Podcast: Play in new window
There’s a lot of advice out there on using rewards to motivate your writing (especially during stretch events like NaNoWriMo). While keeping your motivation strong is a good idea, a lot of this advice is not terribly scientific, and it can be modified to be more effective.
Let’s talk about the difference between rewards and reinforcement, why we need to be proud of reaching a goal, and what to do when you tend to cheat and get your prize early.
Continue readingPodcast: Play in new window
You wouldn’t think a call to “Hey, anybody who’s interested, let’s do something this month!” would be so controversial, but you know humans. So I thought I’d lend my own insight on why there might be such varied opinions on the legitimacy and worth of NaNoWriMo and its participants.
What makes my opinion qualified? Well, first I’d say I’m as least as qualified to have an opinion as most of those I’ve seen expressing opinions. ;-) But also, I have changed my views on NaNo over the years, so I feel I have a take from several angles.
Continue readingMe: “Hey, I’ve always wanted to do a Joseph retelling. Maybe I should think about that, now that I’m making such good progress on my final installment rewrites.”
Brain: “Yeah, you’re doing pretty well on those. Just trying to weave all those subplots together into a satisfying ending.”
Me: “Yep. It’s complicated, but I’m going to get there.”
Brain: “You sure will. And on that note….”
Okay, rather than snarking at the separate statements which have combined into a irritating whole, I’m just gonna say this over here, as a sort of inspirational rant.
I’m going to use NaNoWriMo and myself as my talking example, because it’s general and won’t point blame to anyone, and also because it’s an easy example this month. But this concept goes well beyond NaNo.
So here goes:
EVERYONE HAS COMMITMENTS. EVERYONE HAS OBSTACLES. EVERYONE HAS EXCUSES.
Continue readingI’m at our annual creative retreat, working on rewrites for Kin & Kind, the final installment of the Shard & Shield trilogy.
We are six writers and artists, including K.T. Ivanrest, Timekeeper Art, “And Sewing Is Half the Battle!”, and Burnt Cookie Books. We are eating obscene amounts of leftover Halloween candy and working on various creative projects. We have a big page on the wall to record achievements, demon tomatoes, in-context and out-of-context quotes, helpful reminders, etc.
Right now I’m adding new material, and it’s… a bit rough on my story world. My colleagues have added an at-retreat tally to the wall board.
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So another National Novel Writing Month has ended. (That’s the challenge when your writer friends curl up in a dark corner to pound out 50,000 words, or roughly The Great Gatsby, in the space of a month.)
This was the fastest NaNo ever for me, as I finished about halfway through November. (In this case it’s important to note that “finished” means I hit my 50,000 words, not that the novel is done. The novel is definitely not done.) I picked up an older idea that I’d started but set aside — but that title is probably not final, and that cover is definitely not final. Continue reading
Today is October 31st! That means two things:
This is the first year I’ve done Inktober, and I’m happy with the experiment. I had fun, I made some skill progress, I pushed myself, and apparently I pushed a few other people too, in a good way, as a couple of people have told me privately that they were inspired to try something new because of my Inktober posts — and I think that’s fantastic. Being authentic and trying to improve a non-existent skill was the original goal. Continue reading
Drawing a sword from the book, not stabbing the book. In case it was unclear.
If you follow my social media, you might have noticed that I’ve been posting ink drawings for #Inktober, and that they’re generally awful. You might have asked yourself why I would do that. Do I know how bad they are, or do I see my work through a blissfully ignorant filter? Is it some sort of prank?
So here’s what’s up with Inktober.
First, in case you aren’t familiar with it, #Inktober is a month for doing one drawing — in ink — and sharing it per day. You can find the brief background and this year’s optional prompt list from the creator Jake Parker. It’s something like National Novel Writing Month, but for visual artists.
Now, let’s recognize that I’m bad at drawing. No, I’m really bad at drawing. The local catchphrase for referring to truly hideous visual design is, “It looks like Laura drew it.” (Don’t feel bad. I’m often the one saying it. It’s not wrong to acknowledge my skills are in other sets.) So why on earth would I do Inktober, which unlike NaNoWriMo specifically requires publicly sharing one’s work?
I’m doing Inktober for several reasons: Continue reading
So first off, let me apologize for the state of the site over the last week and a half. We got hacked, and everything went merrily into a handbasket. Things should be all fine and safe again. I’ll catch up with the writing in Ireland posts and things shortly, I hope.
On a brighter note, I’m playing along this month with the #WIPjoy collective sharing project, authors sharing about their work in progress. I’m trying to post most days about some part of one work in progress — in particular, The Lamp and the Lie. (That’s a working title, very subject to change — as it’s already the second working title….)
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So while I was cleaning the house — I do that every epoch or two, believe it or not — I found some index cards with plot notes. I’m not actually an index card plotter, but I did some detective work and determined, based on the debris strata and corresponding artifacts, that these were from a writers’ conference workshop from 2013, I think. We were supposed to invent a novel plot from scratch within the workshop.
Here’s the short summary I found:
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