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One of the most productive writing spurts--strange but appropriate word--was when I got up in the morning and committed to writing a minimum of 1000 words a day. It worked and it was only one of those life detours that got me out of the habit.
It is my intention to do that again and without the internet to disturb me. I believe I will take my older computer, now resting beside the new, to the sun-room and write there--especially as the sunny days are looking promising after so much grey.
RDSLOTS said:
Yes! Setting a minimal word count and setting aside time to write works for many.
I'm doing that and it feels good to write a minimum of !,000words/daily.
I didn't read all the replies upthread, but here's my story. I'm working on a suspense novel about two teens who stumble on a murder and end up getting chased by the bad guys.
I'm not sure I'm a novelist. Decades ago I wrote some shorter things and I sort of found a groove, aiming for Poe's unity of effect. I was improving but the group fell apart due to the personal lives of the people in it. So I'm just coming back to it.
At that time I took a workshop. The woman writing had been published. While moving recently I stumbled across a handout she gave us. It was similar to Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" buet i haven't unpacked it yet.
That might provide some useful targets for writers in this thread. IIRC you don't have to hit every mark but you'll notice that in a lot of good pieces, many are touched on.
One piece of advice that she gave us was to sell the story before we write it. For example, she had learned about some school where they trained rescue dogs. She thought Ranger Rick (magazine for children) might like a story about them, so she wrote the letter to the editors. I think she specified how many words it would be, roughly. They replied that they would like it. Then she wrote it. The corollary, I guess, is that if nobody wants to buy your story, don't write it.
Nota bene: she wasn't trying to be the next Shakespeare or write a bestseller. She was trying to bring in some money to help her family's finances. I'm not disrespecting that, but rather, giving you her point of view. But I find it hard to write anything I don't care about.
I found a writing group here. We critiqued each other for mechanics and I got some further advice. One member brought us a list of links. I think one was "How to create a youtube channel" and another was "How to create a blog" and other things like that. The point: it was the group's approach that if you want to sell books, you need to create a following before you publish it. (Sidenote: this daunts me. Like writing a novel isn't hard enough?)
One of the members said, "I'll just say it: Times New Roman 12 point." I had chosen Arial and apparently editors expect to see Times New Roman. Like maybe they won't read any other font.
The group leader is published. I learned that her book title is XXX 3rd edition. By that I mean that she wrote it, it's published on demand, and as she's read it she's found errors so she continually edits it. And by the way, the group says that in order to be considered a bestselling author, Amazon requires that you sell 500.
Writing-wise I struggle with the requisite first chapter corpse. Plus, maybe some poets could never write a novel and some short story writers could never handle a screenplay. I'm not sure I'm a novelist.
I am an author writing a series of trashy adventure/private eye type novels set in the sailing world, but they didn't pay the mortgage, so I worked for the man every night and day as a technical writer and made a pretty good living doing it. I'm finally retired and plan to spend more time on my novels now. We'll see how that goes.
I self-published a 17,000 word 8 chapter book, â€Enjoying LIfe - A Memoir†in September, 2022. It took 5 months to write and about 2 1/2 years to edit. I am currently working on book #2, â€My Grandmothers Letters to My Father.†I have 28 letters my grandmother wrote to my father when he was serving in WWII and only two my grandfather wrote. He was in for two years. I was 16 when grandpa died in 1969 and Dad never spoke about his mother. My grandmother died five years before I was born and it is wonderful my father saved those letters and my mother passed them onto me. I have gotten to know her in a way that would have been impossible otherwise. I have shared some of these letters with cousins on my father's side.
I have two books (fiction) written and self-published on Amazon. Readers have really enjoyed them and have encouraged me in the reviews to continue the story.
Book two is the sequel of book one. The story for book two came easy. The plot just poured out of me.
I want to write a third book to make it a trilogy, but I'm stumped for a good storyline. I don't have it in me to be a "pantser." I want a plan/plot before I begin.
I mean people actively writing a work of fiction or non-fiction.
I have one published, a humorous novel, and working on my second. To put food on the table, I work as a marketing/advertising consultant, which means I sell my soul by day and buy it back at night.
So, if you write, talk about what you're working on. If you'd like to write, tell us what's stopping you. Maybe we can help.
Greetings cpg35223, I hope you are still here, sorry I'm still kind of new at City-Data website but so glad you asked this question. I am an author of 5 books that I absolutely love writing about and sharing my stories with my readers for free. I am a very strange but blessed witch that don't need money, so I wanted to share my stories to anyone kind enough that wanted to read them, but they always asked me? What are my real motives for offering free books to the public? My reply is that I want your soul as payment!
Ha-ha, that gets them every time, Um I guess you should know something about me: I'm a witch with a wicked sense of humor
Anyway, my dear, I hope you get to read my latest book I actually placed it on my blog I will paste below for you to read if you are interested in seeing the true stories of witches in my area that I wrote about centering around a love story between a strong witchy woman and her lover man that will be with her forever. The story is titled "Don't talk to Evil Witches especially Her" and it was a real joy to write. It is a 70% true story written as a fictitious book, but it is unlike anything you have ever seen. It's actually a 4th spin off book related to my Trilogy of stories titled "The Book of Life" series. I hope you get a chance to read my book, but watch out for Princess Kendra, she might just melt your heart and make you want to be a witch too! See you later sweetie!
I write poetry and some nonfiction (mostly) essays. A few are professionally published and I publish my own collections. I enjoy doing travel writing and photo-inspired poetry. I've been part of a global writers' circle for about 15 years. I don't write every day but I write mornings and finish around noon. Yesterday was a good day -- I finished an essay and wrote 88 lines of poetry. I was a grant writer and researcher before retirement. Photography is a hobby.
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