Writing group alternatives

The other day I received a message on Facebook from a writer who lives in rural England and wants to improve her craft. She asked if I know of any online writing groups she can join. I don't know of any specific online critique groups looking for new members, but I do have several ideas for how she (and you!) might find sources of feedback, community, support, and/or encouragement. Here's what I told her:

1) Bookworks is an interesting site that offers a variety of services, including the ability to post 2,000-word excerpts of your WIP for peer review. I don't have personal experience with that feature, so I don't know about the quality of the feedback or how many people are engaged in it, but it might be worth checking out. There is a membership fee for some of the site's features, but the Work-in-Progress feature is part of the free Core membership plan.

2) The ROW80 community is active and supportive. Most people only use it to post updates on their writing goals, but I have seen people post - and get comments on - short excerpts from their WIPs. This community is more about encouragement than critique, so the feedback might not be as constructive as you need. That said, this is another free option and a great way to connect with other writers and get some support for remaining accountable to your goals.

Addicted to reading

I'll just read a few chapters and then go to sleep so I can be rested and ready to tackle my to-do list tomorrow, I said to myself at 10:30pm on Tuesday night.

The next thing I know, it's 2am and I'm 216 pages into Abbadon's Gate. I texted my brother to let him know I was hooked on the book he'd loaned me, and then I considered putting it down for the night. But I can't stop now; he's still on the alien space station! I felt a sense of responsibility to the characters at this crucial plot point, as if Holden's success with the station was contingent on my decision to continue reading at that moment. Just one more chapter...

If I hadn't fallen asleep while reading I probably would've read all night, and then all of Wednesday would've been a wash instead of just the morning. I suppose it's good that my body overrode my mind on this one.

As it was, I spent Wednesday morning sleeping instead of writing, and then I spent the rest of the week feeling like I was trying to catch up and doing a poor job of it. Despite this, I made good progress on most of my goals this week, the exception being my creative projects. (Figures.)

ROW80 update
"A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life." 

ROW80 2014 Round 2, Week 3

 "A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life." 

This week has been hectic. In addition to the usual editing and writing coaching, I've been working with my intern, Andrea Scovel, to formulate an internship (& blog post) plan for the next several weeks (very exciting!); I'm about to embark on the next leg in my year of nomadery, so I'm preparing to pack up self and dog and move again; and I had some friends visiting this weekend. Therefore a few things fell off my plate, but for the most part I pulled through. And I even got in a #writeclub sprint on Friday! Woot! Was completely exhausted by the end of the week, though. Taking yesterday off from everything to hang out with my visitors was a much-needed break.

ROW80 2014 Round 2, Week 2

 "A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life." 

This week in my writing life I spent several hours reworking my project plans and looking more closely at logistics. Much to my surprise, it turns out I can get my pseudonym's three WIPs done more quickly than I'd originally thought. (At least in theory.) So that was exciting. (Would you be interested in seeing my project plan? If not, that's cool, but it just occurred to me that writers who haven't done project plans might be interested in seeing how I approached mine.)

I also submitted an application for a writing fellowship and submitted a few poems to a literary journal - two things that I wasn't planning on doing but am glad I gave them some time.

On Friday I participated in two #writeclub sprints, even though that is no longer a goal this round, and I ran a couple sprints earlier in the week, too.

Writing

• Min. of 2 hrs/day on pseudonym's WIP2 - MOSTLY. Worked on the fellowship app Monday & Tuesday but went back to the WIP2 on Wednesday & gave it at least two hours a day Wednesday-Friday. Yesterday I kind of pooped out, I guess. Well, actually what happened was that I'd fallen behind on some business-related tasks and spent most of Saturday catching up, and then I was too tired to work on the WIP. But will give it a couple hours today and then I plan to give it 16 hrs/wk through April 29 - except next weekend, when I have company in town - in accordance with my new project plan.

Keeping in the write shape

As I mentioned in my Sunday post, one of my coaching clients wanted to know what strategies I use to keep myself motivated to write. I see this as being a little different from the questions I'm raising and answering in my series of posts about writer's block; this is more about ways I make sure to take care of myself so that I have the energy to write. It's about keeping in the write shape, if you will. (Haha, yes I'm horrible at puns.)

Here are some strategies or tools I use to help me write.

#writeclub on Twitter; sometimes I participate in Friday's sessions, moderated by @FriNightWrites, but more frequently I use the hashtag when I need someone else to help keep me accountable. Or just to know that I have company. I've met many a writer through this hashtag, and I am, in fact, drafting this post right now while running a #writeclub sprint. 

Get up & move around for 15-20 mins. I might take a walk or a shower, play with the dog, do tai chi or qi gong, wander aimlessly around house looking out windows...the point is just to stand for a bit.

ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 11

With only a few days left in the round, I'd normally be thinking ahead to my goals for the next round. I generally like thinking about the starts of new things; I haven't screwed anything up yet, and anything is still possible. But right now I can't think about anything beyond a week from today, which is my self-imposed deadline for having a first draft of my novel finished.

This time last week I was panicking. The previous few days had brought low word counts and I didn't see how in the world I was ever going to finish this book on time. But then I visited Denise D. Young's blog, wherein she spoke of Rachel Aaron's book 2K to 10K. The timing was right; I was desperate to figure out how to write faster, which is exactly what Aaron's book is about. I started reading it and figured, "What the heck. I'm not usually a plotter, but it's worth a shot."

I'm not going to give you Aaron's secrets; those are hers to sell. But I will tell you what I like best about her approach: It doesn't hinge on telling herself to quit being lazy and just get over it and just do it already. Nor does it hinge on talking herself out of feeling what she's feeling about her book. Instead she sees her low word counts or reluctance to write as a red flag that there's something that isn't working in what she's trying to write. 

ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 10

In my writing life this week I have not been as disciplined as I'd like (par for the course, really). Come scheduled writing time, I've found myself seeking distraction: taking my turn in Letterpress games; studying German on Duolingo (similar to Rosetta Stone but entirely free); researching short hairstyles for my upcoming haircut; researching self-guided walking tours in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland for next year's trip with Mom; reading ebooks; getting caught up in the social media loop; blogging instead of doing my creative writing; etc., etc. Anything, really, to avoid the writing I told myself I'd do.

And yet, a couple of nights ago, after an entire day of distracting myself, as soon as I put down my e-reader, I had a revelation for the novel I've been working on. Like, a really good revelation. An important one not only about characters but also about the key to resolving the main external conflict.

Then last night, as soon as I shut off the light and lay down, a new story idea came to me. A short story (or potentially a novelette) for the pseudonym, which almost never happens. Having just recently written about the negative consequences of assuming I'll remember later, I turned the light back on and wrote the idea down immediately. So glad I did, too.

So what is the moral here? 

ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 9

Last night I shirked all responsibility and instead watched Brideshead Revisited (not the 11-hr thing; just the short movie with screenplay by Andrew Davies). Having never read the book or seen the 11-hr thing, this was my first experience of the story, and I came away feeling like I was missing a lot. Anyway, that's why I missed my regular night to write this update.

Writing - Work on WIPs, 3 blog posts/week, submit - MOSTLY MET.
a) Spent most of last week doing a writing-intensive week (4 hrs/day working on writing projects) and added somewhere between 5 & 6K words to one of my pseudonym's WIPs. Yay!  
b) Published three blog posts, including the second in the series about writer's block. 
c) Nothing submitted. Again. 

ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 8

I'm gonna make this quick today because I'm stealing time away from my self-imposed writing-intensive week, during which I am focusing on one of my pseudonym's WIPs, to write this blog post.

ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 6

Before I get into my ROW80 update for the week and forget to tell you: The anthology in which my flash fiction piece "Unborn" is published is FREE for Kindle today (Feb. 16) until midnight EST on Amazon. Woot! Go download it now so you can read my story about a woman whose baby refuses to be born. =*)

Okay, on to the update. This week has been busy with intensive editing for a client, planning my trip to Europe this summer (oh, poor me! ;*), and moving back and forth between houses to avoid being around while a new wood floor was put into the kitchen and they put three coats of varnish on it. Have you ever been around wood varnish? Stinky, stinky stuff! Makes my nostrils burn. 

In summary: All things considered, I think I didn't do too poorly.

ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 5

The following is this week's update on my ROW80 goals.

Writing - Work on WIPs, 3 blog posts/week, submit - 86% MET. Omg! I actually made progress on all thee of my pseudonym's WIPs this week! *happy dance! happy dance!* Also published three blog posts - a writing prompt; an interview with Chris O'Byrne, President of JETLAUNCH, as part of my research on self-publishing; and the post you're reading right now. Once again, however, did not submit anything.

Reading - Read something inspiring - MET. Haha! After who knows how many years it's been on my shelf, I finally read Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler. When I was originally assigned this book in grad school (shhh...don't tell anyone I didn't finish it then), I kept falling asleep trying to read the first chapter and, after several attempts, gave up. This time, however, I persisted. Yes, I fell asleep again several times during the first chapter, but the next night I'd pick up where I left off the night before, and so on and so on until finally I'd stopped falling asleep in the middle of a page.

ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 4

Today's post includes my weekly ROW80 update, a brief appreciation for W. Somerset Maugham, and the result of one of this week's freewrites (just for fun). 

Summary: This week was an improvement over last one, so yay!

Writing - Work on WIPs, 3 blog posts/week, submit - MOSTLY MET. Worked on the pseudonym's WIP1 for about half an hour. Ran into some problems but then hit upon the right questions to help me resolve those problems, so I feel excited about that. Wrote & published three blog posts, including this one. Still haven't done any submitting. Submitting work is one of those things that falls off the to-do list when I'm feeling strapped for time. 

Reading - Read something inspiring - MET. Not only did I read and enjoy Russell Edson and James Tate this week, but I also picked up a copy of W. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence off my Grandma's kitchen counter and was hooked. Why had I never read Maugham before?!? Look at this, from the very first paragraph:

ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 2

To sum up: Blerg.

Contrary to expectation (I had planned to write for 3 hrs a day and have plenty of time left to socialize), I spent last week finalizing house sale stuff, interviewing internship applicants, and preparing for my reading. Saturday was Hobbit Day (an annual event wherein a couple of my friends and I spend all day eating and watching movies), and Sunday was a mix of recovering from Hobbit Day, working, and socializing (which is why I didn't get around to writing this post yesterday). And I find that this coming week I continue to be busier than expected with all this leaving-town stuff.

That said, here's the progress I made this past week on my goals:

Writing - Work on WIPs, 3 blog posts/week, submit. PARTIALLY MET. Wrote & published two blog posts. If you count this one (a day late), then three blog posts.

Reading - Read something inspiring. MET. Have started reading Mary Ruefle's The Most of It, a collection of prose poems given to me by my friend & fellow writer Lorie Bailey.

ROW80 2014: Round 1, Week 1

The first week of ROW80 2014 Round 1 has ended. Here's how I did:

Writing - Work on WIPs, 3 blog posts/week, submit. PARTIALLY MET. This week has been a blur of moving, packing, cleaning, and more moving. Despite all that, I did get two blog posts written & published. And I'm *this close* to done with the move now (yay!) and am in between editing gigs this week, so I've blocked off three house a day this week to work on my WIPs. Aiming to submit something this coming weekend.

Reading - MET. I finished reading Zachary Schomburg's Fjords, Vol. 1, a collection of surrealist, dream-like prose poems, and it inspired me to work a bit on my own dream-writings. Or rather, writings about dreams. And I got one I really like out of it.

ROW80 2014 Round 1 Goals

The first round in 2014 of A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) starts tomorrow! Hooray! 

Some of you may know that I've been participating in ROW80 for a solid year now, and I honestly think that I wouldn't have accomplished as much as I have if I hadn't been participating. There's something important about not only setting goals but also checking back in with myself on a regular - in this case, weekly - basis to acknowledge what I've accomplished. Or just remind myself I had stuff I meant to do.

As I've read my fellow ROW80 participants' check-ins over the last year, my ideas about what goals to include have expanded beyond projects related to my identity as a writer. This round I've added health and reading goals. Other goals have carried over from previous rounds.

ROW80 2014 Round 1 Goals

Digging deep & putting it out there

Last week a few things happened that got me thinking about the extent to which I do (or don't) dig deep and put real emotion into my writing.

1) One of my writer friends, Elizabeth Gibson, tweeted me, lamenting that some of her writing seems emotionless when she reads it.

Although I've never had this exact thought about my own writing, I think I get it. (Actually, for the last year and half I've felt pretty excited when I write something light-hearted and fun that I can read aloud without crying. It's happening less and less.) It's a fine line to walk. I mean, maybe you don't want to cut your heart out and pass it around on a platter, but you do want to give readers something to relate to, right? Something to connect to?

2) A mere day later, I came across this blog post by Tiffany Lawson Inman about putting emotions into your writing.

So you want to be a writer

Somewhere once I read that some famous writer said something like, "If you want to be a writer, then write." It is that easy, but it's also not that easy. I mean, if it were really that easy, then we would all be writers already, right?

Some people think the way to become a writer is by studying how other people have done it and learning all the "rules" to "good" writing. You can spend years reading books on how to write. Others think you have to have a degree in creative writing in order to call yourself a writer.

And these people who say that a "real" writer writes because s/he is compelled to and can't not write...I kind of want to punch these people in the face (not that I would ever). 'Cause I have it in me and it really wants to come out, and also it's a terrifying thing to try to articulate and organize the mental chaos and watch it come out on paper (or in a text box) and witness how different it looks outside the head as compared to inside.

Digiwrimo Debrief

This month I took part in Digiwrimo, a 30-day writing challenge inspired by NaNoWriMo. Instead of writing a 50K-word novel in a month, participants had a goal of 50K digital words: tweets, Facebook status updates, emails, digital feedback on others' work, etc., etc.

The questions posed by the organizers, Jesse Stommel (@Jessifer) and Sean Michael Morris (@slamteacher), in today's #digiwrimo chat on Twitter included: "how do you measure success?" and "what did you learn from this experience?" This blog post is my attempt to answer those questions in a slightly more thoughtful and detailed manner than I did earlier today via 140-character tweets.

Assessment of writing habits

While I was in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last week visiting my friend Jackie, I took advantage of her coaching skills to talk through something about my routine over the last month that's been bothering me: namely, the dearth of fiction in my writing diet.

It's not new for me to avoid writing fiction, but I had assumed (silly me) that once I was home full-time and at leisure to write whatever I wanted, the fiction would just explode out of me and I would become a fiction-writing machine. Instead, I wrote and published 19 blog posts in October and spent countless hours on Twitter and Facebook. Okay, I did write two prose poems (both of which I self-published on World Citizen because I judged them to be "too weird" for traditional publication in journals or lit mags). But all those ideas for short stories? For a romance novel? For anything, in fact, that I don't intend to publish immediately? Hardly touched.