The Ready Writer

O God You are in the flowers And also in the weeds. O God You are in the sunshine But also in the demolishing storm. I was told to write a Psalm for Praise Or A Psalm for Lament But even honeybees have stingers. Why not write a Psalm for Always? Even parents can praise their children in one sentence And discipline them in the next. This goes the same for you O God I love you when I see the good. And there is so much good. But I cry out “Why O God?” when I see the bad. And there is so much bad. Why not write a Psalm for Always? For just as we cannot have light Without dark. We cannot have a God that only allows the good. For even honeybees have stingers. Just as so many of your followers strive for heaven outside of Earth. There, where there is so much good. They need to strive to create Heaven here on Earth. Because here, there is so much bad. And you are not just “there” O God In the good.

A pretty successful week this week! Monday: +241 words  Tuesday: +118 words Wednesday: +114 words Thursday: No Writing Friday: +179 words AND I finished Chapter 1 Saturday: +319 words Sunday: +232 words Current Status: Chapter 1 is done at 2091 word and chapter 2 is started Total word count: 2642 Words written this week:1203 Camp NaNoWriMo update: At this rate you'll finish August 17 (better than September!) I accomplished my goal of writing 6 days this week, and for each of those writing times to be over 100 words.   I'm making strides and getting words down.  No new goals for this coming week.  I wrote 1203 words this last week. Working for 1220 this week.  We'll see what happens!

So I have been having a few people ask me some questions about my specific outlining process, and I always have to remind people that I didn't have one.  I don't know if I DO have one.  I'm working on the first project I have ever outlined, so I can't say I have a "process" but here is what I did. I started with a "what if" question.  This isn't anything different from my normal writing process.  But with short stories I come up with my "what if?" question and then start writing.  With a novel, I went a little further. Next, I wrote a quick plot summary. If someone were to ask me "what happens in your book?" This is what I would tell them. It contains all the big parts, but isn't very exhaustive. Then, I wrote the detailed plot summary.  This goes beyond just the "what happens" situation.  This is the summary you would write if there was a book report assignment for your book. After that, I wrote out all

Hello everyone!  Here is my writing progress for the week.  Remember, I am only working on the one project, which I am currently calling "Project Reboot". Monday July 11: +188 words Tuesday July 12: No Writing Wednesday July 13: +256 words Thursday July 14: No Writing Friday July 15: +309 words Saturday July 16: +84 words Sunday July 17: +239 words Weekly Words Written: 1076 Total Words to date: 1439 Current Status: About halfway through Chapter 1. Camp NaNoWriMo Update:  Remember, my goal this month was to write 5000 words, and camp nanowrimo says that "at this rate I'll reach 5000 words on September 2nd." omg. No.  Hafta step up my game!! Some Goals: 1. I want to be writing AT LEAST 6 days a week.  I'm giving myself 1 day off because my Tuesdays are crazy.  But ultimately, until my schedule calms down and I can write 7 days a week, I want to write 6. 2.  I want to write at least 100 words during the days that I write.  I'm

I have 2 jobs.  Neither of which are writing. This isn't a "woe is me" post.  I'm a hard worker, I have bills to pay (and more bills to pay soon) and right now, one job just isn't cutting it. Someday one job will be enough. And who knows, maybe someday that job will be writing. In the meantime, I work 2 jobs. But I'm still a writer, and its still work.  I've talked a lot about scheduling writing.  I'm getting better at that. I've started scheduling out hour chunks throughout the day.  Treating it like a job or an appointment. So far its working better than just saying "yeah, I'll write today." The next step is to utilize every extra minute, aside from my scheduled hour.  At each job, we are allotted 15 minute breaks.  I can use that time to jot down some notes. God knows that I've been thinking of my story all day, surely there is a detail or a sentence or something I can write down during that time. I also most da

Hello everyone! Okay, so the first week of Camp NaNoWriMo is over, and I have written....0 words. BUT I do not count it as a failure. I've spent the last week really creating a solid outline and plot.  I have a rough outline for my entire book, and I have a scene by scene outline for Act I. I have also created lore, backstory, really solidified my characters, and thought long and hard about my overall goals for not just this project, but all of them. As many of you know, I've been working on 2 projects.  A Haunted House project and a Haunted Hotel Project (which is getting a new name). Some things are changing. Haunted House is on the back burner for a TBD amount of time. I'm still loving the idea of that story, it will get written, and now that I actually have an idea about how to outline and plot etc. I'm excited to start that one over and make it better. But for now, it is on the back burner.  This is for a couple of reasons. First of all, I really want t

So today marks the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo. For those of you who may not know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.  It is a worldwide event that takes place in November where people are inspired, motivated, and urged to write a completed novel of at least 50,000 words in 30 days.  It's crazy. I started participating in NaNoWriMo in 8th grade, regularly participating all through High School (but never finishing).  I stopped participating after I graduated high school, because I stopped writing for a couple of years after I graduated high school.  Once I fell back in love with writing, I was neck deep in college, and eventually grad school coursework so I never really got a chance to participate.  What I did get to participate in, is the community.  I got to surround myself with people who love the craft of writing, who inspired me to be a better writer (even if I never hit 50,000 words) and who understood the hard work and dedication that goes into it.