I’m posting late and at home where, because of Blogger’s antipathy toward Macs, if I try to upload pics the browser crashes.
So today, it’s deathless prose only.
This week I’m engaged in a Book-in-a-Week(BIAW). Writing one, that is. It’s a ploy writers often use to jumpstart a project, the idea being that you get together with a bunch of people, publicly set goals, and post daily what your word count is. It can be very effective. Since I’m having to write a lot anyway because I’m on deadline, I proposed a BIAW to my local chapter, seeking misery in company. There was a terrific response–some of us are revising, some writing new material. We’re all raring to go.
Here is the true, unadulterated account so far of my efforts. My goal is 50 new pages by Sunday.
Day One: Monday. I arrived home from work, and find an imploded melon. This was a small, seedless watermelon–called, in the store, for some reason, a “personal watermelon.” A cute little green-striped thing, nothing like those large, impersonal corporate melons that give the fruit a bad name. Adorable. In fact, we liked it so much we couldn’t bear to cut into it and Mother Nature took over. Cleared up melon. Made dinner. Wrote five pages.
Day Two: Tuesday. Watched the only TV show I will go out of my way to watch, “House.” Four pages. A discussion started on our BIAW list about unpleasant vegetable matter in our respective refrigerators, following the story of the imploded melon. I’m planning a refrigerator clean out and I can guarantee I am the winner, Slattern Queen of the BIAW.
Day Three: Wednesday. Now this was a great evening. Ten pages. Went to bed very late, wired, and couldn’t sleep, and then when I did drop off, was awoken by my musical husband having a sneezing fit and humming in between nasal explosions.
Day Four: Thursday. The evening is relatively young but so far two pages are written. I decided to make stuffed squash for dinner. After putting on some rice to cook, I noticed that the house was full of smoke and the fire alarm went off. Burned rice. Started again. Meanwhile, the sausage I was going to use, even frozen, had a very peculiar odor. So I put it back in the freezer until I can safely get it into the trash (we’ve also run out of trash bags). I decided to use turkey bacon instead, which, while it is a nice idea, is not bacon. I won’t give the rest of the ingredients, because, believe me, it was disgusting and I should have just eaten the squash alone. I also spent quite a bit of time frolicking on eBay–yes, this is writing-related, buying promotional items.
So would I recommend BIAW? Yes, definitely. It’s a way of instilling good writing habits, you do get a lot done (generally) and it’s nice to be in touch with a bunch of other people in the same situation. I would, however, recommend that you get all melons out of the house first.
Janet
Hi, Janet,
Anytime I’ve tried BIAW, I’ve become very energenic–cleaning refridgerators and such, like you. But I somehow write less than I would otherwise.
I love the concept, though!
Exploding melons sounds like my house!
Your week is an inspiration to those of us who’ve made procrastination a high art, Janet. Thank you.
I vow to write–hm, the stove needs cleaning–let’s see, at least five pages tonight. And have a clean stove.
This week I’ve been incredibly busy with an online class I’m teaching on the history of childbirth, besides getting through all the back-to-school paperwork, etc…
Nevertheless some friends of mine and I decide to do a writer’s challenge. It’s been good, because it’s forced me to write a little every day when I could easily come up with excuses not to.
It usually doesn’t work for me to set pagecount goals, though. For me, it works better just to set a goal for how long I’ll work. That way I don’t feel guilty if the story snags and I need to back up and do some plot brainstorming.
Elena