Sunday 17 July 2011

ROW 80 Check-in 17th July

Ok, cranky start to the week....but since wednesday I have been less grouchy and I have met my goals this week! It has been a tough slog though!

Thursday - woke up earlier to squeeze my half an hour in before work. Turns out I may not be a morning writer! In fairness I had been having a cranky, tired week so maybe I should give it another go at another time when I am not in such a grumpy place! So tried to write, nothing came. Tried to revise second children's book, wasn't happening. So I changed tack and did 30 mins of reading up on plotting as I have been thinking about a longer piece of work and I know I need to do some plotting beforehand as it is very much an idea with not alot of detail at the moment.

Friday - 38mins spent completing my friday fiction piece from 'Write Anything'. Enjoyed this and randomly decided to write from a man's point of view....not sure my 'man speak' was very accurate. The word 'mate' featured alot when different characters were speaking to each other! Didn't really like doing this in a notebook (but was on a train) especially as I don't know the word count. Was several pages though.

(Also on Friday I went to my first book club! I really enjoyed it. Was very relaxed and no scary questions. I was brave and offered ideas and shared comments and we just spoke about what we liked and didn't about the story and the characters. Will definately go to the next one which isn't until September as we are about to have our summer holidays so won't be in school. I have actually already read the book we are going to discuss next time but enjoyed it so will read it again. Ok, back to ROW 80).

Saturday - no writing but I knew I wouldn't be able to....one of the drawbacks of not many people in your life knowing you are a writer (or atleast trying to be!) was that I couldn't carve out 30 minutes as was with my friends constantly. Brilliant weekend though so not complaining!

Sunday - on the train again, with 38 mins on friday needed 52 minutes today to be on track. Five minutes was spent writing notes in my notebook about a conversation I overheard (actively listened in on) whilst waiting for my train. Then 48 minutes working through part of Susan Bischoff's blueprint for plotting. It is genius and can be found here - http://susan-bischoff.com/downloads/ It is basically a guide to planning out or 'getting to know' a story before you try to write it. I basically worked through it for my idea and was pleasantly surprised that it does have some potential I think. However, there are many holes, a big one being the fact I know it revolves around two girls who I call 1 and 2 and although I started to come up with some background for them, I really need to work on this before I try and write it. Exciting!

So this week, fiction friday done, three posts done and 3 1/2 hours done! Yay! I have found it hard and frustrating at times but I have managed it with some planning. What is positive is that writing is definately at the front of my mind and everything I came across this week my first thought was about how it may effect my 30 minutes that day.

ps. I genuinely time myself as at this early stage of the 80 days I don't want to do 'about 30 mins' as I know I am at times pushing myself to do 30 minutes and if I estimate I am sure I would come up short!

Hope you had brilliant weeks!

7 comments:

  1. You've had such a busy week, yet still managed to check off all your goals - Nice job!!

    I love that you were writing down strangers conversations - I hope it spawns something awesome lol!

    Good luck this week - I hope it's less busy!

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  2. Great job, Em! I know how that can go, slogging through crankiness to get to that end goal - well done! :)

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  3. Actually, it seems that you may be selling yourself short, I'm thinking you could whip out pages in 30 no problem!! You have good angles on inspiring yourself, and that's great fuel. Hope your next week goes even better :-)

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  4. I've found I'm a very lazy morning writer, and can get most of my writing done half an hour before bed.

    ...and then wake up and wonder what the heck I was thinking. XD Great job with keeping up with everything despite being busy! I could use a little bit of that.

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  5. Sounds like you roll with the flow very well. Congrats on your progress this week. And loved all your asides (especially about the book club... I've belonged to book clubs for over ten years, and I love them).

    Thanks for stopping by my blog and showing support, too!

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  6. You've certainly been busy. I'm not a morning writer either. I'm a hopeless nightowl. ~Nadja

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  7. Lauren - I do worry that my excessive eavesdropping will get myself in trouble one day!

    Cricket - In the midst of the cranky I kept thinking 'how good will it to meet your goals? stop being cranky!' Less cranky now....although it is only Monday morning....

    Shari - I do think once I have a longer piece more outlined and start writing it I will be able to write more as will be more focused on one thing. We will have to see what happens after I actually figure out the characters!

    lsengler - Glad I am not the only one! Will give mornings a try again at some point but I am accepting I often look back at things and think....what the....!

    Tia - I was terrified about the book club thinking I might not have a lot to say but I did! Thanks to you too for stopping by!

    Nadja - I haven't written too late at night yet so that is also something to try!

    Thank you all for stopping by and being so supportive. Hope you have productive days...on that note I really better get ready for work!

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