Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I can't take credit for Messterpiece. That is my brother's word coinage to describe a project he had us do as chill'un imitating the paintings of the great masters.

I actually dislike working much/making changes to my manuscripts on the computer without writing the changes on my papers because sometimes, when I go too far with editing or want to restore something that I earlier edited out and I decided I want it back into the story, I have a pile of papers to go through to hunt for that elusive paragraph I'd deleted earlier. But if I'd erased as I was going on the 'puter, it would be lost forever!

I'm glad to hear it Strawberryrock!!! I hope your editor likes it.

I will be returning to my Messterpiece later tonight and deliver, hopefully, the final death blows of hideous writing to it just to finish it off then Imma work on some other stuff and I'll return to it...I dunno, in a couple of months. But I just want the draft DONE once and for all so I can develop the idea more seriously and for realz.

i can't write on my computer at all. i've been lugging around a binder for about 13 years will all sorts of handwritten odds and ends and scrips and scraps that i'm sure will someday amount to the next great american novel (and a less memorable short story). i guess it's the most practical form of an impractical system, because i can move pages around easily and keep unformed notes and reference documents close at hand. yes, i could do that on a computer, too, but i started assembling fragments before laptops were even a thing, almost, and transferring everything over . . . no.



Famous Jerks™ often have nothing else to do, though! that's not a fair standard. i still have at least four hours of job-related work ahead of me, and no one to help me with the dishes, and all of these excellent excuses.

For me, the belief that I can/should keep everything—just in case—weighs me down and makes me think everything's sacred.

Also, I now write in a program called Scrivener. It makes it easier to move things around and rearrange chunks in different ways.

Here's a link to an article with a bunch of authors contributing their Ten Rules for Writing Fiction:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/fe ... n-part-one

Whoops, double post, so I'll just link to part two of the above here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/fe ... n-part-two

Fine. I did it. But I'm not happy about it.

at least you did it! i'm happy about it, even if you're not.

That's awesome footie! Now, do it again today!

I ended up writing cover letters instead. Trying to get back on track today while i still have down time at work.

I did my daily quota.

Excellent!

I put in my time/words tonight.

Awesome! I haven't looked at my novel for a few months and I'm kinda burnt out from working hard on other projects so I'm just gonna look at what I have so far today and see if I can add anything to it because I've been thinking about it lately and getting ideas for it but I'm tired and don't expect myself to produce much of anything today. Sometimes just keeping in touch with a project, reminding myself of what is going on with it, is enough work for a day.

You guys are all awesome! I need a kick, too. I kind of burned out leading up to the book getting published, so I need to start a daily quota.

Also: Scrivener rules!

My friend's YA paranormal, the first in a three book series, is coming out March 2013. She has a full time teaching job, a hubby and two kids. She spends an hour a night writing her book and it took about nine months for the first draft. She started on her second book last month and just writes one hour each night. I think she uses Open Office. She has lot's of patience and tenacity.

I'm trying to ignore the fact that all I can really do with it so far is the most basic stuff. (And I wish I knew how to make it include document notes when I compile stuff into a pdf or whatever. Not footnotes, but the stray notes you put in the inspector.)


I'm just trying to get by with faking the patience and tenacity.

She's very detailed and goal oriented, taking her calendar and writing down how far she wants her word count to be at certain times. I think she's awesome. She says her biggest push for her getting published was joining her local RWA, where she met and became friends with already established published authors. She wrote the book but they gave her the push to send her work out.

Your triumph totally inspired me to take a look at my own novel again!

So today, even though I didn't get any quota done per se, I did read the entire draft of my NaNo novel and managed to come up with a structure for it because like footie, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels with it in his present state and it's not that it needs more material added to it at this point, it needs some organizational structure before I can go forward. So I came up with something to try today. I wasn't planning on focusing on my novel right now though, I have some short stories going, but I dunno, I'm tempted to take it up again now that I've got this new enthusiam for the material...

That's great!

Yay for structural and organizational progress!!

Another day, another page closer to the end.

I try to get started with writing, so I use http://750words.com. Three pages everyday. And you get badges! Keeps the achievement junkie in me motivated.

My novel/Masters thesis is desperately in need of some reworking. I need a kick in the pants.

I'm also procrastinating some freelance work. Kick me!

hey Footie, you may be interested in a blog post i made a few days ago about consistent writing:
http://andeebingham.com/2012/09/21/tending-the-compost-pile/