Friday Writing Check-in

Hello, everyone. How are you? Have you noticed the new Twitter feed on the right-hand side of this blog? That’s where I’ll be posting my daily word count results from now on, so if you want to follow along, you can Follow me on my Twitter account.

I’ll be posting cumulative word count results for the week right here on the blog, however, as well as a writing sample from the week. Okay, shall we get to it?

Weekly word count total: 4,054 words.

Day-by-Day:
Sunday, January 15, 2012—1,230 words.
Monday—1,439 words.
Tuesday—763 words.
Wednesday—622 words.
Thursday—0 words.

Well, I think it goes without saying that we can notice a definite dip in word count churning-out as the week progresses. I’ll make an effort to keep the word count steady in the coming week and onward.

Now for some writing, whoohoo! This is from the middle of the week:

The twittering songbirds morphed into birds of prey. “She’s nothing but a senseless dreamer!” They cawed. “What were her parents thinking, raising such a child in this day and age?”

I could handle attacks on myself. I could handle criticisms of my dreams for my future. My parents, however, were no longer there to skillfully defend themselves and their ways against these harpies. I had to do it for them.

I may have been a dreamer, but by no means was I foolish or weak-minded. I responded to the vultures’ claims of delusions of grandeur and foolish parenting in short, crisp, and snappy terms that shot straight to the heart. Eventually, they swept off in huffs, slapping one last label on me of a “loner with only her dreams for company.”

How has your writing for the week been going?

Daily Inspiration: Ojo de Dios

If you’ve read my little blurb on the About page of this blog, you’ll know that I enjoy looking at/making handmade things; jewelry, art, textiles, you name it. I like to read blogs about such things, and also browse around on the online handmade community marketplace, Etsy.com.

It was while reading Etsy’s blog that I stumbled across a beautiful, colorful mandala-looking object. I couldn’t resist clicking on the tiny thumbnail to learn more about what it was and what it was made of.

It turns out that it is an Ojo de Dios, made by Jay Mohler out of yarn and wooden dowels. Just looking at the intricacy and colors of this mandala fills me with awe.

It seems to me that this would make a beautiful symbol to inspire or use in any sort of writing, fiction or not. Perhaps an in-depth look into the history of this craft, or a poem integrating elements of weaving.

Looking at this Ojo de Dios mandala, what words come to mind to describe it? What meaning does it hold for you, if any? Can you think of other ways to work it into a piece of writing?

1,000 Words, Second Day

Leah here, popping in to report on my 1,000 words a day progress. You might be saying, “But Leah, it’s only the second day. Don’t hold your breath.” But hey, in my book, every little step of progress helps. And so, my writing for yesterday:

Word total: 1,439 words. (whoot!)

1st and last paragraphs:

“Hey, Rains! Have your pants cooled down yet?” A shout came from the nearby fountain area where students often lunched.
~Untitled, Chapter 1

“Thank you,” he murmured. Nobody was around to hear.
~Untitled, Chapter 1

PS: You might have noticed a bit of jumping around from story to story. Well, I’ve decided that I’ll be doing just that, going where my whim takes me until it finds a story it wishes to settle on for good. In the meantime, I still get out my 1,000 words a day, I get to explore different kinds of story ideas that I’ve come up with, and get a better feel for what I want to focus on in the end.

So, how is your writing going? If you’re not a writer, have you read anything good lately?

Daily Inspiration: Shalott

Here I am again for your second dose of Daily Inspiration. Whoohoo! Today I have for you a song by Emilie Autumn called “Shalott.” It is based on the poem “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which is in turn based on Arthurian legend. “The Lady of Shalott” is one of my personal favorite poems, for the story and how it flows. I feel that the song delivers in this sense, as well.

And now, without further ado…

I found this song video on YouTube, uploaded by the user AvannTethialla.

Does this song or the poem it was based on inspire you, too? How so, or why not? What version of your own might you come up with that would become sufficient inspiration?

New Feature: Daily Inspiration

You all know that this blog is not intended only for me and Nonny to talk about our own writing, but also to share things that inspire us. I’ve decided that for my part, I’ll be starting on that today with a personal feature: “Daily Inspiration.”

As the name implies, I will be posting a piece (or maybe more) of things that inspire me on a daily basis, for writing or otherwise. They’ll most likely be beauteous pictures or videos or music that I find around the interwebz. My hope for this feature is to not only actively look for inspiration for myself, but also to inspire you in writing and life.

For the kick-off of this feature, I’d like to show you a traditional art speed-paint of a lovely, melancholy maiden. I found this when I was browsing deviantART, a gold mine of artistic abilities and inspiration. This was painted by the user Achen89 (link goes to their profile).

When I see this picture and read the title, I immediately think of Swan Lake, as well as the anime Princess Tutu, which is based on the ballet. I think of the “anti-Odette,” Odile. Particularly, I think of the possibility for “re-casting” her role. What if she’s misunderstood? What if she has alternative motives for following her father’s scheme to trap Odette forever? Does she hide a sad past, an alternate persona behind those down-turned eyes?

What do you think? What are your thoughts on this picture; what are the possibilities it presents to you?

Why am I Writing, and 1,000 Words

Hi, everyone, it’s Leah here for another post! Well, Nonny and I had a good (in my opinion) chat yesterday, about our goals for writing. Not just as in, “I’m going to write so many words today,” but also, “WHY am I writing these words? What’s in it for me and others?”

We found that we’re pretty much on the same page. Here are the main points from my perspective, for the curious:

Why do I, Leah, want to write, finish, and publish a book?

1. I want to make a living from my writing, my art.
2. I want the sense of accomplishment from fulfilling this goal.
3. I want to inspire/empower others to follow their dreams, too, not necessarily writing.

I’m not going to be totally idealistic and say that it will all happen smoothly once I get writing consistently. I know it won’t, particularly the making a living part. But hey, as Nonny and I also discussed, where would the world be without the dreamers, the ones who strove to make their dreams reality, and got there?

So, writing and publishing a book is the long-term goal for both of us. But as I’ve learned over time, long-term goals generally consist of smaller, short-term goals that must be met in order to reach the long-term goal.

I’ve come to the realization that 100 words a day might not be working for me. Okay, it’s definitely not working for me. At the moment, I’m thinking it’s because it’s too easy of a goal to reach. 100 words a day, and then what? What if I want to write more? Should I, should I not?

I sat down last night after talking with Nonny and typed up 1,230 words for a story of mine. That was when I realized that I can easily get out 1,000 words a day; for me, that equates to around an hour or so. It also seems to me to be a good, reasonable amount per day; I get some writing done and the sense of accomplishment that I didn’t really get from only getting out 100 words a day.

So, that’s my new short-term goal. 1,000 words a day, probably in the evening.

Now for what you’ve all been waiting for (maybe), my first and last paragraphs of what I wrote. I actually wrote two individual parts, so I’ll just give you the paragraphs from the longer part.

Ever since about a year ago, I’ve been receiving these letters. They started appearing in my yard the day after my parents died.
~Heart Capsule, Chapter 1-ish-maybe

What was I going to do if my Guardian never sent me another letter? What had happened to him? Had he gotten hurt, or sick? Could he not write to even tell me that? Had he abandoned our way of talking… No, never. My Guardian would never betray me. He said he’d always be loyal to me. He’d always be my friend.
~Heart Capsule, Chapter 1-ish-maybe

Always.

Fear and Inspirations: Facing the Music

Hello to my lovely writing partner and our readers (hi, all two of you. You’re awesome). It’s been a month to the day, I think, since I last posted… Oops. Annnd I also haven’t been working on my novel. Can you say double-oops?

I also didn’t finish NaNoWriMo. Not even close. Ouch, triple-whammy to my pride.

I can’t blame it on being busy. I mean, I’ve gotten a little busier, but not enough to detract from potential writing time.

I can’t blame it on being uninspired. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about writing, you get inspired sometimes, but you only get writing done when you–surprise!–actually sit down, put pen to paper/fingers to keyboard, and WRITE.

I wince at calling myself lazy, at least in the authoring a novel sense. And distracted by reading blogs about motivation and writing, all the while failing to actually write (I sense a strain of irony here).

I think the thing is, I’m afraid.

I’m afraid of writing a crappy novel that nobody, not even myself, will end up liking at all. And I’ll have put in a lot of time and effort for no tangible reward. Except a wounded ego and crushed dreams. But those aren’t rewards, so.

So I put off my fear and facing that fear by gallivanting off to the internet. Facebook, blogs, forums, oh my! “Hi, my name is Leah, and I’m an interwebz junkie…”

“Hi, Leah.”

The thing is… I don’t even know. I haven’t even been inspired lately, except by the quite wonderful anime Princess Tutu. And that was to write the first chapter of a fanfiction for that very series. I got in about 3,000-ish words, which I think is nothing to scoff at, considering my writerly track record…

…How’s that fanfiction been coming along since, you ask? Take a wild guess.

Anyway, I apologize to Nonny, my beauteous writing partner, for leaving her hanging blog-wise. I haven’t been the best accountability partner for either her or myself.

So, how to crank up the level of accountability, leave me squirming with guilt every time I don’t write when I say I will? Any suggestions?

I do know one thing, that I really do want to get writing in on my novel, and also that I want to have more content flowing into this here writing blog.

I will kick this (renewed) posting off by:

1. Writing a minimum of 100 words a day. I know for sure that I can do this amount, easy peasy.
2. Posting about things that inspire me, both writing and otherwise. I.e., stuff that I think is cool/pretty/funny/thought-provoking/etc. in an inspiring sort of way.

Wish me luck, kick me in the pants (preferably just figuratively) if I haven’t been posting in a while (see the Contact page up there?), and so on. And now for my obligatory first and last paragraphs, this time from my Princess Tutu fanfiction’s first chapter (can be found here on Fanfiction.net, if you’re curious. Beware of spoilers for the anime):

The whole town, seemingly the entire kingdom, was in the streets, the citizens decked out in their finest clothes, their brightest smiles. Music could be heard streaming from every direction; color and warm light met Duck’s eyes everywhere she looked.
~The Art of Perseverance, Chapter 1

“No. Anyway, just think about what I said.” Seemingly without thinking, he caught her hand up in his and tugged her towards where the chariot was turning a corner. “Come on, we’re going to lose them if we don’t catch up.”
~The Art of Perseverance, Chapter 1

More words!!

So…quick progress report on my book.  Since my last post, I have written somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 more words. It’s mostly do to impending deadlines, and insomnia. I wouldn’t have been able to do it if it wasn’t for tea and chocolate…and support from grand friends. ONWARDS!!

 

Last paragraph of recent writing.

“Seeing her situated comfortably he asked. “What can I get you to eat?” He checked the sideboard for choices of menu. “There are eggs, bacon, sausage, buttered toast and treacle, and oranges.”

“Oh! Oranges? One of those please, and two eggs, three sausages, two pieces of bacon, and two pieces of toast with treacle.” Dorian listed off enthusiastically. No one ever complained about her lack of appetite.

Tristan seemed a bit taken aback by the amount of food she requested, but said nothing as her heaped her plate. “How do you take your tea?” He asked”

New Love: Written? Kitten!

I’m sorry, Doctor Wicked of Write or Die. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m still very likely to use your web program in the future… But for now, I’m running off for a bit with Written? Kitten!

For those of you not in the know, Written? Kitten! is basically like Write or Die, but with cute, fuzzy kitten pictures as incentive for upping your word count for NaNoWriMo. It’s surprisingly effective, that is if you’re a sucker for adorableness like I am… Those kitten images that keep popping up on my screen with each 100 (or other word count of my choosing) words are sort of like collectibles in a way, although sadly I don’t get to keep them.

Word count for today:

957 words in 1 hour. I think it’s a personal record for this November!… Man, that’s sad, but also kind of good at the same time. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this up!

First and last paragraphs for today:

As I was tapping the tip of my pen against my chin, trying to think of some more notes to write down, the door of the room opened and Mary stepped through.
~The Life of a Blue Rose, Chapter 1

I laughed again. “Okay.” To tell the truth, though, I wasn’t sure I could ever see him as a ‘normal’ android ever again.
~The Life of a Blue Rose, Chapter 2

 

Right ho peeps. This is Nonny. I’m making my first check in.
Well after several weeks of dismal progress on my book, Leah had the awesome idea of a joint accountability blog. Fast forward a few weeks…and I hadn’t done much writing at all…I blame it on the weather…or…my lack of time (those twenty-four hours, sure seem like a lot less to me), whatever the cause, I was in a slump.

About a week ago I was informed that certain portions of my book had to be done by the end of this year. And then the panic set in. I forced myself to write, and turned out a few measly paragraphs. Something had to give…I just wasn’t sure what yet.

Then last night, after some refreshing and amusing chatting with Leah, and my best friend, I headed up to bed prepared to fall right to sleep. Needless to say that didn’t happen. So I got up, brewed my self a nice pot of Raspberry black tea, lit my favorite candle, and gave myself thirty minutes to try to write something. I started to write, and write some more, and before I knew it, the thirty minutes had passed, and I had on my hands 418 words. I was delighted.

Last paragraph of last nights writing:

“Bowler Hat stepped around the crates and stared down at her, about ten feet from her, he started toward her, she leapt to the side and swung out with her hand, striking him on the arm with the fist sized metal ball, connected by a short chain to a smooth wooden handle. He yelped and clutched his arm, dropping his staff, Beret Head darted forward and swung his stick at her, she ducked, the stick passed a hairs-breadth from her head. She struck out at him, but he jumped back and brought the stick down hard on her shoulder, she stumbled and dropped to one knee.“

Starting word count: 23857

Current word count: 24275