Lisa Cron lecture on "story" (runs over 1.5 hours and sooo worth it)

Counter for a short project (or a long project)

I have a poetry project on the go. A slow poetry project. I'm savouring it, enjoying every step as I observe, consider, write, consider, tweak, tuck it away and work on it again from time to time. There are a lot of worthy slow movements these days -- slow cooking, slow living, get-rich-slowly -- you name it, there's a "slow" for it. So many other things feel rushed. This pace feels good. It feels rich, like a soft, warm blanket on a cold day.

I'm looking forward to reaching the end, (if there is a true end, and I'm not sure there is -- can't a person tweak, add and delete in the digital age ... forever?) Perhaps it is better to say I'm looking to getting to the point where I can gather all the poems together, shuffle them around so that the theme, emerging out of the collection itself, is fulfilling. It feels like it is going that way. And it makes me antsy to rush ahead.

But I won't.

Hopefully the poems will fit together so a reader -- a slow one or a fast one -- can get maximum enjoyment from the poems -- even if the reader is only me on that day when this small project comes to a full stop.

Anyway, while I might be slow to produce a collection of poems, that doesn't mean I don't think it might not be fun to count the words: "one ring-a-dingy, two ring-a-dingies." And perhaps you might be looking for a word tracker gadget for your own project (you write faster than me, right?).

So here is one:

2171 / 8000 words.
27% done on my Poetry WIP!

I found the above tracker through a Google search here (I like it because it is simple yet customizable). There is a nice list of word trackers on this site if you're looking other options. The NaNoWriMoGraph is here.

PS - Google search took 0.36 seconds. That's fast.

Stephen King Question and Answer session

I have "The Stand" by Stephen King on hold at a used book store. I'm picking it up this upcoming week. In an effort to keep my excitement at bay (or maybe feed my excitement?) about getting my hands on this book, I've been watching Stephen King interviews on YouTube.com. There is always a great nugget of wisdom in a King interview. He give up the goods, straight. Very cool.

Books I have read by Stephen King: 

1. Carrie (read this in junior high school, a thrilling Y.A. novel.) 
2. The Green Mile (bought the chap books as they were published from a local corner store, great experience! Couldn't wait for the next one to come out). 
3. Dolores Claiborne (first time I felt a movie was as good as the book, loved both). 
4. On Writing (if you're even thinking of writing a letter to a friend, you should read this book first, can still close my eyes and see the bunny =^..^=). 
5. Lisey's Story (loved the paranormal-romantic cadence of this book). 
6. The Dome (first book I read on my iPhone, felt like a kid staying up late, reading under the covers).

Guess there is still a lot of reading to do. After "The Stand" which book would you recommend?

Stephen King talking with Bibliostar.TV about writing short stories

I was in a used bookstore today and the lady who runs it mentioned that she is a big fan of Stephen King and she has read a lot of his work but not everything, he is such a prolific writer, it almost feels like he writes faster than a many people can read. He knows the craft of writing from a through z, I love watching videos where he talks about the craft of writing and his life. Hope you enjoy this one.

The reason you shouldn't talk about your story until you've written your story

Derek Sivers' TED talk

Scrivener

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 - $50,000

Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award Contest just broke through a ceiling of sorts. This year, instead of two $15k prizes, a grand winner will take home a $50,000 advance and a publishing contract. Want to know how to enter? Click here for details.

Kurt Vonnegut on How to Write a Short Story (Creative Writing 101)

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Click on the link below to see how kitties can help you get your daily writing done

Written? Kitten!

Short post because I gotta get back to my words, and the pictures of cute kitties. =^..^=

Barry Eisler on the craft of writing

Solid info on how to get your writing work done from a Barry Eisler interview from WritingRoom.com.

Using Scrivener with other online resources

Literature & Latte announced on December 16, 2011 that an app for Scrivener is in the works. Hopefully this will be available in 2012. I found the following video by Nick Thacker discussing how he uses Evernote and Scrivener in his novel writing process.



 
Using Scrivener and Evernote to Write Your Novel from Nick Thacker on Vimeo.
How you you extend your Scrivener with online storage and notetaking?

NoWriMo: 3 Tips for Beating the Mid-Month Crisis

Have you NaNoWriMo yet? La la la la la.

Pre-NaNo Advice Column

Sure you want to be a writer?

Finishing your first draft

Scrivener

Scrivener (Literature and Latte for Mac OS X) is a wonderful tool for your book or ebook project. I have it on my Mac and was impressed with how quickly I could see my projects at a glance and each of the components therein. The site has solid video tutorials and the software developer, Keith (KB), runs a forum on the site and is responsive to questions (remember to look through this awesome resource prior to asking a question though). You can check it out for a free trial period and if you like it pick it up for $45 USD. If you poke around the NaNoWriMo site though, you might find a coupon that'll save you $10 or so (at least I did when I picked up my copy).

Reporter's Desktop

Here's a resourse that's been around for a long time, the Reporter's Desktop.  It hasn't been updated in a year but it is still good to go. Adding it to the writer's resource section of this site today.

POEMS: twenty cents each

POEMS: twenty cents each

BY: Mary Ann Archibald
ISBN: 978-1-4581-1312-2
PUBLISHER: Smashwords


CLICK HERE TO BUY IT TODAY

The thoughtful prose reflect insights rooted in commonplace places, things and events. A hot bubbling pot of fudge evokes a moment in the kitchen, and the sweet, yet hot moment of interaction between mother and daughter. Brass winds its way to demonstrate that commodities of today have a broader affect on the world than just our own motives. The river offers the reader a moment of quiet and asks, what would the world would be like if we were not here. Civic duty is light, if you have a dog, especially a small one, you can probably relate. In a mock orange bush, the author pokes fun at herself while recalling the heady scent of a mock orange bush, evoking world peace. Poems, twenty cents each comprises five poems.

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT TODAY

Trylle Trilogy

Switched by Amanda Hocking

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I read all three of these books in the Trylle series and am hoping she'll write more. I felt like I had stumbled into a Tolkien type of world in these books. There is a levity in this series that I found in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings that is missing from a lot of other reads, which I really enjoyed. So nice to feel good about the world once you set a book down.



Yes, there are some typos in the first book but they lessen by the third (she picked up an editor by the third book, it appears). Nothing too distracting. The strength of the characters outshines any minor technical glitch.



A word to the wise: when you buy the first book, pick up the second and third at the same time, if you're like me, you'll want to devour them all at once.



Happy reading!



View all my reviews