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In this issue:
Finish one, start another
Writing Prompt
WWT Tool Kit Craft Card
Blurbs (Patron Subscribers)
Finish One, Start Another
Finished my project this week, the one with the weird detail. It became a pretty big part of the story, and I think it worked out pretty well, all things considered. I still have to read through it to know for sure, before handing it off to the betas, but it feels like it turned out okay.
Anyway, the next day, after finishing it, I cycled through the ending and added 400 words or so—counted that as my new-words wordcount for the day. So I got words and I also kind of got a break.
The next day after that I ran the story through Grammarly… or tried to. Grammarly changed something since the last time I used it, or maybe the website was just glitchy. Either way, I ended up using Language Tool instead. It’s also free. And it seemed to check my spelling, punctuation, and word usage just as well, so I was happy with it. And it let me load the whole manuscript instead of just a part of it, so that was cool, too.2
I ended up waiting until the very last minute of that day to start my next project, and I only got 22 words. Basically the first sentence. If it wasn’t for my streak—and I’m going on 68 days as I write this, so it’s getting pretty significant—I wouldn’t have written anything at all, so… Go Streak!
Part of the holdup was that I had a crisis of process. I’m reading/researching for an idea I have, but it’s not ready yet, so I’m choosing to write another story in the same series as the last two. My process for those was to select a book off my shelf, open a page at random, plop my finger down on the page, and write a first sentence about the first detail I come to.
Well, I closed my eyes and ran my hands over my books, and I felt one with a fine-grain-sandpaper feel, and went with it. It was nonfiction. I flipped it open, plopped down my finger, and… no concrete detail. Everything was vague and abstract. So I’m running my finger down the page, because the “rule” is to use the first concrete detail you come to… and, finally, there one was. And it was a nothing detail. Quite the opposite of the issue I’d had with the detail for the last book. This time, Critical Mind said, “Yeah, you can use it, but where’s it going to take you?”
Just goes to show that Critical Mind is, well, critical. Always.
So I sat on it, the detail, because I did the process for picking it the day before I knew I was going to finish the project I’d been working on, and I had the time. Meanwhile, I’m asking myself if I should pick a new detail.
Doesn’t hurt to look.
So I opened up another book, and my finger landed on a concrete detail that is one type, one kind, of what my detail is, like a subset of my detail. No kidding.
So I opened up another book and got a concrete detail that pairs well with things that would include my detail.
So I figured… okay. Message received. I’ll use the detail.
So with my first twenty-two words, to maintain my show-up streak, I wrote Chapter 1, and then I wrote a first sentence using that detail… and I also used the detail that paired well with it. That one might actually take me somewhere.
But knowing Creative Voice, I wouldn’t be surprised if all three details eventually come into play.
Blurbs (for Patron Subscribers)
I updated an old blurb, and it’s now posted on the site. You can find the walkthrough of what I changed and why I changed it here.
I thought the blurb was pretty good when I first wrote it, and now, after some more study, I’m almost embarassed by it. But, eh, live and learn. And I’m still learning—always learning; things are always changing—and apparently I’m doing that learning in public, so I guess I should get used to it.
Anyway, thank you as always for supporting WritesWithTools. I really appreciate it. ❤️ And I hope the blurb-writing posts are helpful to you in writing your own. I’ve got more on the way.
Writing Prompt
Character: THE ARTISAN
Light Attribute: Dedication to creating something beautiful and lasting.
Shadow Attributes: The inability to finish a project, constantly starting over.Setting: An abandoned lighthouse.
Object: A worn-out journal, a half-finished sculpture, a broken compass.
Emotion: WONDER. A sense of awe and curiosity.
WWT Tool Kit Craft Card
As mentioned before, I’m making a deck of craft cards to quickly remind myself of techniques while also having a convenient place to keep track of elements like character, conflict, and theme specific to each story. This week’s card is a reminder to myself about how to keep writing… or, in my case at the moment… start writing.
Thank you for reading!
I hope this helped you, and I hope your writing goes well this week.
Keep at it,
Megan
WritesWithTools
site: writeswithtools.com
ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/writeswithtools
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Next up is a readthrough before passing it off to the Betas. Hopefully I’ll get to that today.