Posted on 10 November 2008 @ 00:08 in Writing
Venue
Starbucks AmCorp Mall
Time
10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Attendees
Erna
Calvin
Will
Chet
Catalina
Patricia
Andreas
Andreas’ friend*
Kathleen
(did I leave anyone out?)
*sorry, don’t know how to spell his name (or pronounce it)
I’d missed the kick-off party the previous Saturday because of a vicious migraine brought on by sitting in the car in the hot sun the day before. So I made sure to keep myself well so I could attend the first write-in on Saturday.
Last year, I attended one write-in. I came away from that with the conclusion that I don’t do well in write-ins because I tend to want to chat, not write, if there are other familiar faces nearby. Also, I think it was because I attended the write-in already ahead with my word count so I didn’t really need to write while there.
Well, same thing yesterday regarding the word count. But Erna, our ML, was determined to keep everyone focused on the write-in and to help those behind in their word count to try and write their daily 1,667 words. Hey, she even shot down some of our suggestions to bring Monopoly, Scrabble and Taboo along, and also not very subtly suggested that “Once you finish your wordcount, the ones who are finished can go have a nice writerly game of Boggle in the corner or something. ;)”
First of all, everyone was so happy to see everyone else (me especially since I missed the kick-up party … oh, I’m repeating myself) so we were chatting away. Finally, Erna put a stop to it and insisted on 30 minutes of quiet writing time. Oo .. that really helped! And I’m not being sarcastic here.
When Calvin got up to stretch his legs about 30 minutes later (actually he went over to see what Patricia was up to), it signalled the quiet time was over and everyone started chatting again. Some even started sharing videos online. It looked like the write-in was over until someone suggested a second round of 30-minute quiet writing time. This time, Patricia set the timer on her handphone. And the place fell quiet again (except for Calvin who quietly asked if anyone remembered the last line he wrote which he’d read to everyone cuz his laptop crashed before he could save the file, and a few replied to help him reconstruct that last sentence).
I’d just finished what I was writing when Patricia announced that the timer had gone off.
All in, I wrote 1,700-odd words during the two rounds of 30-minute quiet writing time (even though I didn’t need to). So it’s not true I don’t do well in write-ins. All it takes is a little discipline, not just individual, but group discipline.
The next write-in is same time same place next Saturday, 15 November 2008.
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Posted on 6 November 2008 @ 12:06 in Writing
Yes, yes, yes, I am taking part in NaNoWriMo again.
I seem to have got things backwards this year. I posted my word count meter and forgot about my NaNoWriMo participant badge. Well, it’s up now, above the word count meter.
My personal daily target is 2,000 words, which means as of yesterday, the 5th day, I should’ve written 10,000 words. Unfortunately, I started nano-ing late yesterday - very late! - and fell short of the 10K mark by 700-odd words. And what do you know? I haven’t started writing today, either.
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Posted on 8 September 2008 @ 16:55 in Personal, Writing
I keep remembering something Robert Raymer said at the July 2008 MPH Breakfast Club event. He said we should write for ourselves before anything else (not his exact words but what I remember of it). He said a lot of the time we are posting comments on other people’s blogs when we should be writing for ourselves. The time spent reading and posting on other people’s blogs should be spent writing for ourselves.
During my recent excellent panda adventure trip, I wrote most nights into my AlphaSmart Neo, which would be my personal offline journal. I also posted on the Pandas Unlimited group on Flickr. I’ve been home almost three weeks, and I’m not doing very well with posts I mean to write about the trip. Why is that? Is it because I have already written about the trip, altho not here, but elsewhere? In which case, maybe I should just repost what I have written elsewhere? I could do that for a start, as a way to jumpstart the posts I have in my mind that’s exclusively for here, and not elsewhere.
No, it’s not going to work. Different time, different place, different frame of mind …
*goes to bang head against wall*
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Posted on 20 June 2008 @ 13:10 in General, Writing
I don’t suppose writing consists in anything more than doing it.
John Steinbeck
Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters
In other words …
Just Write!
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Posted on 6 April 2008 @ 15:38 in Writing
I’ve always viewed blogging as spontaneous. This comes from the early days of my blogging experiences when I kept an online journal (as opposed to a blog).
I only update my blog when something takes my fancy and I write about it. Hence, the name and tagline of my blog - I chatter about things that interest and intrigue me. It used to be I would post everyday, and sometimes more than one entry per day. However, these days, my entries are few and far between. This may be about to change. But let me digress a little.
There are blogs that perhaps began like mine - spontaneous and about things that are of interest to those blog owners - but went on to find a niche and a voice about specific subjects. Such blogs went on to grow in those directions, with their owners blogging only about those subjects (e.g., on books, on food, etc.). Some of these blogs continue to maintain an air of spontaneity about them.
And then there are blogs that are very organised, nothing spontaneous about them at all. Their owners are very focused on what they blog about, often draft entries way in advance, and some even have specific days to post entries about specific subjects. For example, they will announce “Monday is xyz day”, so the entry for that day is about xyz.
So I’ve been thinking I would like to be more organised with my … blogging (sorry, I still cringe at using the word “blog” as a verb).
Yes, there are many things that interest and intrigue me. But there are certain things that interest and intrigue me more than others. Things like “gadgets”, “endangered animals”, “music”, “books”, “family”, and “health”.
So I’m thinking I would like to be more organised by focusing on a smaller list of subjects, but on a more regular basis. I’m thinking this will help my writing, too.
So, yes … less of the thinking and more of the writing.
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