Tag: writing

How many words per day should I write?

First of all, that title is a little bit misleading. Some people like to use words… some like to use pages… others will only set aside blocks of time. It really doesn’t matter what you use to measure progress, though. Whether you write 5,000 words per day, or 5 words per week, progress is progress.

While setting a goal is important, one part of the process that people tend to forget is setting ‘reachable’ goals. Something you are actually able to do. Not only does this mean setting an attainable goal, but to also take into account what you are physically and/or mentally capable of. Those with disabilities and/or illnesses (be they visible or hidden), aren’t always able to sustain, maintain, or even reach goals that are repeated on website after website (such as: Write every day). So, the caveat regarding advice is: Take what you can, throw away what you can’t, and tweak what you need to for it to fit your needs.

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Now I’m drivin’ a Porsche…

Imagine you’re just getting your license to drive, and you’re given a Smart car to drive around… one of those little mini things that fit one and a half humans inside and look like they’d blow off the road in a stiff wind. While not everyone is enamored with such a small vehicle, it does the job at getting you from Point A to Point B. It may not have the best handling, or power, but you can drive on the roads and park in any spot just like any other car.

Now, imagine you get a job as a courier. You deliver packages and whatnot all over the place. You get paid more if you can deliver more packages at the same time, and if you get them there faster (forget about stupid things like speed limits for this exercise). What kind of car do you think you would need for this job? Probably one with a pretty good sized cargo space… one with a big gas tank so you wouldn’t have to fill up as often… one with good aerodynamics to keep you going fast… one with a powerful engine to keep your speed high… one with great suspension for handling corners and rough terrain (like the billions of potholes in Spokane). What if you could get a car like that for $20.

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What NaNoWriMo means to me…

5480287683_fc37f97588_zNaNoWriMo (the short version of National Novel Writing Month) is only 2 weeks away. Among the writing group, we just shorten it to nano and we understand that we’re not discussing very tiny robots or electronics.

During nano, people around the world are typing/writing furiously to pull 50,000 words (nothing says they have to be good words) from their brain. Some people find this easy. Some find it to be one of the most difficult things they’ve ever tried. But what is nano to me?

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Where do you get your ideas?

confusedWhere do I get my ideas? A question that seems to be asked of authors everywhere. I’ve tried to think of an answer that I might be able to rattle off quickly if I ever become famous enough to be asked that question (lookin’ to the future), but it’s not something that I can answer so easily.

I began writing earnestly just over two years ago. I’m a newb, technically. My first short story, Bridge to Limbo, was an idea I got from reading a story by Hugh Howey (The Plagiarist). The next short, Galileo Among the Stars, was my way of solving the problem of time travel using the theory of quantum entanglement (sometimes my mind wanders when I hear about new technology). The third one, The Strange Life of Walter Moody, was kind of a love letter to the woman who is now my girlfriend. I imagined how it might be possible to change reality by writing it (a la Death Note, but in a good way).

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