Writing Prompt: August 14, 2012

Every Tuesday and Friday, I'll be posting one or more writing prompts as possible starting points for stories or poems. I'll be mixing this up as much as possible and will sometimes utilize quotes, photos, music, and anything else I can think of which might help get your creative inspiration going.

Here's today's writing prompt:

"The weather that day was quite unlike any other I had experienced before."

I hope that it inspires some of you to write something amazing. If you end up writing something based on this prompt and it gets published somewhere (including your blog or personal website) please stop by and leave a comment so I can see what you came up with.

Come back on Friday for another Writing Prompt.

Monday Motivation: Get Started!

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
- unknown (attributed often to both Mark Twain and Agatha Christie)

So we don't know who said this, but it's often attributed to one of two writers, so that will have to be good enough for this writing-related blog!

One of the things that paralyzes many people (not just writers) is fear, and one way that fear paralyzes people is by keeping you from getting started. After all, if you don't start -- if you don't try -- well, then, you can't fail! Of course, you also can't succeed. And there are many, many ways that writers can identify success, depending on their own personal goals. Even if it's not "getting ahead" in the way that people might traditionally think of that phrase, you can be a success, but only if you first get started.

Looking for Interviewees and Guest Posters

Right now my schedule is clear for future interviewees and guest posters. I'd like to start having some again starting on August 26th or September 2nd, so if you are interested in being a guest poster, please contact me.

Thanks!

Link of the Week: Five Golden Rules for Successful Goal Setting

Every Saturday I highlight a link that I think is worth checking out for writers, particularly those who are working on developing a daily writing routine. This week's link is "Five Golden Rules for Successful Goal Setting."

I set goals for myself every month and then go back at the end of the month and track how I did at accomplishing them. (I also typically do a "status check" on my goals at least once mid-month.) My goals are always around things that are, for all intents and purposes, completely within my control. So I wouldn't list "sell two stories" as a goal because I can't control whether editors buy my stories. All I can do is send them out and wait for the reply. But I could list "write two new stories and get them both submitted for the first time" as a goal because that's something which is on me to either do or do not. (There is, after all, no try.)

The post I'm linking to this week does a great job of talking about best practices for goal setting. I hope that it provides some useful insights to you!

Writing Prompt: Friday August 10th, 2012

Every Tuesday and Friday, I'll be posting one or more writing prompts as possible starting points for stories or poems. Sometimes when I'm having trouble getting started on a particular day, I'll look for a writing prompt to help get my imagination going. This has helped me keep up my routine of writing every day.

For the prompts on this site, I'll be mixing this up as much as possible and will sometimes utilize quotes, photos, music, and anything else I can think of which might help get your creative inspiration going.

Today's writing prompt is:

"The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
Of Learning, late deceased in beggary."
(From Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream)

I hope this prompt inspires some of you to write something amazing. If you end up writing a story, poem, or anything else based on this prompt and it gets published somewhere (including your blog or personal website) please stop by and leave a comment so I can see what you came up with.

Come back on Tuesday for another Writing Prompt.

Upcoming Deadlines: Slice Magazine & Dreaming of Djinn

One of the tools I've used sometimes to help myself get started on writing is writing towards prompts or themes for upcoming publications, either anthologies or themed issues of periodicals. Below you will find information about two such calls for submissions.

Slice Magazine is currently reading stories and poems on the theme of "Obsession." This issue's submission call runs from August 31st, 2012 and Kazka will be paying a flat rate of $100 for stories of up to 5,000 words and $50 for poems.

The second submission call for this week is for the Dreaming of Djinn anthology. It's described by the publishers as follows:

[This anthology] will look at romantic Orientalism through a speculative fiction lens. You might find lost cities, magical lamps, mummies, thieves, intrepid explorers, slaves, robotic horsemen, noble queens, sorcerers, outcast princes, harems, dancers, djinn, assassins and even smart-talking camels and cats, set in exotic Persia, Egypt, Arabia, the Ottoman Empire, or a modern incarnation of these.

This submission call runs through October 15th, 2012. They pay 2 cents (Australian) per word plus two copies of the anthology for stories of 2,000-7,500 words.

Edited to add: I've had a conversation about the appropriateness of some of the language in the "Dreaming of Djinn" call. I had a brief concern, myself, last night and I suspect I should have heeded that and selected a different anthology to include in this post. I'm going to leave it here, with this comment, rather than erase my own decision. My hope is that the editors are looking for respectful/respectable stories with the themes of lost cities, etc. but it's fair to question that given some of the language they chose to use. A quick search led me to a blog post which explains the concerns well. Given that the blog post is from four months ago, it seems that either Ticonderoga is unaware of the concerns or chose not to react to them. Ultimately, what I want to say, is that I apologize to anyone who is offended by this anthology's inclusion in this week's "Upcoming Deadlines" post and I will give greater consideration to these issues when selecting publications for future posts. Thank you. -MH

As always, please make sure to read the linked guidelines pages closely to ensure that you understand details of the submission guidelines, terms, payment information, etc.

Stop back next Thursday for more Upcoming Deadlines!

Three Signs Your Process Might Not Be Working

Ultimately, the only person who can say whether your writing process is truly working is you. Because you're writing for your own goals. (I'm assuming here that you're not dealing with other parties who have a vested interest in the outcome of your writing.)

That said, here are three things which might be a warning sign that your process isn't taking you where you want it to.

1. You're ending up with lots of unfinished work. I know some people who say that this is part of their process, and if they're still meeting their goals, I certainly can't say that they're "doing it wrong." But, to me, unfinished work represents time spent with only minimal return on the time. (I wouldn't say none, since you're getting more experience as a writer even then. Though, on the flip side, you could be reinforcing some bad habits.) If I put even a couple of hours into writing something, I'd like to think that it will be something that someone else will read eventually and (hopefully) that I'll get paid for. If I don't finish a first draft, or if I finish a first draft but don't revise, then I'm not going to meet those goals.
2. You're spending a lot more hours working than seems appropriate for your output. Again, everyone's different, so this is something that really only you can decide if it applies to your situation. For me, if I found I was spending lots of hours at the computer and only getting a single short-short (flash) story out of it, I'd feel like there was something amiss. And to a certain extent, I think it's reasonable to include ancillary time (writing-related correspondence, chat rooms, message boards, etc.) as part of your "working" time. None of those things are bad things, but they aren't inherently "writing" and while some of them may be necessary (submitting stories, dealing with contracts, etc.) it's still good to keep an eye on your overall time "spend."
3. You're not having fun. Writing, for many of us, is work. Writing, for many of us, is also play. It's an interesting dynamic. If it's starting to feel like drudgery, not just once in a while, but on a regular basis, then you might want to take a step back and evaluate what you're doing and why. It may be more than just a "process" issue, in this case, but a malfunctioning process could be one possible cause.

One of the things that helps me is to do a certain amount of self-evaluation of these things (and others). Am I getting stories finished and out the door? Am I spending a "normal" (for me) amount of time on writing? Am I having fun? When I can answer "Yes" to all three, I know I'm in a good place.