft. Not good.
So now I’m stuck with having to rewrite. I might as well try to reinvent the wheel for all the success I’m having with the reenvisioning the story.
It doesn’t help that it’s Sunday… and one of the 70 Days Check in days.
I should probably not do those. Or at least skip one. I think it was too soon on the heels of the previous 70 days. Or maybe I need to redefine my own goals and make it less about word counts and more about structure.
I think I’ll do the latter, because… well. It makes sense.
At least to me it does.

So.

My new goal is to restructure the chapters I have. Okay, we make that a fixed number. 20 Chapters by the end of the 70 Days.

I can do that!

Tags: GMC, Restructuring, Stuck

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Anatis October 31st, 2007

I’m still sweating. My goal is somewhat different from last time, less measurable.

I am revising my WIP which doesn’t have a goal. Yup. You saw right. It doesn’t and I didn’t notice until I had… 50k+ words written.
I sat there going “Ok. The end is.. uh. WTH?” That’s when I ended up redoing it all.
However, aside from that I managed to lose a crown, get it glued back in, only to find it wobbled last night… and having to have it done again today — because I have a job interview tomorrow.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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Anatis October 24th, 2007

I have a new theme tune.

Damn you, Chad Kroeger! Rock Star by Nickelback. I’ve listend to that damn track all day.

For one thing… it ties in with the “How bad do you want it” from the other day. Boy, does it ever. For another, it’s one of those primal scream songs that you can just yell along to, who cares that it mentions playboy bunnies LOL.
It also made me remember that time in my life when I was umm… yes. 18.
I was a late starter. But damn, I made up for it.
Other girls were romping around when they were 14/15/16. Not me. I wasn’t interested.
By the time I was 18 and 1/4… I had become a mother’s worst nightmare. By the time I was 18 1/2… that part of the song… “We’ll all stay skinny ’cause we just won’t eat
And we’ll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars”

I’ll wear an enigmatic smile and point out that my mother threw me out of the house by 18 3/4 and I celebrated my 19th birthday… err… yes. It’s a bit hazy.
You know how they always tell you to “Write what you know”?
I’m afraid if I did… I might get sued. LOL
But I can tell you that there are 2 and a half years that… you don’t put on a Resume. I worked as a Merchandiser for a T-Shirt company after quitting my job. It’s what got me thrown out in the middle of winter. I hooked up with people you’ve heard about, partied with them, saw them at their best - and their worst. And they saw me like that. I was shoulder, I was cheerleader, I was… there. I lived it and I survived it. No, I wasn’t a groupie - I had to be around these guys for months at a time and sex complicates stuff like living in a cramped bus. So you just… don’t.
Afterwards… all bets were off.
I’ll never go shopping with one of them again, though! Even I only put up with so much punishment lol.

These days I’m settled down, lead a boring life. And then every now and then something comes along that reminds me just how ALIVE I once was. The stuff I got up to, the people I’ve met, the people whose life I shared - however briefly - the people who shared my life. The people who left an impression, the people I’d rather forget…

I’m going to be spending the day tomorrow looking at old photographs, I think.
I know I should write, but… I’m just going to put it down to… research! And no… I still won’t write what I know.

Oh, and todays blog visit was to Melissa Schroeder - go on. Let her distract you. She did me!

Tags: 70 Days, Past, Rock n' Roll, Rock Star, Zounds!

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Anatis October 21st, 2007

So I was reading the 70 Days blog this morning and it’s been bugging me all day.
I really have no excuse. None whatsoever. I could hack out the words like a madwoman.
I could… if I only wanted a wordcount.
However, I want it bad… but I want it right as well. And right involves a bit of planning (a.k.a. Research) as well as a will to finish that book.
I can churn out words like crazy. I can. I’ve proved I can. 6-10k a day, no problem.
And the day after I delete 5-9k of that because it’s crap.
So don’t get too het up about your wordcount. Yes, you do need to write, but I’d prefer to write 700 words that are worth writing, than 7000 words of which I can only use 700.
Quality vs Quantity.

How bad DO you want it?

Something I do religiously at the moment is go to the sites, blogs, of the person posting above me. I’m telling you, it’s worth doing. Not only are you able to leave a bit of encouragement when you do so, but you can also find inspiration to write there.
Do it AFTER you’ve done your quota though. Whatever that quota is set at, it’s not set in stone.
So don’t go beating yourself up over missing words.

They’ll come and find you later.

Tags: Inspiration, Preparation, Research, Scribbling

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Anatis October 21st, 2007

Todays check in was… Zero words.

I’m brewing at the moment, which is either a good, or a bad thing.

However, my “Visit the blog above you” works in the inspiration department! Today’s blog was / is Maura Anderson’s blog and her “Friday Flash Fiction” is a great idea!

Might have to start that too. Thanks for the inspiration, Maura!

Tags: 70 Days, Inspiration

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Anatis October 16th, 2007

Okay!

I’m stuck… :/

So while I was thinking about what to write… I visited ZaZa’s blog. I made it a rule to visit people who are in a comment above mine on a blog and leave encouragement. Turns out I really like what she posted on hers.

Try doing the same for some inspiration? Just visit the person above you and leave a comment, see where it takes you.

Tags: 70 Days

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Anatis October 15th, 2007

Here we go again.

Another round of 70 Days (with time off for good behavior around Turkey Days), more sweat and I’ve already done… not a lot. Well. I’m hayfevering and sneezing like a crazy person, but alas… I’ve… done nothing. I’ve blogged more than I’ve written, my internet connection is flaky and well… urgh!
Okay, my goal is 80,000 words by January, working on 2 seperate novels. Finishing Naiche and Taelen’s stories is my priority right now.

So! Onward!

And since I’m going to be positive and all that… I will visit whoever is posting above me on the 70 days blog… and post encouraging words!

Todays victim is… AJ O’Donovan

Tags: 70 Days

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Anatis October 1st, 2007

I’ve umm… been cleaning up things that annoyed me.

(Seeing as I’m being positive this week and all that!)

Vista has a few such things that… niggled me. It wasn’t an outright annoyance, but the navigation in Explorer just didn’t appeal to me.

Yay, it now opens in C:/ instead of Documents.
I have *sensible* (Gasp!) shortcuts in Favorites.

So I started to look for various things in Poser and found that my render settings are stored in C:\Users\-username-\AppData\Roaming\Poser 7\RenderPresets these days. Ok. It took an hour to find them, but at least I know where they are now.

Oh while I’m at it…

DAMN YOU SILHOUETTE!

Ok. That’s out of my system now. I’ll be good now. I promise.
But they went and did a series in the US called “Nocturne” and…. I knew nothing about it. And it’s not out over here. GRRRRRR…!

Oh wait. I’m being good this week. (It’s not working.)

Also today is the signup for the next 70 Days of Sweat.
I’m so there, Sven baby. Oh yah!
Wait… no, not what YOU think! It’s a WRITING challenge!

*rolls eyes*

Man…

Ok I’m off working out what the books in that Nocturne series are…

Tags: 70 Days, Nocturne, Render Settings, Silhouette

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Anatis July 31st, 2007

So I went and “signed up” for the “70 days of sweat” in order to keep going.

Because… I stop a lot.
I’ve got 28k words now, hoping to finish it around 80-100k, depending how it goes.
It’s the brutal first draft where 50% (at least) is total drivel and needs to be cut.
It’s the stuff that is missing description, flavor, details.
But at least I’m typing!

I’m hoping to get at least another 5 - 6 pages done tomorrow, 1,500 - 2000 words or so. At LEAST.

So from now on, I will get up, get my coffee, check mail - and then write for 2hrs before I do *anything* else.

Cross my heart!

P.s. If anyone is wondering how the smoking thing is going:

Tags: 70 Days, WIP, Writing

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