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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 29, 2007 17:21:36 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 29, 2007 17:40:33 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Jun 17, 2010 21:02:51 GMT -6
Well, here I sit. I'm supposed to be writing, and technically, I suppose I am, as this post involves me actually typing out words which in most cases is a form of writing (when the words, strung together, somewhat make sense). But I am not writing what I should be writing, or what I intended to write when I sat down at the computer.
I've gone and gotten myself overwhelmed again. I've got a blog post - actually two - started, but nowhere near complete. My writing class is coming up soon, and not a word has been written of the complete story I have in my head. Our annual Art in the Arboretum is just around the corner, and I'm expected to read something funny and entertaining that I've written; my boss just reminded me today; I didn't need reminding, but have no clue what how I'm going to appear entertaining without a clue of what to write. Two queries started, one outline in my head, three near complete articles - all of which only need to be finished in order to be sent to editors. A Scrolls post or two. Oh! and there's that commissioned article I have to get done....sometime, preferably a month ago; I haven't worked on it in more than two months.
It's not writer's block - most of these things are completed in my head, and all I need to do is get them out of there, and on the computer. But when I try to do so, I stare at the screen, and can't seem to type anything, not knowing which thing to work on first, or where to start. My mind starts on one task, but ends up wandering to the next, and nothing gets done. It's writer's lack of focus I've got.
Any suggestions? A pillow I can scream into, perhaps. A rubber mallet I can bonk myself on the head with to loosen what's in there? I'm stuck in a standstill position. Slow motion would be a step forward.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 17, 2010 21:25:04 GMT -6
Okay. These are off the top of my head:
[/url]] 3) Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and just write anything, work related or not. Then perhaps it will get the other words flowing. 4) Work up outlines and start anywhere within the article you want. Put the pieces together flawlessly when it's all done. (Start in the middle, end, anywhere.) 5) Type in the nude. (Some people swear it works. I, personally, wouldn't know.) Can put on comfortable jammies though, I guess. 6) Use Write or Die. Some claim it works wonders. I wouldn't know though. [/ul] [/font]
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Post by Phalon on Jun 18, 2010 6:08:09 GMT -6
Thanks for the suggestions, Joxie.
I hate writing in long hand, although I've done it at times when a computer was not available. But a blank piece of paper to me, is worse than a blank screen.
I actually have one of those....somewhere lost in the vast chasm of my desk. I do some of my best thinking while roller-skiing (it helps keep my mind occupied, so it can ignore the screams from my legs and arms to stop). I can only imagine trying to go back and figure out what it was I was talking about between all the huffs and puffs, though. It'd sound like a tape of heavy breathing.
You mean people actually write things from beginning to end? I don't think I ever have. LMAO. I jump around all over the place, then fill in the blanks to try and tie in all the separate thoughts into one somewhat coherent piece. Maybe an outline would help.
Since I usually write when no one is around to interrupt, it's usually at night, or early in the morning, and I'm always in my jammies. In the nude, though....yeah, right.
Sounds like too much danger. I pretty much try to avoid dying at all costs, so why tempt fate?
I used this one this morning. I had a half an hour before I had to get in the shower, typed for 10 minutes, took a 10 minute coffee break, then typed for 10 more. And ha! I got a Scrolls post done....uhm....well, almost done. Now I just have to go back and try to make sense of it....or try to, anyway.
Any suggestions for trying to make sense of a bunch of rambling thoughts?
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 18, 2010 16:02:07 GMT -6
Gee, shoot me down. Okay. They _were_ off the top of my head.
Do you think your boss would mind if you 'talked' to yourself at work? I know that sometimes you work alone for long stretches of time. Or you could use the recorder while working out in the yard, or cooking, or cleaning. Ooh. Or while sitting out on the porch drinking coffee.
Pick out descriptive, active words and try to decipher your meaning from them? Reread when tired, as your mind is a jumbled mess then too.
I came across a sentence I jotted down for a book I'm 'working' on, (in my head at the moment), and I'm totally lost as to what I had planned for it. Something about finding the temple, and I've no recollection of any temple being in the story, or who should find it, or why. I guess the 'maidens in the midriff' might know what it means.
the maidens in the midriff = subconscious or gut (as in, trust your gut)
the boys in the basement (Stephen King)
Ooh: the floozies in the fortress
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Post by Phalon on Jun 18, 2010 23:28:04 GMT -6
No, no - they were good suggestions, and I appreciate you taking the time to write them...some of them better for me than others (the nude thing for example - eye-roll).
LMAO. No, I don't think she'd mind at all. I always talk to myself at work - we all do. So crazy busy this time of year, we'd be insane if we didn't.
I've got to dig that tape recorder thing out - again, this time of year it wouldn't be feasible at work, because there are just too many customers to help, so I don't have nearly any time to myself, but toward the end of the season, it'd be perfect.
I like the outline idea for some of the nonfiction articles I write. I sort of do a very loose form of an outline sometimes, (still keeping most of it in my head). A more formal outline would probably work good for those types of articles.
The best though, is the timed writing; it worked this morning anyway.....though I haven't had a chance to go back and rework it yet. Write without thinking; I can do that! Actually, when I reread it this evening I decided it's not as completely rambly as I thought it was when I wrote it.
I've got tons of those - both in the computer in a misc. file, and on scraps of paper scattered on my desk and throughout its drawers. Every once in a while, I'll read through the file, or find a sentence written on a piece of paper, and wonder "why and what".
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 19, 2010 18:38:55 GMT -6
No, no - they were good suggestions, and I appreciate you taking the time to write them...some of them better for me than others (the nude thing for example - eye-roll). I forget you overlook emoticons, so the snickering smiley might have been overlooked. Was just teasing. I'll try to remember to add text too, like: j/k (just kidding). [grin]
Cool. I hope it works out for you. You can also try a dictating software on your computer. From this blog post I learned about [url=www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dsoftware&field-keywords=Dragon+NaturallySpeaking+10&x=16&y=20]Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10[/url]. [/font] I think outlines do come in handy sometimes. Other times they're distracting. There are many forms of outlining. Check with the links in the first post. The first three, you'll need to log in at the Illusive Muse, but the last one is open to lurkers.
You can try jotting down ideas/suggestions/results/etc. line by line and see what works. Set the timer and just start throwing ideas out there, no matter how silly. If you jot down 20 and only 1 is worth doing, it'd be worth the hassle.
That's kind of the idea. If you took time to think, you'd probably have thrown most of those ideas out without jotting them down, and losing them without realizing they do/will/might work. The 'critic' vetoes a lot of ideas that would have worked, or been made to work, and that's why you silence him during a first draft. The first draft is suppose to be a free-for-all zone where anything can happen, no matter how silly/stupid/horrible/etc. The critic only gets a say during the edit/rewrite. The 'maidens in the midriff' knows more than the critic about the whole picture and don't share until it's all been written down. Once the critic gets the whole picture, he's able to do a better job at editing/rewriting.
Also, some authors feel that doing the 10 minute writing before starting on their WIPs helps to get the juices flowing. So you can try it when you're ready to sit down to your projects to see if it helps.
I think they're worth saving. One day the light bulb may go on and you can use it for something. I've got lots of slips of papers in a few manila envelops in my closet. I read through them from time to time, every now and again.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 21, 2010 19:55:07 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 21, 2010 20:37:58 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Jul 8, 2010 20:22:56 GMT -6
So I've been plugging away, ten minutes at a time. Sometimes a little bit shorter, sometimes a little longer, but on average, just in ten minutes spurts I've got a lengthy blog done, a short story for my writing group, a scrolls post...ok, half a scrolls post, and bits and pieces of other things I mentioned. Editing after writing this way, is a b!tch for me. I usually have things pretty much set in my head the way I want them to be, but writing random thoughts, then going back and filling in details is time consuming. But at least stuff is getting done.
What I haven't written for even one ten minute spurt is the thing for Art in the Arboretum, and ACK, it's next weekend! And double ACK - I've taken it upon myself to write two things to present.
I'm an idiot.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 8, 2010 21:55:47 GMT -6
Some writers think deadlines help unblock them. That doesn't seem to work for me. It seems to do the opposite. A deadline backs me up and slams a wall in my face.
Katherine Fugate says bills are what keep her moving forward. But, if you're not working for money, then you need something else to keep you moving.
Good luck. Sorry you're having issues.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 9, 2010 20:26:27 GMT -6
Here are two Mind-Mapping Software. One for Macs only, and one for Windows and other systems:
I got them from this post.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 9, 2010 20:45:27 GMT -6
My biggest issue, Joxie, is and always has been procrastination. The short story I wrote on the train ride to Chicago last week - the day before my writing group met. I ran to the computer when I got home from work that day to finish typing it up, and arrived at the group, with the meeting already in progress.
The Art in the Arboretum; I knew when it was scheduled, and I had a year to write something. One whole year! And here I am one year later, with nothing written.
I do work better with a deadline looming; the louder the clock ticks, the faster it flows off my fingers. But if I just got my sh!t together earlier, I wouldn't get so overwhelmed when it all seems to be due at the same time. And when it's all due at the same time is when I have trouble starting, because I don't know where to start first.
Although I don't get paid for the vast majority of what I write, I still enjoy doing it. Then again.....I got a nice, fat (fat, by my standards anyway) check in the mail last week for something I wrote. And HA! I sent it in the day before the deadline, barely squeaking under the wire!
Ok, off to procrastinate some more.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 9, 2010 21:00:40 GMT -6
Procrastination is also my biggest hurtle. And also: Out of sight, out of mind. When I set something aside for a while to get a fresh perspective on it later on, I tend to forget about it until I discover it in my search for something else. I guess I need to set up a calendar so that I can post on it a month or two down the road and say, get out such and such and give it a read-through & edit.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 10, 2010 21:07:53 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 14, 2010 22:12:20 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 15, 2010 0:32:22 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 15, 2010 1:04:49 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Jul 15, 2010 20:21:03 GMT -6
Thanks, Joxie, for posting all the links to helpful tips. Some of it is useful now; some of it will be filed away for future use...because I'm sure I'll be in this same spot many times.
Two days left, and I'm still pretty much stuck in the same place since I last posted in here. Actually, I've got a great deal written, but just rambling thoughts, which are no where near complete. Shoot - and I wanted at least a day to practice; you know how much I hate getting up to "perform", and I want it perfect.
My co-worker (who writes poetry) told me what sounds like an excellent idea that she learned years ago. When stuck, write about food. A great meal, what you had for dinner, the art of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; heck write Cheezits poetry, who cares - almost everyone loves to talk about food. Lookit the "What's Stuck in Your Teeth" thread - one of my personal favorites - we all love food!
Maybe I should pop in there, and write about what's stuck in my teeth, to loosen up what's stuck in my head.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 15, 2010 21:34:03 GMT -6
You're welcome. I post all this info for me as well as others. Maybe I'll be able to find it when I need it. Which usually I can't when the time comes. I've been working on some flash fiction. Actually, I've been RE-working it and RE-working it and I'm just about ready to toss the whole lot out and be done with it. But, dang, it's too hot for a bonfire ... guess I can store it until months from now when it just might look like it might have potential.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 16, 2010 22:41:06 GMT -6
Done!!!
Not quite as happy with it as I'd like to be, but it's done, done, done. And not a moment to spare!
Whoo-hoo. I'm done, I'm done, I'm done.
All done.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 16, 2010 22:52:55 GMT -6
I take it you're done?
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Post by Phalon on Jul 18, 2010 6:36:35 GMT -6
Yes, done. Signed, sealed, and delivered done.
The reading was last night; it went well. I wrote it for my boss, and it made her cry, though that was not my intention; it wasn't even sad.
Is making the boss cry in public, grounds for dismissal? Nah, it'll never stand up in court.
Next thing due is not until the begining of August. Joxie, we ought to set that as a deadline for our procastination contest. I'll work on what I have due then, and you work on your reworked and reworked flash fiction. We'll see who can out procrastinate the other.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 18, 2010 18:03:24 GMT -6
I'm pretty good at procrastinating ... but I never win at anything, so I'm betting you're a shoe in. Then again, I'm betting money, so I'll probably win just to lose money. Follow?
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 23, 2010 19:16:39 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 24, 2010 19:26:31 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 24, 2010 21:45:31 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 24, 2010 22:42:24 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 11, 2011 17:41:16 GMT -6
Yes, this contest is over, but that doesn't mean the challenge from this year, as well as from past years, can't be used to get the creative juices flowing.
BTW: I got the webpage from Phalon.
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