Monday, April 23, 2012

submitted today

For the past few days (except the weekend) I've been at the computer in "writer's mode" every morning.  The goal is to be started by nine o'clock or soon thereafter, and write for 20 minutes, break for ten, write 20, break 10, etc., until noon.  So far, this has produced two short stories.  (I still can't get my head into the novel I'm supposed to be writing.) 
The goal this time was to have a middle grade mystery story (900 words) submitted to the contest at Children's Writer by the April 30th deadline. 
The first story I wrote was okay, but I realized when it was done that it was not a mystery.  It was an adventure.  Okay--the next day, I used the same characters and wrote a mystery called "The Case of the Missing Baby-Sitter".  I polished it a few times, and this morning I submitted it online to the contest.  Fingers crossed!
Writing again, through the mushy brain.  I find the write 20/break 10 routine works for me.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Easter season

Easter promises of warmth and flowers are slow to appear this year.  A day of sun here, followed by a day or two (or more) of rain and chilly breezes.  A real downpour yesterday. 
I had hoped that by starting my blog again, I might be prompted to do more writing.  The blog got stalled by its heavy message, but I have been trying to write.
I can't get my head into my novel yet, so I've been trying to write a short middle-grade mystery for the Children's Writer competition.  I need to submit a 900 word story by April 30th.  I've been toying with an idea for the story for a couple of weeks, and this morning I actually wrote the story.  Well, A story.  It needs lots of work before it can be submitted.  But I remembered that when I wrote my nanowrimo story, I followed a pattern someone suggested, and it worked today as it did then.  It's simple:  write 20 minutes, take a 10 minute break, write 20 minutes again, take another 10 minute break, and so on until you've written the number of words or the length of time you planned.  I planned to write from 9am until noon, but got interrupted about 11am.  That's okay, because my 900-word story was already at 920 words, and I was busy trimming it down.  Now, whether the story line stays the same throughout other rewrites (assuming I follow the same regime tomorrow), that's the big question. 
At least I'm writing again.  Ken prefers that I don't fuss over him, so this keeps me out of his hair, and within calling distance.