I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
The Published Ramblings of a Confused Michiganian |
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Sorry to disappoint with this post, but just finished the first draft of last year's NaNoWriMo novel (post-apocalyptic YA), so that I can start this year's (alternate history with Marie Curie as the protagonist) on Sunday. Blargh. I mean, yay? Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
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So, it's ten days until NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) begins for 2016. Now maybe you've never heard of NaNoWriMo, and in that case you should either visit NaNoWriMo.org for more information or attend the NaNoWriMo Ann Arbor kick-off and informational meeting this Sunday, October 25, 2015 at 3:00pm at the Traverwood Branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. Or if you're like me, you're running around like a chicken with its hair on fire shouting, "NaNo is coming! WriMo is coming!" But, you may be saying to yourself, yeah, I kinda tried to do that before, but it's really not my thing. Here's some reasons why you should totally make NaNoWriMo "your thing" this year: 1. NaNoWriMo is an outside force acting on your writing. What I mean to say, is that often we give ourselves deadlines to make things happen in our writing, but there is no one to enforce those deadlines but ourselves. Now some of you may have great writing self-discipline, but for the rest of us, this is important. 2. The NaNoWriMo community has some great advice, exercises, videos, and forums to help you through writing snags and roadblocks. Whether these are issues with grammar, setting, character names, plot, or almost any other writing issue, I guarantee other writers in the community have experienced it and have something to say to help you through it. 3. NaNoWriMo celebrates your writing accomplishments, every day for 30 days. This, I feel, is the most important part of NaNoWriMo. Often, writers write and write and edit and submit and get nothing in return but criticism and rejection. Every word is precious during NaNoWriMo and something to celebrate, and I cannot describe the feeling of accomplishment those days when you make your word goal, let alone at the end when you have a proto-novel in front of you. No matter if you do the "hard-core" NaNoWriMo of 50,000 words in 30 days or dial it down to fit your own goals (like 10 short stories in 30 days or 30 flash fiction stories in 30 days), the NaNoWriMo experience will reward you for your efforts and remind you that writing is something that you want to do and can be fun! NaNoWriMo is like the Carnival of writing and I hope to see you there this year! Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy. Summer sat, her vibrant green dress of delicate moss covering her bare feet and her sunflower hair flowing down to the marble floor now that she was no longer standing. Autumn rose and sauntered up to the crystal podium to make his case. He wore an tapestry of colored leaves for a shirt and pale yellow harvest corn stalks for pants that crackled as if still afield and swaying in the breeze. His hair was short and brown and his skin tanned by millennia under the harvest moon. "I am the season most prized by women and men. For I am the bountiful harvest, fullness of the belly and spirit and hope to survive the long, bleak Winter. I am the time year when the trees themselves explode in colors as at no other time, and fall from the trees like confetti to celebrate me. From shades of the deepest crimson to the palest yellow, orange hues that have no name, brown and purple, the leaves decorate the earth in my honor. Mature colors that are not the novice flowers and budlings of Spring. Trees and bushes, vines and stalks become heavy with my fruit, more nourishing and hardy then the offerings of Summer. My sun still brings warmth, reminiscent of the heat just past, though the chill of my wind reminds humankind to prepare for the coming cold. I am not rebirth or death or a wild adolescence, but a ripe age. Mindful, beautiful, and plentiful, I am the season of fulfillment." Autumn's eyes gleamed like sunlight off a maple leaf as he paused. He turned as if to leave, then faced the assembly once more. "Also, I am apple cider, corn mazes, pumpkin pie, Halloween, and football, so really, you other seasons don't stand a chance." Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy. "Mademoiselle Montrevoue, your mother wishes an audience." The maid, having spoken her announcement, then averted her eyes from the half-naked woman standing in front of a wall of mirrors in the spacious bedroom. The dressing woman did not take her eyes from the mirror. "What does she want?" "I'm sorry, she didn't say. Shall I send her in?" "Fine, fine, whatever." The maid opened the door to allow a tall, elegant woman into the room, and then withdrew hastily, closing the door behind her. "Collette! You are not even dressed yet. How is it that you have your own private designer, a veritable army of tailors, and you are not dressed yet?" "Not now, Mother. I'm having a crisis." Collette's mother adjusted her black gauzy shawl and smoothed imaginary wrinkles on her onyx silk dress. "What kind of a crisis?" Collette pointed to a sleeveless, crimson, velvet dress with a dark brown fur collar hanging on an iron stand near an open voluminous closet. "That is what Theophile would have me wear tonight." "I think it is lovely." "Lovely? Lovely!" Collette threw her arms up and stalked over to the stand, grabbing the dress's fur collar. "Am I not Wolfkin enough to produce my own fur?! I shall be a mockery, Mother!" Collette's mother sauntered over to her distraught daughter and ran her fingers through her long brown hair. "Hush now. No daughter of mine will ever be a mockery. Fur is classic high fashion, and will only go out of style among the rabble. Though you come by it naturally, there is no reason to eschew it as an accent." "But-" "No arguments. You wear that fur proudly, and any fool who does not see the beautiful irony is beneath our notice. Now, I expect you dressed and ready in exactly twenty minutes in the foyer. What would be a mockery is arriving to a Loup fete already transformed." Collette's mother kissed Collette on the cheek and turned to leave, but then turned back to her daughter. "Is there accommodation for your tail?" Collette lifted the dress and flipped it so that her mother could see the plunging back line. "Of course. It is still WolfWear." Keep Writing and Edit On
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy Inspiring or funny writer/artist quotes, because I like quotes. "The definition of an artist is someone that creates something then stares at it until they hate it." ~U_P_G_R_A_Y_E_D_D on Reddit (Not sure of original attribution.) By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing. ~Stephen King Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money. ~Moliere There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. ~Ernest Hemingway The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. ~Mary Heaton Vorse It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous. ~Robert Benchley “The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.” ~Philip Roth “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” ~George Orwell “Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts.” ~Larry L. King, WD “Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.” ~Ray Bradbury, WD Keep Writing and Edit On
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy |
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