In my infinite wisdom borne of never having enough of a challenge in my life, I’ve decided to join Camp NaNoWriMo, which starts July 1st. My goal is to write 25,000 words of the sequel to the novel I started and failed as a NanoWriMo project in November of 2011. That one took me 18 months to finish. I’m not under any delusion that I can get the sequel done in a month, so I won’t even try.
But wait, Linda, I hear you saying. You can’t even reply to the comments on your blog, what makes you think you can take on another project?
To answer that question, I have no idea other than that I need to start being creative again or I will go completely around the bend. I’m halfway there now, and let me tell you, the scenery ’round there is scary-dark and smells ominously like a fart.
Is it worse than getting lost in the woods while at Camp Nano? There’s only one way to find out. I figure I should be okay as long as I don’t come across any bears — ‘coz you know what THEY do in the woods.
I’m interested in how other people blog. Do you title a post first and then write it? Or do you write first and then find a title in the overall picture of what you’ve said?
And speaking of titles, are there any words or phrases that are most likely to catch your eye? Personally, I can’t pass by a post with “coffee” in the title.
I want people who read my fiction to fall in love with my characters. Not the bad guys necessarily, but at least the good guys. It took me a while to figure out how to do this, but in the end it always comes down to emotions. When my characters emote in a way that people can relate to, they feel a connection.
When I write, “Hank felt sad,” I know that my readers will look at the words on the page and think Hank is sad. Too bad for Hank. But if I write, “Hank cried,” people will read this and feel it, because it’s something that they do, or try not to do, when they are sad.
Emotions have a way of getting the best of us. They’re something we share, no matter our race, language, or beliefs. They are universal. And so when we see someone whose beliefs we don’t understand on the news, for instance, and they are crying, we feel their pain. At least those of us with compassion.
My best friend John told me a while ago that when we yawn when we see someone else yawn, it’s a sign that we’re not a psychopath. I know this has nothing to do with emotions, as such, but it does show our capacity for understanding what someone else is feeling. Empathy, compassion, sympathy… they’re all necessary for us to understand. And what makes good fiction worth reading as well.
It’s Friday (where did the week go?) and time for this week’s SoCS prompt! My inspiration this week – I can’t even begin to tell you where it came from. I don’t want to give you any ideas. Stream of Consciousness writing is all about just that – what comes from your ideas. So for this Saturday’s post, I’ll give you one word and let you run with it.
This week’s prompt word is “emote.” Feel free to add a suffix to it, or not, and just let it flow.
After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at the prompt page in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Don’t hesitate to join in!
Here are the rules:
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people will come and read your post! The way to ping back, is to just copy and paste the URL of my post somewhere on your post. Then your URL will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. For example, in your post you can copy and paste the following: This post is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-2814/ The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.
5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.
6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!
I invented “One-Liner Wednesday” mostly as an excuse to post something small – be it an inspirational quote or something humorous – that is equivalent to Facebook blather or a tweet. I often get more out of the comments on these sentence-long posts than other articles which take me minutes, or even hours, to write. It’s you, my amazing followers, who make it happen. Thank you.
And so I’d like to extend an invitation. Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here or on my weekly “One-Liner” post to help your blog get more exposure. As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday, if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
The rules that I’ve made for myself for “One-Liner Wednesday” are as follows:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Make it either funny or inspirational.
That’s it.
I’d be delighted to make this a “thing,” so to speak. At the very least, I’d love to give back to my lovely audience by connecting you all to each other.
C’mon – give it a try, and find some new, interesting blogs!
I have decided to self-publish my A-Z novelette ahead of the major work, The Great Dagmaru, which I’m still editing. I’m going to do this for several reasons: one, to make any mistakes I’m bound to make on something that I haven’t spent years working on; two, to get my name “out there,” and three, for the experience.
The novelette comes out to 10,300 words and I’ll probably try to sell it for $0.99.
So I’m looking for beta-readers. Many of you read it in April as a series in 30 parts. I’ve made a few minor changes, but it’s pretty much as it sits in my fiction blog, only compiled for easier reading. What I’d like from my beta readers is no-holds-barred critique, for everything from typos and grammar flaws, to inconsistencies, redundancies, and general impressions on the story, structure, characters, readability, and whether it holds the interest all the way through.
I’d prefer to have five readers, at least two of whom haven’t read it before. Because it’s short, I’m hoping to get it back within two weeks.
It’s a fun little romance story with plenty of humour and even a little twist at the end. If you figure out the twist before you get there, let me know!
Anyone interested, please comment or write to me at bacamjoly at gmail dot com.
I just wanted to say thank you very much to all of you who made Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week the biggest ever! We had so many great posts from amazing bloggers, both regulars and new participants.
Just in case you missed some of the later blogs, here they are in the reverse order of when they posted:
If I take all the things I like, and all the things I dislike and put them all, say, into a box, my box will be filled and devoid of a unique number of things. Some people in the world would need really big boxes, and others would fit all the things they like into a shoebox. I tend to try to avoid both types.
The types of people who make me suspicious, however, are the ones who tell me they like everything I like and dislike everything I dislike. How can they? Our boxes, after all, are as unique as our fingerprints. And so when I come across someone I seem to have a lot in common with, I try not to tell them I like the same things they like – at least not too many – because it kind of freaks me out. I don’t want them to get suspicious of ME.
Sometimes I think we should have a sheet that we can check off things we like and don’t like and hang them around our necks for other people to see. No wait, that’s just stupid. Can you imagine how many people would look at your sheet and not want to associate with you because you, for instance, enjoy eating peanut butter with cheese? I’d never have spoken to my best friend if I’d known that up front.
The point is, I like what I like and you like what you like. If we all liked the same things, how boring would the world be? What would we have to argue about? We’d all be one big happy world without conflict and we’d all sit around smiling all day because the things we don’t like wouldn’t even exist. I don’t think I’d like that. Would you?
After my much-needed little rest, I’m back with this week’s SoCS prompt! During my couple of days off, not posting any articles myself, I found I had a little more time to wander around and read some of the blogs I enjoy. It was fun! I probably hit the “like” button more times in the past forty-eight hours than I usually do in four days. In celebration of that, I’m going to ask you bloggers out there to write your Stream of Consciousness Saturday posts based on that one word.
This week’s prompt word is “like.” Any way you want to interpret it, “like” always. 😉
After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at the prompt page in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Don’t hesitate to join in!
Here are the rules:
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people will come and read your post! The way to ping back, is to just copy and paste the URL of my post somewhere on your post. Then your URL will show up in my comments, for everyone to see. For example, in your post you can copy and paste the following: This post is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-2114/ The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.
5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.
6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!
In my infinite wisdom borne of never having enough of a challenge in my life, I’ve decided to join Camp NaNoWriMo, which starts July 1st. My goal is to write 25,000 words of the sequel to the novel I started and failed as a NanoWriMo project in November of 2011. That one took me 18 months to finish. I’m not under any delusion that I can get the sequel done in a month, so I won’t even try.
