How Do You Feel?

One more thing. When you finish writing your response to the prompt, write down how you felt while you were writing. You don't have to share that part. You don't really have to share any of it, but it always seemed to help in Feminine Ink when people did.

And you don't have to say who the person is that you're writing about. I'm certainly not going to.

Writing Prompt for 6/11/07

Think about someone you don't understand. Now write from that person's point of view.

The Why and How of the Weekly Prompt

I mentioned that I met a friend for wine and conversation yesterday. We orginally met when I ran started Feminine Ink. A group of women got together once a month to freewrite based on prompts that I supplied. I had to let the group go because I needed more time to actually write.

But Laurel and I both miss the regular get-togethers and the fun we had sharing what we wrote from those prompts. So once a week, I'll post a prompt here. The rules are simple, read the prompt and start writing-by hand. You shouldn't think about it much. This is an off-the-cuff thing. Write for 7-10 minutes without stopping and without self-editing while you write. Once the pen starts moving, it has to keep going until time is up. If you start on a tangent, go with it. There's gold in them thar tangents.

If you'd like, post what you wrote in the comments. I will add mine when I'm done.

Chopping Wood and Prewriting

Last night I had a little trouble falling asleep because I didn't write anything all weekend. It felt like I accomplished nothing. Even though I watched a friend's dog, cleaned, did five loads of laundry, etc. I moved a lot of junk out of the Blue Room in preparation for a making it the Lilac Room. And I met a friend yesterday whom I hadn't talked to in months. We caught up, drank a little wine and really enjoyed ourselves. Not a wasted weekend by any means.

But I didn't write. Except...I did in a way.

Let me go back a little bit. One of the aspens next to my deck died over the winter. I think something infested it--I don't know as much as I'd like about trees and other plants so I can't be sure just what killed it. Last week a windstorm blew it over. Luckily, it fell in such a way that it didn't hurt the deck, the shed, the garage, the fence or the rose bushes. Early Saturday morning I went out and cut it into manageable chunks to get it out of the way. While I sawed and sweated and cursed a little bit, I thought about the next scene in HM.

Then this morning on my walk, I thought about it some more. I now know exactly what I need to do in that next scene. When I sit down to work, I won't have to stare at a blank screen trying to figure out what to write. So, I guess I did write this weekend.

One Size Fits All?

The other night I got together with my writing friends. It's a great forum for talking about what's working for us and what isn't when it comes to our writing. We can solicit help, feedback, commiseration, whatever.

Deb was talking about outlining her new novel, and that started a discussion about whether or not to outline. The responses were pretty evenly distributed. Fleur and I always outline, which makes sense. We both write what could fall under the broad umbrella of crime fiction. We need to know where we're going. Jenny and Mary are both organic writers. They start with a character or situation and just write from the gut. Shane and Deb fall somewhere in the middle. Shane says he outlines in his head before he starts, but then it's organic. Deb jots notes and sort of follows them, but will allow herself a tangent if it feels right.

All of these people are excellent writers. I guess it just shows that one size does not, and cannot, fit all. Beware of those who would tell you otherwise.

A Room of My Own

I actually have a house of my own, but have wanted a Writing Room since I moved in. I finished collecting all the supplies to convert the Blue Room. Lilac paint for the walls and white for trim, a new light fixture, shelves and new miniblinds. The room already has a daybed that I use as a couch for writing. It took me a while to realize that I preferred the daybed to a desk because that's the way I wrote when I was in junior high and high school. It makes it feel less like work.

There's also a new comforter set for the daybed and lots of fuzzy, brightly colored throw pillows. I'll move my writing books and research books upstairs when it's done. Maybe a few interesting tchochkes to spark ideas.

When I finish it, that excuse for not writing will be gone.

Maybe I'll take my time.

Goals

My friend, Deb, is big on setting goals. Every month she sends out a challenge to set do-able, as she says, goals that will take a bit of a stretch to accomplish. Some months it just gets on my nerves. Of course, those are usually the months I want to slack and really need the goals to stay motivated.

For June, I'd like to finish my first cozy, known here as HM, and outline a second, which will go by D&D (not Dungeons and Dragons, even though my nephew loves that D&D). Not a lot but enough to keep me busy.

I'd also like to read a few more of the current crop of cozies out in the world today. Just to see what's there and, maybe, discover what might be missing.