Writers - Creativity and what are you working on?

[Robin M]

My muse, my creativity, my imagination has been rejuvenated after a long block.  I pulled out a first draft of a story I wrote a few years back and fell back in love with my characters and the story line.   So, now I need to write a synopsis, outline, get to know my characters a bit better, edit and fill in plot holes.  To help me with that I signed up for an online creative writing course through Writers Village University called F2k. The first task is have one of your characters introduce you which is what I'm working on now.   

 

Ever since I finished my Bachelor's Degree, it has been in the back of my head to pursue a Master in Creative Writing. But didn't  want to commit so much time and money until Iam completely serious about this writing love of mine and not until writing becomes as necessary as breathing. Reading is as necessary as breathing to me and I get grumpy without a read in hand. I want more than the accountability someone else gives me. I want to be accountable to myself which all goes towards motivation, perseverance and need. I let stress get in the way and bottle up the emotions, which only serves to crater my creativity. I've discovered writing is a very emotional process, so I need to learn to deal with all that comes my way and keep writing.

 

I've been following a writer who started a site about DIY MFA's and how to go about it.  Now she's taken all the material and then some and put together a new 6 month course (still open for registration)which I signed up for immediately. Already watched the first video and learned so much. Lot of common sense stuff but some not which got me to thinking, which is great.  The first part is all about motivation, focus, scheduling time and training your brain. So worth it.

 

Then, Momofonefunone told me about International Correspondence Writing Month which I decided to jump in with both feet, signed up on their forum and went out an bought some new fountain pens and writing paper. 

 

All this is making me want to revamp my blog and get it back up and running and posting more than once a month. 

 

So the writing bug has hit, which makes me very happy.

 

 

What do you do to stimulate your creativity and what are you working on?

 

[Robin M]

Bumping for the morning crew

[La Texican]

As a teen I wrote non-stop. It was not unusual for me to write a 40 page short story from scratch in one day. Now that I'm a housewife and could probably sell such stories and use the cash for more toys and curriculums and junk I can't get very far past the blank page stage. This is cheap as far as creativity goes, but I read a blog post about taking public domain books and publishing them if you add value to it, either by annotating or adding original illustrations. I found out the book I learned to read with in kindergarten is a public domain book. I'm working on illustrating it to rerelease with my illustrations. As an incentive I have a preschooler who is working her way from pre reading skills into emerging reader skills. If I hurry then I can use my edition of the book I learned to read with for my daughter to learn to read with.

[Runningmom80]

I am trying to jump back in.  I've started with random journaling, but I need to get back into for real.  I just need to make the time.

[Robin M]

I am trying to jump back in.  I've started with random journaling, but I need to get back into for real.  I just need to make the time.

 

Time is always a factor. I really like what Gabriella said in the first video of the DIYMFA course. She says to honor your reality and find ways to fit writing into your life. Don't let your writing life wage war with your reality.  Find ways to add constraints and set time limits  because constraints led to concentration and focus.  Don't multitask because it takes at least 10 seconds each time for your brain to refocus on the task at hand.  A lot of common sense stuff such as set a time frame and and don't do anything else but write. Turn off the email, internet and phone so don't get distracted.  Hard to turn off kids so have to choose a time when they are taking a nap, or daddy is watching them.  And part of honoring your reality is helping others (family, friends, etc) understand writing matters and not to interrupt during that time. Take two weeks and keep track of how much time spend doing tasks including checking emails, internet, web browsing. Plus when the idea of writing comes into your head, but ignore because on the internet, or when do write and for how long and figure out the best times when you are creative. 

[Runningmom80]

I was just looking at this, which I think goes along with what you are describing,   http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-to-Manage-Your-Time-and-Focus-on-Whats-Really-Important

 

 

I need to get more quadrant 2 in my life!  I'm totally the person that does all the quadrant 3 stuff.

[Robin M]

Writer's Village

 

The "Village," as writers often refer to Writers' Village University, is a full-time support service and is always growing, offering new courses, seminars and special programs. As a member, you may take as many courses and workshops as you'd like. Many seminars are included too. You won't need to spend thousands of dollars on MFA programs, university creative writing courses and workshops like I've done.  -- Best of all, you can fit courses to your schedule and pace. Programs are available for every level of writer. If you're a beginner, you won't have to worry about harsh, intimidating criticisms of your work. We prefer to encourage and build confidence. For more advanced writers, we provide guidelines that encourage detailed, constructive criticism  with an emphasis on balance. We know it's just as important to point out the strong points in a writer's work as it is to suggest areas to improve.

 

It costs $99.00 the first year and $60 after that.  You can take as many courses as you want either when scheduled with a class or singularly.  They also offer the F2k creative writing course (free) which lasts 6 weeks.   Writer's village has a forum similar to here where you can chat with writers, get involved in groups, and also areas for the classes.   I've already taken the F2K course twice and it helped me quite a bit. Each time worked on different story. 

 

 

DIYMFA -  Is a website Gabriella put together  that is essentially a place where you can gather all the information to put together your own masters in creative writing program.   Or just get writing inspiration and how to, plus ideas on putting together lists of books to read for craft, books similar to your genre to study, etc.  There is a free starter kit that would probably be beneficial for you to download.  Lots of resources, available for free. 

 

She's been working on putting together a 6 month workshop that is available now for $247 and all the information is here.

 

 

Hth!

 

[Robin M]

On Brainpicking today:  The Art of Creative Sleep:  Stephen King on Writing and Wakeful Dreaming. 

[Guest]

I am dutifully ignoring the book project I was working on.  ;)  I'm not sure why I'm avoiding it. Lord knows, the thousands of words I expend on here talking about nothing could be better spent.  :toetap05:

[elegantlion]

I'm working on editing my Nano project. It's slow going because my creative power is too stretched with homeschooling and my college. Much of my creative endeavors will be on the back burner for now. I do plan to minor in creative writing at school solely to take the few creative writing courses they offer. In the meantime I plan on learning more about current publication options and the technical side of the business and letting go of the fear and sharing more of my work.

 

My Internet was out this morning, so I wrote this while waiting for the coffee to brew: (if you read it in Stephen Fry's voice it sounds better)

 

The History of Her Miserable Life

 

 

 

When we say that her life is miserable, what do we mean? Was she born this way? Did circumstance lead her to this paltry existence or was she driven mad by the ability to feel everything on every nerve ending all at once all the time. She might have coined the term, “You are getting on my last nerve†except that she did not. Ingrid Kapelbaum coined this term in the later half of the fourteenth century as a term of endearment toward her seven children. The term has since become the anthem cry of mothers everywhere, especially on Sunday evening when the children can't be bothered to get ready for school the next day. As the term evolved it has come to include not only children but the spouse as well. The spouse is the one encouraging the children to watch sports on television instead of finishing their history homework.

 

The truth is this would be better suited as a story on the linguistic development of hyperbole, but that would only make our protagonist more miserable as we promised to write a story about her. This was, however, before we realized the linguistic development of hyperbole was vastly more interesting than our supposed protagonist's mundane life. Since we don't want to be the cause of more miserable people in the world, we will write her story.

 

But who are we and why do we care anyway? We are related to They. We are like the compassionate cousin of They. They are judgmental and afraid of risks. We genuinely like people, even the miserable/pathetic ones. We are not affiliated with any government agency, and if you see us out in public, we are more likely to be wearing a smile, not a black suit and dark sunglasses. We are quite fond of the telephone in your ear bit, so if it seems we're talking and laughing to ourselves, we're not. We keep in contact with each other at most times, except when sleeping. There have been studies done on astral projection and dream walking as three a.m. conference calls are more productive than nine a.m. meetings, where everyone is grabbing for donuts and bagels and trying not to pout because they didn't get their favorite kind.  

 

[Guest]

 

We are related to They. We are like the compassionate cousin of They. They are judgmental and afraid of risks.

 

This could birth a cool little monologue itself!  :thumbup1:  Who are They anyhow? They're everyone and They're no one. 

[Robin M]

I am dutifully ignoring the book project I was working on.  ;)  I'm not sure why I'm avoiding it. Lord knows, the thousands of words I expend on here talking about nothing could be better spent.  :toetap05:

I was doing the same thing, then decided to move on another book project that excited me more.  When I find myself avoiding something, to me it means I need to make a change and work on something else for a while. Until the thrill of the other comes back. 

[Robin M]

I'm working on editing my Nano project. It's slow going because my creative power is too stretched with homeschooling and my college. Much of my creative endeavors will be on the back burner for now. I do plan to minor in creative writing at school solely to take the few creative writing courses they offer. In the meantime I plan on learning more about current publication options and the technical side of the business and letting go of the fear and sharing more of my work.

 

My Internet was out this morning, so I wrote this while waiting for the coffee to brew: (if you read it in Stephen Fry's voice it sounds better)

 

The History of Her Miserable Life

 

 

 

When we say that her life is miserable, what do we mean? Was she born this way? Did circumstance lead her to this paltry existence or was she driven mad by the ability to feel everything on every nerve ending all at once all the time. She might have coined the term, “You are getting on my last nerve†except that she did not. Ingrid Kapelbaum coined this term in the later half of the fourteenth century as a term of endearment toward her seven children. The term has since become the anthem cry of mothers everywhere, especially on Sunday evening when the children can't be bothered to get ready for school the next day. As the term evolved it has come to include not only children but the spouse as well. The spouse is the one encouraging the children to watch sports on television instead of finishing their history homework.

 

The truth is this would be better suited as a story on the linguistic development of hyperbole, but that would only make our protagonist more miserable as we promised to write a story about her. This was, however, before we realized the linguistic development of hyperbole was vastly more interesting than our supposed protagonist's mundane life. Since we don't want to be the cause of more miserable people in the world, we will write her story.

 

But who are we and why do we care anyway? We are related to They. We are like the compassionate cousin of They. They are judgmental and afraid of risks. We genuinely like people, even the miserable/pathetic ones. We are not affiliated with any government agency, and if you see us out in public, we are more likely to be wearing a smile, not a black suit and dark sunglasses. We are quite fond of the telephone in your ear bit, so if it seems we're talking and laughing to ourselves, we're not. We keep in contact with each other at most times, except when sleeping. There have been studies done on astral projection and dream walking as three a.m. conference calls are more productive than nine a.m. meetings, where everyone is grabbing for donuts and bagels and trying not to pout because they didn't get their favorite kind.  

 

Thanks for sharing.   The bold, yes definitely.  

 

[Robin M]

Speaking of sharing. This was a fun exercise for the creative writing class I'm in.  Have a character introduce you so here's my tidbit.

 

Hello, I’m Sabrina Carmichael, Bree to my friends. You caught me in the middle of fixing the coding in a program. Some idiot tried to hack it, left his fingerprints everywhere. He managed to slow it down, disrupt services for a few hours. I’ve just about got it fixed. Grab a seat, help yourself to some tea, or if you’d rather, we can get you some coffee. I personally don’t touch the stuff. Can’t remember why exactly.

Oh yeah! Robin's a tea-totaller because the smell of coffee made her nauseous when she was pregnant with her son, James. She hasn’t touched it since. And I guess she decided I blabbed enough and if caffeine was added to the mix, she’d never get a word in edgewise. Just one more minute and there; all done.

What can I tell you about Robin? Well, I’d say she’s an introvert with an extroverted imagination. She puts all of us through heck, throwing us into dangerous situations, which we always manage to get out of. A bit damaged and scarred, but stronger for it. I’m tempted to say she lives vicariously through us. Although I seriously doubt she’d want to be kidnapped and threatened by bad guys.

She has a very vivid imagination which I should be grateful for or I wouldn’t exist. I’m not like Robin at all. I have a tendency to ramble, where she’s very quiet. I’m a night owl and she’s a morning person. She knows absolutely nothing, well not absolutely; she doesn’t know a lot about computer programming, yet here I am a systems security analyst.

The thing I like about Robin and I dare say, my fellow characters do too, is that she makes us experts in things she would like to do, but doesn’t have the aptitude for. Yep, Samantha agrees. She tried to arm wrestle me this morning for the opportunity to introduce Robin since she is her first baby, so to speak. I am wondering if she’s going to put me through as many iterations as she did Sam. Although Sam’s story did start out a tad boring and then changed to really exciting in different versions. Sorry, I’m rambling again.

I’m just happy to be here and have the opportunity to talk to her fellow classmate writers. Robin’s been blocked the past year or so, not talking to any of us. Between some issues with her younger brother breaking her parent’s heart and her mom’s health and subsequent passing, she’s run the gamut from stress, to sadness, to grief. We’ve all been patient and it finally paid off. Writing, for her, is a very emotional process, especially with her gregarious and active bunch of characters, and as she told me, she just needed to work through it.

When she saw the F2K class was starting back up, I put the bug in her ear to read my story, which she did and couldn’t put it down, so here we are.

 

 

Give it a try with one of your characters and see what pops!

[Runningmom80]

Just bumping this because I read "steal like an artist" last night and got the fire back. :) I started a calendar to write everyday for a year. Starting today.

 

 

I need to read more too.

 

Also I wanted to share, the blog brainpickings.com is very inspiring, she posts a lot of advice from writers.

 

Sorry for the ramble, my mind is not tidy today.

[Critterfixer]

Thought I'd bump this and see if anyone has some thoughts on writing compulsions.

I read that it's a good thing, but I'm having trouble taking time for myself-good seat time as some writers would put it. I've always been a writer. A reader too, but it's writing that seems to be my main drive in creating things. I don't think I've ever gone to work, or gone on a trip or gone anywhere, (not even to the grocery store!) without a notebook and two pencils. In case one breaks, don't you know.

 

Sometimes I go for months without an idea, but then something hits me and I'm GONE. Everything else goes out the window. All I want to do is WRITE, and I mean up as soon as I can wake up after being up until midnight, writing. I get lost in the process. I forget to eat. I live on caffeine and music, and meanwhile the kids are wondering where lunch and dinner are and when Mom will put the pencil down. And I get sort of crabby about the whole thing. I don't want to be disturbed for anything that isn't an emergency, I want to smash the phone if it rings, and I don't want anybody asking me any questions that don't relate to what I'm working on. 

 

Anybody else get just a little (or a lot) obsessive and compulsive about writing? Or am I just strange?

 

(currently this is character work, and world building that has me so occupied.)

[elegantlion]

Obsessive, what who me? Never.  :lol: I'm still working on my Nano 2013, trying to decide if I want to take the story in a hugely different direction. I've organized some of my writing (I print out almost everything) and I'm trying to find some short pieces to edit and have critiqued. Aside from that I'm up to my eyeballs in a history research paper which is becoming more sociological than historical so I'm trying to remove emotion from it and may need to let it sit for a few days to do that. 

[Mom in High Heels]

I am dutifully ignoring the book project I was working on.  ;)  I'm not sure why I'm avoiding it. Lord knows, the thousands of words I expend on here talking about nothing could be better spent.  :toetap05:

 

Isn't that the damn truth?  I'm sure I've written far more than 90K words on these boards.  If only I could make those into a story!

 

 

Robin, I'm so impressed you bought a fountain pen!  Fountain pens are my favorite way to write.  I taught Indy to write cursive with a fountain pen.  I wish more people used them, but I suppose it's that whole ink smudging thing that turns people off.  Amateurs!

 

When James Bond was in Afghanistan, I wrote all the time.  I wrote a 58K word fan fiction, and 5 more from 4K-13K words, all in just a few months time.  I have several more fan fiction stories on my computer, along with several stories of my own characters, but I can't seem to make myself write.  Boo.