National Novel Writing Month [Day 11]: On the comeback trail…

National Novel Writing Month 2018 Tally November 11

National Novel Writing Month [Day 5]: A few revelations

National Novel Writing Month 2018 Tally Sheet nov 5

National Novel Writing Month [Day 4]: The Struggle is Real

Buddy and MacBook

This is not a staged photo.

I am currently typing this one-handed.

Buddy–clearly not a patron of the arts.

My workaround for now is just listing notes for each of my characters in MacJournal.

Day 3 consisted of printing out material I’d prepared–outlines, etc., catering to his majesty’s every need, going to the Oregon State-USC football game...and deluding myself that I would easily catch up on word count today.

10 Writing Prompts for October 28

Who would have known a bake-off would be the beginning of a beautiful relationship?
No way were we going to convince him. Until we decided to resort to bribery.
We would learn the hard way…and it would cost us a major wad of money.
“Geez, you’re getting old.”
“Don’t worry about her. She’ll come around.”
Our nightly stroll turned ugly really quickly.
“No problem. We’ll only need to knock out that wall.”
“Trust me…no limitations. Make whatever you want.”
He inhaled. “Something is inside your walls, and it ain’t gonna be pretty.”
People had doubted her all her life…

10 Best Creative Writing Prompts

from thewritepractice.com

10 Writing Prompts for October 23

“So, we’ll just mix this up and before you know it…”
“Information and entertainment, blended together seamlessly, until you get…”
“This is way more than we’re going to need.”
“Just what I wanted to hear…”
“Your story seems to have a few holes in it…”
“You might want to try a little charm and a few pleasantries.”
“But that’s just not me!”
We were pretty sure we were about to witness a complete disaster…
“So what are the odds you’re going to implode before you even start?”
“Time for a new wardrobe!”
“Go ahead, give me every detail. I can handle it.”
We had reached the inescapable conclusion that…

How to use writing prompts from betterscribe.com

11 Writing Prompts for October 22

1. 1. “I feel that at a certain age, we should all stop being excited about life.”
    Oh, great. And I had another 59 minutes with this bundle of joy.
  2. “Do you even have any cleaning products?”
    He held up a shriveled beige sponge. I didn’t want to know where the beige came from.
  3. So I have some bad news and some really bad news.”
    “Hold on. I have to take this call.”
  4. “Why do you think I’m Native American?”
    All eyes turned toward me as I nodded. It was all I could think of doing–just nod till you think of a reason. Good reason, stupid reason. Anything would do.
  5. “Covering your eyes won’t make it go away.”
    “Yeah, but it can’t hurt.”
  6. “Walking down the middle of the street is only going to…”
  7. “Not too thrilled that you’ve decided on him…”
    “Uh, not too thrilled that you’re saying this with him in the room.”
  8. “I mean, who even thinks of the weird names of these medications?”
    “They’re probably under the influence of the product when they conjure them up.”
  9. She was brave. She was daring. And she stood by me when I faced down the 28 rugrats…
  10. “Hey, the fun starts now!”
    “Define ‘fun’.”
  11. When they told me I had to wear a shirt to school, well, that was it for formal education.

11 Writing Prompts for October 20

imagine word cloud

We saw no reason why he poured that stuff in the tank, but it seemed to work.
“Quick. Tell me two good reasons why we should be together!”
“Geeez…two?”
The 80’s came and went, but left this guy on our doorstep.
“Right about now would be a good time to buck up and tell the truth.”
We were ju-u-uust about there…
“You really don’t see the problem?”
“It’s time for you to look out for number one.”
I was hoping he would say that.
”Pacing myself was not going to help here…
“Your behavior was more than a little provocative.”
“You’re blaming me instead of the guy with the gun?”
“Why don’t you team up with Snellwood?”
Anybody but Snellwood, please!
“Yes, it is my fault. But I can’t undo this..

10 Writing Prompts for October 18

Word Art (7)

“Sure—what the heck—I’ll marry you.”
“You’re not a lawyer, are you?”
“Connect the dots, Einstein.”
“Do you really think she’s guilty?”
“It’s time to take the leap.”
“This dog…is he planning to stay on my lap all night?”
“Why do people always ask me that?”
“Look at yourself. Can you blame them?”
“Your apartment…could it be in a seedier part of town?”
“Hey, enough with the theatrics. Either make your phone call or haul your butt into the cell.”
“You’re kidding! I get a corporate credit card?”
“Yes, it’s yours. But don’t go nuts.”
I didn’t hear a word he said.

***

How to use writing prompts, from WikiHow…

As you near project completion, the voices creep in…

statue of man thinking and worrying

You can’t finish this. Just leave it be. No one’s going to care anyway. You’re not going to be a published author. No one’s going to care.

The above excerpt from a Medium post by Christopher Connors, [Don’t Fear Your Doubts and Insecurities — Let them Drive Your Life] reflects the uncertainty he felt as he was editing the final chapters of his book.

Two additional points from Connors’ post

“Fear and insecurities are given life by the voice inside our heads.”

“Please. Do what you want. Go after what you want with maximum effort and energy.”

Read this valuable piece. If you’ve not experienced these doubts, I sincerely envy you. And if you have, well, welcome to the club!

Musings of a writer during board game development…

I attended my first board game creation class last night.

It offers a different way of looking at making something from scratch.

And I realized there is considerable crossover between this process and fiction writing.

I also thought of ways to incorporate game creation into my middle grade novel. I think I’ll have the teacher ask kids to write a story and, as they’re writing it, thinking of ways to turn it into a board game. The teacher will hope that it will amp up her writers’ visualization skills and add interesting plot twists and memorable characters with engaging personalities.

I then decided I should try this same approach for my own fiction projects.

This wouldn’t always apply, of course, but for some stories, I might ask myself the following questions:

How would my current story play out in game format?
Are my characters doing enough to earn a role in this game? [i.e. or are they so boring that I wouldn’t want to include them?]
Would my game/story not only provide characters with clear goals, but enough obstacles to make people want to keep playing/reading?

“So, we’ll just mix this up and before you know it…”

“Information and entertainment, blended together seamlessly, until you get…”

“This is way more than we’re going to need.” “Just what I wanted to hear…”

“Your story seems to have a few holes in it…”

“You might want to try a little charm and a few pleasantries.” “But that’s just not me!”

We were pretty sure we were about to witness a complete disaster…

“So what are the odds you’re going to implode before you even start?”

“Time for a new wardrobe!”

“Go ahead, give me every detail. I can handle it.”

We had reached the inescapable conclusion that…

How to use writing prompts from betterscribe.com

“I feel that at a certain age, we should all stop being excited about life.” Oh, great. And I had another 59 minutes with this bundle of joy.

“Do you even have any cleaning products?” He held up a shriveled beige sponge. I didn’t want to know where the beige came from.

So I have some bad news and some really bad news.” “Hold on. I have to take this call.”

“Why do you think I’m Native American?” All eyes turned toward me as I nodded. It was all I could think of doing–just nod till you think of a reason. Good reason, stupid reason. Anything would do.

“Covering your eyes won’t make it go away.” “Yeah, but it can’t hurt.”

“Walking down the middle of the street is only going to…”

“Not too thrilled that you’ve decided on him…” “Uh, not too thrilled that you’re saying this with him in the room.”

“I mean, who even thinks of the weird names of these medications?” “They’re probably under the influence of the product when they conjure them up.”

She was brave. She was daring. And she stood by me when I faced down the 28 rugrats…

“Hey, the fun starts now!” “Define ‘fun’.”

When they told me I had to wear a shirt to school, well, that was it for formal education.

We saw no reason why he poured that stuff in the tank, but it seemed to work.

“Quick. Tell me two good reasons why we should be together!” “Geeez…two?”

The 80’s came and went, but left this guy on our doorstep.

“Right about now would be a good time to buck up and tell the truth.”

We were ju-u-uust about there…

“You really don’t see the problem?”

“It’s time for you to look out for number one.” I was hoping he would say that.

”Pacing myself was not going to help here…

“Your behavior was more than a little provocative.” “You’re blaming me instead of the guy with the gun?”

“Why don’t you team up with Snellwood?” Anybody but Snellwood, please!

“Yes, it is my fault. But I can’t undo this..

“Sure—what the heck—I’ll marry you.”

“You’re not a lawyer, are you?”

“Connect the dots, Einstein.”

“Do you really think she’s guilty?”

“It’s time to take the leap.”

“This dog…is he planning to stay on my lap all night?”

“Why do people always ask me that?” “Look at yourself. Can you blame them?”

“Your apartment…could it be in a seedier part of town?”

“Hey, enough with the theatrics. Either make your phone call or haul your butt into the cell.”

“You’re kidding! I get a corporate credit card?” “Yes, it’s yours. But don’t go nuts.” I didn’t hear a word he said.

I attended my first board game creation class last night.

It offers a different way of looking at making something from scratch.

And I realized there is considerable crossover between this process and fiction writing.

I then decided I should try this same approach for my own fiction projects.

This wouldn’t always apply, of course, but for some stories, I might ask myself the following questions:

How would my current story play out in game format?

Are my characters doing enough to earn a role in this game? [i.e. or are they so boring that I wouldn’t want to include them?]

Would my game/story not only provide characters with clear goals, but enough obstacles to make people want to keep playing/reading?

Okay, thanks for reading. I’m always interested to hear if some of these ideas resonate with you.

Ready! Pen in hand? Go!

“This is way more than we’re going to need.”
“Just what I wanted to hear…”

“You might want to try a little charm and a few pleasantries.”
“But that’s just not me!”

“I feel that at a certain age, we should all stop being excited about life.”
Oh, great. And I had another 59 minutes with this bundle of joy.

“Do you even have any cleaning products?”
He held up a shriveled beige sponge. I didn’t want to know where the beige came from.

So I have some bad news and some really bad news.”
“Hold on. I have to take this call.”

“Why do you think I’m Native American?”
All eyes turned toward me as I nodded. It was all I could think of doing–just nod till you think of a reason. Good reason, stupid reason. Anything would do.

“Covering your eyes won’t make it go away.”
“Yeah, but it can’t hurt.”

“Not too thrilled that you’ve decided on him…”
“Uh, not too thrilled that you’re saying this with him in the room.”

“I mean, who even thinks of the weird names of these medications?”
“They’re probably under the influence of the product when they conjure them up.”

“Hey, the fun starts now!”
“Define ‘fun’.”

“Quick. Tell me two good reasons why we should be together!”
“Geeez…two?”

“It’s time for you to look out for number one.”
I was hoping he would say that.

“Your behavior was more than a little provocative.”
“You’re blaming me instead of the guy with the gun?”

“Why don’t you team up with Snellwood?”
Anybody but Snellwood, please!

“Why do people always ask me that?”
“Look at yourself. Can you blame them?”

“You’re kidding! I get a corporate credit card?”
“Yes, it’s yours. But don’t go nuts.”
I didn’t hear a word he said.