Writing Prompt: Tuesday July 31st, 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:

"Deep in the forest, three children slept in a house they lived in alone."

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: Hard Work, Hard to Surrender

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.
- Vince Lombardi

This is one of the reasons that I, personally, write every day and why I think many writers benefit from some sort of structured approach to their goals, whether it be a daily writing routine or some other routine.

There were times in the past twelve months when it would have been really, really easy for me to get frustrated at a lack of visible success with my writing and give up. I could have gone back to watching more movies each month rather than writing. And, if I'd timed my giving up just right, I might never have known what was coming around the corner.

The thing that kept me moving forward each day was in large part having built up the long daily writing chain and the inertia that this gave me to keep on writing. Between that and the encouragement I received from friends I'd made through various social media and my occasional initial acceptances, I made it through that time when I could have easily given up.

I'm certainly pleased with how things have worked out in my case, but there also could be a dark side to this quotation -- it's the same reason that people press on sometimes with an absolutely futile effort, ignoring the concept of all the work before as a "sunk cost." Sometimes there's something -- maybe a specific story/novel, maybe something else -- that you simply have to let go of and acknowledge that it wasn't going to work out, at least not at that time. And, yes, the harder you've worked on that thing so far, the harder it would be to give it up.

Guest Post: Kasia James on Not Writing Every Day

Sundays on the Write Every Day blog, another writer is featured as a guest poster or interviewee. Today's guest is Kasia James. Kasia has an upcoming novel titled "The Artemis Effect."

The guest post which she wrote is one which I referred to in my own Wednesday blog post "Three Reasons NOT to Write Every Day."

"On Not Writing Every Day" - Kasia James

While I realise that the thrust of this blog is to discuss the philosophy of writing every day, I'd like to discuss NOT writing every day. I am full of admiration for anyone with the dedication and self-management required to write every day, but I have to confess that, as a writer, this is not how I have found I work best.

Link of the Week: Writing Digest Creative Writing Prompts

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. Writers' Digest is a well-known publication and on their website they have a list of creative writing prompts. They tend to be very specific scenarios rather than the more general prompts which I run here a couple of times a week, so if you're looking for something that gives you an explicit starting spot, I think their archives of prompts might be very useful. And when I say "archives", I mean it -- it looks to me like there are well over 100 such prompts there.

One thing I would note -- the site suggests replying directly to the prompt on their site with up to 500 words. Personally, I would not do that for a variety of reasons. But there's no reason not to check out their prompts and see if something sparks your imagination.

Writing Prompt: Friday July 27th, 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.

Today's writing prompt is one of the wildest science-related stories I've read in a while:

"We took a rat apart and rebuilt it as a jellyfish."

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: Crossed Genres & California Cantata Anthology

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.

The rebooted magazine Crossed Genres is opening for submissions on August 1st. They will be reading on the theme of "Boundaries" first. Per the magazine's website: "Boundaries are physical, psychological, emotional, and imaginary. Who we are can often be defined by how we respond to perceived boundaries – accept them; ignore them; sidestep them; confront them. Where do the boundaries we encounter shape the boundaries of our selves?" This issue's submission call runs through September 30th, 2012 and they will be paying 5 cents per word for stories of 1,000-6,000 words.

The second submission call for this week is from Kazka Press for their California Cantata anthology. This is a fantasy anthology where the editors are intending to have (as much as possible) one story representing each county in California. From the guidelines, it reads to me as if a historical aspect is also desired in the stories. Since this is a somewhat specific theme, I'd definitely suggest reading the guidelines closely before beginning your story. Note that the publisher has also listed several counties where they have already purchased stories, so those counties would be off the table for further stories. This submission call runs through September 30th, 2012. They pay 1 cent per word for stories of 500-5,000 words.

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!

Wednesday List: Three Reasons NOT to Write Every Day

Seems like a funny title for a blog post on the Write Every Day blog, eh?

Well, first of all I've read a couple of really good posts recently about not writing every day, one of which I can share now (The Binge-Pantser of Doom from Anaea Lay's blog) and one of which you'll be able to read when it's published in several days. And secondly, I feel that it's important to make my own feelings about this clear, particularly given the name of the blog.

I've seen quite a few writers express a fear that they won't be taken seriously because they don't write every day. There's a sense that some writers look down on non-daily writers. All I can say to this is that anyone who looks down on another writer who is making progress towards their own personal goals is being presumptuous. They're imposing their idea of what that other writer should want to do and be ahead on that other writer. It would be just as silly as someone coming to me and saying "Why are you wasting your time on short stories? Don't you know 'real writers' write novels?"

That said, I think there are plenty of good reasons for writers to work on their craft every day. Speaking purely for myself, I'm confident that I've gotten a lot further in the last almost-year by having a daily writing routine than I would have otherwise.

But there are also good reasons for writers to NOT write every day. So, this week's Wednesday List is of Three Reasons Not to Write Every Day:

1. It doesn't fit your schedule. Maybe you work some unusual work schedule where you put in 15-hour days three days a week and only have energy to work, eat, and sleep those three days. Maybe one day a week you work all day and have class all evening or help out a neighbor in the evening by watching their child while they go to class. Whatever it is, there are one or more days each week where there simply plain isn't time to write. That is an excellent reason not to write every day. If you were trying to develop a regular writing routine, you might want to set some sort of weekly goal, but clearly writing every day would not be good for a person in this situation.
2. It doesn't mesh well with what you are trying to accomplish. Maybe you're a non-fiction writer and you spend weeks doing research before sitting down to write. Or you could be working on a piece of fiction but prefer to do a lot of plot-outlining, character-defining, etc. before you start actually writing prose. To my mind, that certainly could be work that went into a daily writing routine (at least as far as the framework I described in Write Every Day) but some people would feel like they couldn't call that "writing." Similarly, maybe you're fortunate enough to have a high-profile book release and you're doing a lot of promotional work with your publisher. At that moment, there may be very good reasons to spend your time on that work rather than on "writing."
3. You've tried it and it didn't work for you. Pretty much self-explanatory. You gave it a go, you really did. And you hated it. You've found another way to work -- whatever it is -- that gets you towards your writing goals at a pace which makes you happy. You're making good progress, you're happy -- why mess with a good thing?

There could certainly be plenty of other good reasons -- these are not "the only three reasons..." they are just "three of the reasons...".

The thing I always come back to is: Are you making good progress towards your writing goals? If so, then what you're doing is working for you. You can always try different ways of working to see if they help you make better progress, if you want, but there's no urgency to make a change.

Every writer writes differently. The key for each is to find, as best as they can, their optimal way of working.