Ugh, no. You're in the wrong place. I said R2*C*2!
There we go. Much better.
This week started out strong, then sort of fell by the wayside. Even though I didn’t get a lot of the smaller goals done, I still feel like I accomplished a lot. Check it out:
- Exercise for half an hour each day, five days a week. Incomplete. I didn’t exercise once this week. Not once. *hangs head* I’m planning on getting in a good workout today, though. And someone from the last post gave me a great idea of alternating my exercising and reading until I’ve met the goals for each. I might try that!
- Each Sunday, visit Writer’s Market for at least half an hour. Complete. Did you see that? It said COMPLETE. You don’t have to beat me over the head with your keyboards!! I actually sat down and started weeding through all of the e-mails I have from WM and I’m trying to make heads or tails of everything. I even found a contest I’m thinking about entering. It’s been pretty productive. I’m planning on being good and going through some more e-mails today.
- Write every day. Incomplete. I wish I could say I got the chance to do this each day this week, but Thursday and Friday were kind of nuts. Still, though, 5/7 days isn’t too shabby!
- Read every day. Incomplete. I missed Thursday and Friday, however – I’m starting to read whole chapters in this book again, instead of just a page at a time. I’m almost done with it! By this time next week, I’ll have finally started a new book. Promise.
- Finish writing “The Necklace.” Complete. Yep, I finished it! It’s not spectacular, but it’s done. It was an experiment and I tried using a different sort of voice for this one, so we’ll see how it turns out once I can find some people to beta read it. The new goal for this week is to finish my Cinderella story. I’m writing quite a, uh, unique spin on the fairytale for my best friend. I think it’s going to be pretty interesting. Hope it turns out well!
I came across a great blog this week through my Triberr buddy Juliana Haygert. It’s Anne R. Allen’s blog and she wrote a fabulous post called, “Why You should be Writing Short Fiction.” This blog gave me some serious hope, as I feel that (right now, at least) my short stories are a million times stronger than my novels.
I also wanted to share an article with you guys that my dad sent me. It’s a short one, so please just take a couple minutes to read it. It’s an inspiring little story about how the police helped a blind writer get back 26 pages of a manuscript that she had lost.
Do you guys write any short fiction? What genre do you usually like to stick to? Have you ever lost any pages to your novel? If so, were you able to get them back?
Karen Rought - The Midnight Novelist 
LOL. Fitting things into a busy schedule is always difficult, especially exercise. Just keep trying. Overall, you did pretty well. Keep up the ROWing 🙂
I do write short fiction but I’m trying to write novel length right now. I typically stick to Fantasy and Science Fantasy. Ironically, the last two I sold were neither. I’ve definitely lost pages to a novel. All you can do it hit the page harder than ever and try to recapture what you’ve written from memory. I find that the new version is better than the previous.
BTW, great job on the Twitter tease. It certainly made me want to click the link to this post.
Haha, awesome! That was definitely what I was going for.
Isn’t that interesting how those things tend to work out? I’m primarily a fantasy writer, but right now I would say that my strongest pieces are horror. Which makes absolutely no sense because I can’t even be in the same room as a scary movie! But sometimes you just have to go with the flow and see what happens.
I used to hate short stories and even more flash fiction. Not anymore. There is a certain economy a writer has to get into in order to tell a story within certain confinements. I tend to appreciate this economy now.
I usually write fantasy but I have tried my hands on SF and I have to say these short stories have now evolved into a bigger work-in-progress (but still started as short stories).
I completely know what you mean. I hated short stories when I had to read them in school – they tend to be bizarre and twisted and the endings are never what you want them to be. But I appreciate them now. Short stories really allow you to break all the rules and get away with it, which is a difficult thing to do well. They tend to be very fresh and thought-provoking, which I like.
Hello there Karen, it looks to me that you’re doing well despite a busy schedule… I’ve got only two goals and I find it hard to reach them both everyday, so I’m impressed! As a Fantasy writer myself, I checked out your “Projects” page but I wish you’d tell us more about what you’re actually writing… just curious 🙂 Have a great writing week!
Thanks! I’m really glad you enjoyed the page. I need to update it a bit more, so maybe I’ll release a few more details. I have to keep you guys guessing, though! Thanks for the comment and for following my blog. I really appreciate it!
I liked that story about the police first I read it , had another look today:) I struggled with short stories for ages but I think I enjoy writing them as much as the novels – I write completly differently and more experimentaly with shorts.
well done on your week 🙂
That’s exactly how I write short stories, too! I tend to take greater risks, but it usually pays off. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I hear you on not exercising this last week. Congrats on finishing The Necklace! I struggle with short stories, never feel like I’m hitting the mark with them, but I can see where they would be a great tool to experiment with. Wishing you all the best for the upcoming week.
Thank you, thank you, and same to you!!
Keep plugging away at those goals! Congrats especially on completeing the Writer’s Market one – that was a big one! 🙂
*completing
Darn it. Too early in the morning to be writing.
It was a big one! And I’m so glad I did it. It’s not that bad once I get into it, it’s just sitting down and making myself do it that’s the hardest part.
Thanks for the shout-out, Karen!
I hear ya on exercise. I’ve been so bad at it lately lol and I feel bad too … I can’t wait to organize everything again so I can try and do something 😉
Have a great week!
You’re welcome! And at least you have a good excuse, moving to a different country and all. I’m just being lazy!
The short story post was fascinating. I have had a change of heart about reading short stories over the years, as other commenters have mentioned, but I still don’t write them very often. I especially liked the idea of using short stories about your novel characters to woo readers.
Wasn’t it!? And, yes, that’s a fabulous idea. It would be a wonderful way to get readers in and a great way to learn more about your characters (which I always struggle with, so I should probably do it!).
My exercise goal is one of the hardest to meet! Why is that? Best wishes with it this week.
Otherwise, it looks like like you had a fabulous week. Keep chuggin’ along. You’re doing great! (And I loved the R2D2 humor.)
It’s hard because we know we SHOULD do it. (Kind of like how chocolate tastes so good, even though we know we shouldn’t eat it!)
Cool article, thanks for sharing! You got a lot accomplished this week! Wishing you luck on making this week even better. My current wip is a novella. Smaller may be easier to manage, but that isn’t always true of course. I don’t have as much time to develop the characters, mess up their lives, and provide the big ending. If anything it is helping my writing to remain tight.
Tight writing is always important. I had a lot of trouble with that in college and I had a wonderful professor who pointed out all of the superfluous words in my stories. I still write that way, of course, but practice makes perfect!