Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Secret of Blogging Regularly?


Unfortunately no, I don't know the secret of blogging regularly - I'm wondering what it is! Do you know? I have no idea how some people do it bi-weekly, let alone daily. I can never think of anything intelligent to talk about, and if I do it takes several days and many hours to write (because it can't be posted unless it's perfect). *sigh*

But I haven't posted since November (when Nano gave me a very good excuse and month-long subject to work with), so, updates:

So yeah, Project V... all I have left is the last fourth or so, but after being sick in October, doing Nano in November, and then being hijacked by a brand new story for 34 handwritten pages the beginning of December, I lost all momentum and can't find my way back. I tried printing out what I have so far to read through, but I got sick of it around Chapter 4 - not a good thing considering "if you are bored, so will the reader be." So at this point I'm not sure what to do other than set it aside for a little more time and abandon the 12/31 finish deadline. Perhaps this wasn't to be The Story after all...

As for the December story that hijacked me, it was coming along really well...until it wasn't anymore. So I decided to let it go for now. It was a fleeting idea that came from seeing one too many Mary Jane characters in superhero stories and wanting to break the mold. Perhaps if I started typing it up I would regain my interest, but for now I'm okay letting it breathe - my wrist couldn't take much more anyway.

My current project is my short story entry for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association contest (due mid-February). I did it this year with no intention of winning (and I didn't), and can't wait to do it again next year. It's the only contest I could find that gave two critiques win or lose (if you know of any others, please let me know). I'd yet to really receive much critique (I'm very wary of having people read my stuff - the "must be perfect first" complex again), so this was a great way to get some "professional" constructive criticism - and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Although I never expect to win (this year's winning story showed me I don't write what the judges consider "winning material," I guess), I loved the feedback I got and am really looking forward to some more.

For the short story, I flipped through ones I had already started and discovered a complete 2K first draft from last December. After getting over the shock that I could have possibly written a short story under 10K, let alone 5K, I was very happy to declare it a worthy candidate. For now, we shall call it Project SS12. Who knows - maybe I'll post it here once it's finished (we'll see).

So that's it for me. What are you working on right now?

2 comments:

  1. I love the photos you find for your blog posts!
    I know exactly what you mean. When I first started blogging I didn't understand how people came up with topics that didn't sound too personal or too writerly. Then I discovered things like YA Highway's Roadtrip Wednesday, and blogfests and I figured "So that's one way!"

    I think you did a good job with this post. It updated me on your projects, and it got me curious about contests. That is win.

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  2. The contest sounds great! I've never heard of someone giving critiques win or lose, but that truly is an awesome deal. I always wanted to try one of the online critique forums, but haven't yet.

    As for the different projects... I feel your pain. =] I stopped myself recently though, instead of going to something else, I wrote down the idea and started really brainstorming for my current WIP to take it in a different direction. There's a happy medium of pantsing/plotting out there, I know there is!

    You should post your short story on your blog! *evil grin* And good luck with your other projects.

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