May 2015 Motivation Thread

I've been lying low for a while, but I'm still around. Glad to see everyone's still chugging along without me.

@CharlotteAshley It's been great following you on twitter. I feel like I can see you rising before us. Keep it up so I have someones coattails to ride :-)

@kennychaffin I feel like I haven't seen you too much on the motivation threads. I've enjoyed your stories on the stories subforum, so I'm sure you'll meet your goals.

@JonLaidlow I'm not sure I've ever read anything from you, so I'll make sure to check the stories forum. If you ever want to submit anything to the workshop thread, I should have some time this month.

@Wilson Geiger Thanks for starting the thread. You've been a fixture around here as long as I've been a member, and it's always great to see your familiar avatar(?) when I log-on.
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As for me, I got back to my Ashwalker novel with a vengeance. Over the last couple weeks, I was able to pump out 30k words and finish the thing. It's in rough shape, but it's done. It's a story. And now that it's out of the way, my goals:

1. Start rereading pirate novel. This thing has gone through some heavy revisions in the last month and a half. If I was prone to hyperbole, I'd say it was an entirely new book. But I'm not, so I'll just it's much better.

2. Write a short story: I've been reading a lot of Chinese scifi/fantasy lately, so there's been a story percolating for a few weeks now. With no novels to write at the moment, I'd like to give this story a try. I've always felt this sort of thing is a bit outside my wheelhouse, but seeing as I've lived in China for five years, am married to a Chinese woman, have read in the field, I may need to rethink my doubt.

3. Revise/resubmit short stories: I have three stories that have been waiting for my attention. I think they're good (publishable), but haven't had time to go through them. And I've decided--no more small markets. It's pro/semipro or nothing. Someone made the point on Twitter that anything else will make you look desperate. I can get published at these random sites that have been popping up by the dozens, but what's the point? If there's no editorial process, run for your life.
 
Wilson Geiger said:
Pass it on. Goals are great, and we all need them, but let's try to motivate this month. Let's try to motivate others.
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So true, Wilson. As you said, stating our goals is good, but even better is meeting them.

And sometimes that's hard.

There's (paying) work, family obligations, that TV show you want to stream non-stop, the dog needs walking, the crazy bum down the street keeps knocking on the door and asking if he can use our trash bin, etc etc.

But sometimes, you get a chance to read something. A story that moves you. A line of dialogue that makes you laugh out loud. Or a phrase that dances on the tongue. It's those things that keep me motivated.

How about we share our words? If you happen to read something that a fellow forumite wrote that you particularly liked, share it. You don't have to share anything, but if you happen to read something you like, then let that writer (and us) know.

My goal (just one) for May:
  • Write a story
I don't care how long it is or even if I finish. Heck, it could be a continuation of my WIP, so long as I write a story of some sort I'll be happy.
 
Thanks for the kind words. I just thought maybe we could try something a little different this month.

This forum has made me a better writer, and I have seen so many writers here who have inspired me to shoot for the moon. I couldn't name them all in my first post, I was afraid once I got going I might not stop. :)
 
N. E. White said:
So true, Wilson. As you said, stating our goals is good, but even better is meeting them.

And sometimes that's hard.

There's (paying) work, family obligations, that TV show you want to stream non-stop, the dog needs walking, the crazy bum down the street keeps knocking on the door and asking if he can use our trash bin, etc etc.

But sometimes, you get a chance to read something. A story that moves you. A line of dialogue that makes you laugh out loud. Or a phrase that dances on the tongue. It's those things that keep me motivated.

How about we share our words? If you happen to read something that a fellow forumite wrote that you particularly liked, share it. You don't have to share anything, but if you happen to read something you like, then let that writer (and us) know.

My goal (just one) for May:
  • Write a story
I don't care how long it is or even if I finish. Heck, it could be a continuation of my WIP, so long as I write a story of some sort I'll be happy.
Click to expand...

Yes! One thing I know I haven't found enough time for lately is reading my compatriots' work, and I want to do better with that. I still have a novel to read from a couple folks on here, and I've not made the time to visit the short story/flash contest entries. I need to try to revisit that.
 
This is a great twist on the monthly thread Wilson.

I find this whole group to be awesome. I love that these threads and the workshop have been up and consistent for so long now. They easily could have fallen off after the first couple months.

I have always been impressed with the level of craft and story telling that has been produced here.

My only goal for the month is to continue with my Skeleton draft. I am putting aside my lunch hour here at work, and hopefully an additional hour a few nights a week at home.
 
N. E. White said:
How about we share our words? If you happen to read something that a fellow forumite wrote that you particularly liked, share it. You don't have to share anything, but if you happen to read something you like, then let that writer (and us) know.
Click to expand...

This is a great idea, Nila! There are so many wonderful, funny, evocative, frightening, wise and all the other kinds of statements, all written by my friends here. This would be a ton of fun :)
 
SteveW said:
My only goal for the month is to continue with my Skeleton draft. I am putting aside my lunch hour here at work, and hopefully an additional hour a few nights a week at home.
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Good for you, SteveW! Small steps. Writing is a marathon, not a sprint. One thing at a time and you will get there in the end.
 
Well, I am off to a good start. 720 words in less than an hour, and that doesn't count the 300 I deleted. It is sad how easily the words come out when you are just writing in tell mode.
 
SteveW said:
Well, I am off to a good start. 720 words in less than an hour, and that doesn't count the 300 I deleted. It is sad how easily the words come out when you are just writing in tell mode.
Click to expand...
True, but I find it is good to get them out because it is through them that I will learn what the story is and how it all happens. Later, when you go to convert those scenes that are all Telling unto Showing it will, hopefully, be easier.
 
I have been using my lunch hour well every day this week and my skeleton outline is growing one chapter at a time. No evening session yet, but the wife has baseball tonight, and the gods willing the kids should be sound asleep by the time she leaves.

Yesterday was pretty rough. I outlined a new chapter early in the book but it just did not feel right. It felt like a lot of wasted effort. Today, I reassessed that part of the story and reworked what I did yesterday into a new chapter today. It all came together much better.
 
Good job SteveW! I've been using my lunch hour to do general outlining on Halloween book 2---it's too hard to eat and edit my other projects and then have to stop in the middle of reworking a paragraph and have to go back to work. I've got about 2/3 of the story now and I'm entering the rising action toward the climax. But so.e things aren't sitting right, like I've taken a couple of detours off the main road that, while I'm not always on the road I want to be on, I'm at least headed in the right direction. I'll be looking at smoothing that all out in later passes through the outline and once I get to the point I can start creating the skeleton draft where SteveW is now at. For now though, I'm still figuring out the story's broadstrokes.
 
Good job Steve and Red....
No full length stories here yet, but I have completed an entry for the flash fiction contest (abt 400 words) plus three other flash fictions (for a total of about another 1000 words).
Onward and upward!

ETA: Just got a flash of an idea and wrote it for the Micro Fiction contest (another 100 words :p)
 
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It sounds like things are moving a pace for everyone. I put my extra day off to good use and have completed a very rough draft for my Frozen Fairy Tale entry. Here is the link if anyone else is interested. http://www.worldweaverpress.com/newsblog/frozen-fairy-tales-anthology-open-to-submissions
I'm not holding out much hope of getting into any of these anthologies, but the themes do get my mind working and deadlines keep me at the keyboard churning out new finished stories. :cool:

I free wrote 665 words toward the flash contest before they finally coalesced into an idea. Now I just need to turn it into a story and hold it under 1000.

I did the same thing for the short story contest. 920 words later, I've got an idea that might be workable. It might also be beyond my ability but I can dream.
 
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