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mary rosenblum
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Hello all and happy New Year!
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mary rosenblum
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Welcome to our first Forum of
2007.
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mary rosenblum
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And of course we're having yet
ANOTHER wind storm here in the Northwest.
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mary rosenblum
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[Sigh. This is getting VERY
old]
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mary rosenblum
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So if I vanish, I lost either
my cable or my electricity. We will devoutly hope that the big locust tree
-- the one that did not come down in the LAST storm --
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mary rosenblum
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does not come down on the roof
while I'm here.
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geezer
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Us too. Was in a dust storm this
morning with visibility of about 8 feet!!!
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mary rosenblum
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Isn't Mother Nature playful
this year.
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mary rosenblum
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New year is of course, the
season of Resolutions.
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mary rosenblum
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Most of which, I bet we can all
admit, we fail to keep. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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At least not for very long.
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mary rosenblum
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A lot of writers tend to make
resolutions this time of year.
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mary rosenblum
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The problem with writing
resolutions is that they can be a double edged sword.
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mary rosenblum
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They can encourage you to be
more productive.
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mary rosenblum
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Or they can be stones and drag
you right down into a well of writers block.
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mary rosenblum
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So resolve with care!
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mary rosenblum
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I was actually at a writers
luncheon we have once a month -- a host of published writers of all stripes
and genres get together to talk, swap gossip, and eat.
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mary rosenblum
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I was listening to people
sharing their resolutions and noticed something interesting.
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mary rosenblum
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The more established writers
had pretty minimal resolutions, many of which didn't involve writing.
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mary rosenblum
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The newer, novice members
tended to have sweeping resolutions -- thousands of words, a novel written.
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mary rosenblum
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There's a reason for that. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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You face enough 'failures' in
writing...no need to add NEW ways to fail, for pete's sake!
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mary rosenblum
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Once you get in a slump and
stop writing, it's so easy to avoid writing...
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mary rosenblum
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you SHOULD do it, but you
didn't last week and it doesn't feel good right now and you're feeling
guilty and that makes it feel even less good...
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mary rosenblum
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so you don't write and now
you're really failing to keep that resolution of 2500 words a day and maybe
you
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mary rosenblum
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should just eat some ice cream
and watch TV and start next week and...
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mary rosenblum
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You get the drift.
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mary rosenblum
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One of the things that happens
when people start paying you money for your words is that you run into real
deadlines...
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mary rosenblum
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and there are many days when
you plant that butt in that chair and you would really rather be digging
ditches.
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mary rosenblum
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And you also begin to run into
the realities of just how much you CAN do as opposed to how much you would
LIKE to do.
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mary rosenblum
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You might have two kids, have
a 50 hour per week job, an ailing parent.
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mary rosenblum
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They don't go away.
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mary rosenblum
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BUT.
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mary rosenblum
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Resolutions, whether they come
on December 31 or May 9th can make a lot of difference in your success as a
writer.
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mary rosenblum
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Because you CAN use them to
give yourself regular writing time.
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mary rosenblum
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One of the biggest fallacies
of the business
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mary rosenblum
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is that you are born with X
amount of ability and that will manifest in the first story you write.
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mary rosenblum
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So every story you write is as
good as you can do. And so if those first three stories get rejected, you
might as well quit.
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mary rosenblum
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Wrong.
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mary rosenblum
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One of the things that editors
look for in that slush pile is productivity and perseverance.
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mary rosenblum
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They see your name. And again.
And again.
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mary rosenblum
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And gee....you're getting
better.
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mary rosenblum
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That story didn't even come
close, but this one did, and the next one is almost good enough to publish.
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mary rosenblum
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And that editor is always
looking for new pros to write good new stories and or a productive new
contributor to the NF magazine...
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mary rosenblum
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so sooner or later, they buy a
story. And in part, it is because of the work you have already put in, loading
that slush pile with improving stories or queries.
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mary rosenblum
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All this translates to Lots Of
Writing.
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mary rosenblum
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And that means Regular Writing
Time.
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mary rosenblum
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So resolutions are
excellent...if you can make them realistic.
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mary rosenblum
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I will skip this TV show every
Monday and Wednesday and Friday and go write for that hour.
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mary rosenblum
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I will get up 30 minutes
earlier and turn on the computer before I do anything else.
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mary rosenblum
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I will spend two hours every
Saturday and Sunday morning writing before the house wakes up. I'll set my
alarm.
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mary rosenblum
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If you decide that you will
write that 2500 words every day, just how long do you think you can keep
THAT up?
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mary rosenblum
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Be realistic.
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mary rosenblum
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Maybe that daily half hour
turns out to be a stint in the library while your kids work on school
reports, researching the setting for that romance.
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mary rosenblum
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Maybe your life is REALLY full
and it's going to be fifteen minutes a day. A single sentence.
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mary rosenblum
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One of the best things you can
do for yourself is to set a 'daily writing' goal that keeps you doing
something connected with writing every day.
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air goddess
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When you first began writing
what goal did you set?
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mary rosenblum
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When I first started writing
seriously I had a baby and a three year old. My goal was 'Every moment
those kids are asleep I will write'.
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mary rosenblum
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And I did. Every time I could
get 'em down for a nap I hit that story. Dishes to do? Later. Housework?
Later.
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mary rosenblum
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They didn't nap that much!
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mary rosenblum
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Even when I had a list of
Other Stuff To Do as long as my arm, I worked on the current story.
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mary rosenblum
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It was SLOW going.
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mary rosenblum
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Later, as they got older and
nap times disappeared, it was 'two hours after bedtime'.
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mary rosenblum
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When they went to bed, I set
the timer.
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mary rosenblum
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After that, I did whatever
else on my huge, endless list of 'to do' stuff I had left. That list never
got shorter, believe me
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mary rosenblum
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and I kept some VERY late
hours. I was beat most of the time.
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mary rosenblum
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But I had gone from 15 -30
minutes a day...if I was lucky...to an hour or two most nights. (Some
nights I just fell asleep at the keyboard).
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kay bee
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What do you do when you have
several writing ideas?
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mary rosenblum
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Good question, kay. :-) And
what treasure!
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mary rosenblum
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Generally, I will prioritize. Assuming
I don't have a deadline (the ultimate priority)
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mary rosenblum
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I ask myself 'which story is
nagging the loudest'. Usually I start that one first.
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mary rosenblum
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What you might try is this. As
soon as you stall on that first project...you hit a snag, it slows
down....then work on another of those projects.
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mary rosenblum
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As soon as THAT one slows
down, go back to the first...by then it should be nagging you again.
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mary rosenblum
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Most of the time I am working
on 2 - 3 projects at once. (Three at the moment...two novels, I short
story).
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mary rosenblum
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By alternating between
projects you can avoid staring at the screen or page while Absolutely
Nothing happens in your head.
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mary rosenblum
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If you work on something else,
usually the 'stuck' project will shake loose and about the time you start
to get stuck on the second project, that first project looks SO desirable.
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mary rosenblum
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Usually, I'm chafing to get
back to what had me stalled a few days or weeks before. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Remember that momentum is your
friend.
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mary rosenblum
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Even if you do nothing more
than review the story you're working on and think about the next scene or
that scene...that is enough to keep the project fresh and alive in your
mind.
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mary rosenblum
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When you get completely away
from what you are working on so that it gets utterly 'cold' it can be very
hard to take it up again.
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mary rosenblum
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Try printing out a copy of
what you are working on, staple the pages together and leave it lying
around in your space.
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mary rosenblum
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Pick it up once in awhile.
Read a bit. Think about the story.
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mary rosenblum
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Scribble notes on the back of
the pages.
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mary rosenblum
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If you're doing nonfiction,
make a list of the magazines you'd like to write for.
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mary rosenblum
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Leave that lying around. PIck
it up now and then. Look at those names.
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mary rosenblum
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What might that editor at Dog
and Kennel like?
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mary rosenblum
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Make notes with ideas for
articles.
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mary rosenblum
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Think about who you could
interview.
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mary rosenblum
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Just do SOMETHING every day.
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mary rosenblum
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Then you are not 'failing' and
you can avoid that 'I'm already so bad I might as well be worse' avoidance
behavior.
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mary rosenblum
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That was my bottom line when
my kids were small. Something every day.
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mary rosenblum
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Might be two scribbled lines
on a scrap of paper.
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mary rosenblum
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Something.
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mary rosenblum
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That 'something' is magic.
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mary rosenblum
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It can make you feel like a
writer.
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mary rosenblum
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Just as doing nothing will
make you feel that you are not a writer.
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mary rosenblum
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Those are powerful feelings
and they can help you succeed or REALLY get in your way.
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jeannieml
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Are you saying that all those
ideas I've written in my notebook count as writing?
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mary rosenblum
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Gosh, of course, jean!!!
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mary rosenblum
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Very little of my 'writing' is
done in front of my computer!
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mary rosenblum
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It is done while I'm driving
and thinking about character motivation.
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mary rosenblum
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It's done as I scribble a
quick description of a really cool image I noticed downtown into a
notebook.
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mary rosenblum
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it's done while I read the
Scientific American for SF story ideas.
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mary rosenblum
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Writing is not just words on
paper (or screen).
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mary rosenblum
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And hey, my second novel was
nearly entirely written in longhand on scraps of paper as a first draft.
:-)
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mary rosenblum
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I was a single mom with two
young kids. What computer time? Ha!
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mary rosenblum
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Remember that the more you
write, the better you get.
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mary rosenblum
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You don't need to work on that
Pulitzer winner only!
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mary rosenblum
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Some writer friends of mine
did a 'story a day' thing where they wrote a flash fiction (under 1000
words) story every day. Most were awful.
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mary rosenblum
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A few actually sold.
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mary rosenblum
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But they sharpened their
skills. And they're all pros now.
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kay bee
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Please talk about not always
starting at the beginning
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mary rosenblum
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Sure. Why should you start at
the beginning?
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mary rosenblum
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By the time you're all done,
your story needs to make sense to the readers...
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mary rosenblum
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but that doesn't mean you have
to start at the beginning and work to the end if another way of writing
works better.
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mary rosenblum
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I have published a number of
stories where I came up with a GREAT climax scene!
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mary rosenblum
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Then I just need to build a
story back to a plausible beginning. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Talk about working back to
front!
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mary rosenblum
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There is no wrong way to do
things.
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mary rosenblum
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As long as the piece works,
what you did was right.
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gail
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Do you write down your daily,
weekly, monthly, and yearly writing goals? How do you quatify your
successful achievement of them?
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mary rosenblum
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I don't write them down. I
don't recall if I ever did. I might have. :-) My only goal is Something
Every Day.
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mary rosenblum
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Now my 'something every day'
gets defined a lot by professional realities. I just got TWO sets of page
proofs for different projects so I can tell you that this weekend
'Something Every Day' translates to
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mary rosenblum
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several hundred pages of copy
checking! Sigh.
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mary rosenblum
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I know when I haven't done any
work that day.
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mary rosenblum
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(And I don't do that very
often...can't remember the last time I didn't at least manage a couple of
sentences. :-))
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mary rosenblum
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A small goal you can keep is a
WHOLE lot better than a hard and fast goal that you can't keep in reality.
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mary rosenblum
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'something every day' is quite
flexible.
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mary rosenblum
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It might be a sentence. Or a
note for a new scene.
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mary rosenblum
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It might be twenty pages of
novel draft.
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mary rosenblum
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It might be 150 pages of
galley proofs checked.
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mary rosenblum
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If you have a big
project...that nano draft that you wnat to get out.
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mary rosenblum
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It's a good idea to break that
down into manageable segments.
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mary rosenblum
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You're going to revise one
chapter every week.
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mary rosenblum
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Something like that.
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mary rosenblum
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It's much easier to put off
'revise the novel' than 'revise 15 pages'. :-)
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speckledorf
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One thing I learned about
setting goals this past week was to set goals that I had control over. For
example, publishing with Tor is great but I don't have control over it.
Submitting to Tor is something I do control.
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mary rosenblum
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That's an excellent example,
speck.
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drake
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I don't think I've really made
any... not that I can think of... I WAS able to get my manuscript together,
and in for editing
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mary rosenblum
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Well, you're doing things,
drake. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Not everyone needs
resolutions. If you're getting things done, you're fine.
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mary rosenblum
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The danger is making
resolutions so 'big' that you can't keep them, and letting that feeling of
frustration and failure contribute to a case of writers block.
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mary rosenblum
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We are so part of our writing,
that it's very easy for us to feel like failures. Don't make things harder
for yourselves than they are already! :-)
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drake
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I also got my 5th assignment for
Shape, Write, Sell in before the next due date of 1-25-07
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mary rosenblum
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Good for you, Drake. :-)
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acook
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I like the idea of
"something everyday" I have a tendency to go too big and then I
never get anything done
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mary rosenblum
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Yeah, everybody does, acook. I
learned that one the hard way...trying for a 'so many pages' type goal.
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mary rosenblum
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I simply couldn't do it every
day and I felt really bad when I didn't. But in my situation at the time, I
couldn't do that kind of goal.
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drake
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Since that time I have lost two
friends due to something I wrote, and started wondering if it's worth it
though :o(
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mary rosenblum
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Ah, that's too bad, Drake.
Maybe the problem lies with your friends.
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mary rosenblum
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It is true that when you start
saying, sorry I can't do that, I have to write, you will lose a few
friends.
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mary rosenblum
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But I wonder if it was really
a big loss. :-)
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gail
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Any advice on how to tame the
guilt complex I have about writing while hubby's off work? It really
interrupts "the flow" I've achieved whiile he's working.
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mary rosenblum
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Boy that's an issue. I'd talk
to him about it, gail. I had to deal with writing and kids and that guilt.
Ouch. I made deals...
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mary rosenblum
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I'll write until noon and then we'll go to the
park and play in the pool.
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mary rosenblum
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Try and adult version of that
with hubby.
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mary rosenblum
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I'll write until 3 and we'll
do what you want after that.
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gail
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Oh, sorry! The guilt is all my
own. Hubby supports me fully. I just feel like a cad ignoring him as I
click away at my keyboard. :-/
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mary rosenblum
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Well, gail, if hubby's not
hurting, who said you are supposed to be entertaining him 24/7?
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mary rosenblum
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WAtch out for sneaky little
avoidance behaviors. :-) Gee, I can't write, send out, risk that rejection
slip. I have to [fill in the blank here]
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mary rosenblum
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And you can come up with good
reasons not to write/send out/risk rejection slips.
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megger
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I also incorporate what I write
at work as a part of my writing world, especially since I represent the
university in much of what I do. That helps my "something every
day" challenge.
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mary rosenblum
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Good, megger! Writing is
writing. You get better the more you do.
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unicorn
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Journal writing is a good cure
for Writer's Block.
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, unicorn. The only real
antidote to writers block is...write.
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mary rosenblum
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It may hurt, you may hate it,
but write anyway.
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mary rosenblum
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Tell yourself it's an
exercise, it's awful, you'll throw it away as soon as you're done.
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mary rosenblum
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Retell the three bears.
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mary rosenblum
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Retell any of the fairy tales.
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mary rosenblum
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Gee...put a twist in there.
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mary rosenblum
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Write about your lousy boss,
the snotty neighbor.
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mary rosenblum
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Rant.
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mary rosenblum
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Write a really gooey, sticky
love scene...one you wouldn't show to your best friend.
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mary rosenblum
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Just write.
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mary rosenblum
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Something.
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mary rosenblum
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Describe what you see from
your window.
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rrmama
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I can do that!
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mary rosenblum
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There you go.
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mary rosenblum
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One of the biggest causes of
writers block is the expectation that you are supposed to write something
good. Earthshaking.
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mary rosenblum
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Publishable.
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mary rosenblum
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ANYTHING you write is going to
help you improve.
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mary rosenblum
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So indulge yourself.
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mary rosenblum
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One of my guilty pleasures is
to simply write an utterly over the top, adolescent-fantasy, action scene
that I wouldn't be caught dead sharing with ANYBODY and won't even save on
my hard drive!!!
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mary rosenblum
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Builder, use /ask not ask/ :-)
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unicorn
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I carry a mini tape recorder
when I am walking.
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mary rosenblum
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Great idea, unicorn. I carry
one when I'm doing long interstate highway trips.
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mary rosenblum
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Builder asked if it's a good
idea to give work to your readers in submission format...double spaced et
all.
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mary rosenblum
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Depends, builder.
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mary rosenblum
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If you want them to comment on
it, that gives 'em room to write on the page.
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mary rosenblum
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But if you just want your
friend to give you a quick 'I like this' or 'what does the end mean' kind
of comment, it's not necessary.
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smyrna jean
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Do you have any suggestions to
motivate yourself to move
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smyrna jean
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from the first draft to the
revision
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mary rosenblum
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I'd put the draft aside long
enough to sort of forget what I had on the page, smyrna.
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mary rosenblum
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I find it hard to get started
on a revision. Just pick a day. Okay, today I will start revising my draft.
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mary rosenblum
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I bet that once you get
started, you'll get sucked right into it.
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gail
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I discovered recently, during a
sewing marathon of "Christmas PJs" for the grand-children, that I
work most efficiently when I have a clear goal and time frame. I've been
considering outlining some more "definite" writing goals for myself.
Are you saying this is likely a "block" waiting to happen?
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mary rosenblum
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Not at all.
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mary rosenblum
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It is utterly dependent on who
you are and how you work.
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mary rosenblum
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I know many writers who work
in a set timeframe every day.
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mary rosenblum
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From 8 - 10 for example, or 3
- 8 or what have you.
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mary rosenblum
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Right now I'm doing that... 8
- 10 is novel time.
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mary rosenblum
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I don't always work that way.
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mary rosenblum
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But it's working for me right
now.
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mary rosenblum
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If that works for you, do it.
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geezer
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8 AM to 10 PM? :-)
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mary rosenblum
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gosh, not geeze!
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mary rosenblum
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AM both.
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mary rosenblum
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I might do more later ( I will
as soon as I'm done here)...but that is 'daily'.
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builder guy
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submission 101 from the Writing
Craft of LR is great. Is it good to present most things you let other
people read (especially your instructor) in the submission format? Just for
practice maybe?
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mary rosenblum
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It's an easy to read format,
builder. :-) And it's a good idea to get in the habit of submission format.
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gail
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I suppose the key is to remain
flexible, even when making a written plan. Just write, daily. Right?
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, I think flexible tends to
work better than unbendable.
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robastor
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Sometimes, the goals I set for
myself take a little longer to complete. But, it's okay. I don't get so
down about it like I have in the past.
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mary rosenblum
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Good, rob!
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mary rosenblum
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Another thing to
remember...writing is for the rest of your life.
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mary rosenblum
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That should be a long time,
hopefully!
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mary rosenblum
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Well, this has been a fun
discussion. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Well do more on writers block
another time, too.
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mary rosenblum
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But I hope you all make
resolutions that work for you and don't set the bar so high you start out
the year by 'failing'.
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mary rosenblum
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I'll post the transcripts in
the usual place: Writing Craft Forum Transcripts. And do join us on Sunday
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mary rosenblum
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for our very fun casual chat.
I look forward to that all week. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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We usually have quite a crowd.
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mary rosenblum
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Happy New Year all, and I'll
see you then!
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unicorn
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My daily is 3 am to 5am Don't sleep much 4 hrs
per night
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mary rosenblum
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No kidding!
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mary rosenblum
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Night all
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