Goals for New Round of ROW80, IWSG Day, Canada Day! and RIP to Michael Bond, Frank Delaney, and John Freely
new month, with new goals!The next round of ROW80 is coming up. I didn't really do a recap of the last round (I did finish that Future Learn course -- turns out it was only two weeks long!), but here are my new goals:
Enter scribbled edits for the short story The Tattoo and find some betas...
Keep editing The Charm of Time on paper, including writing missing scenes
(I wrote a long missing scene last week, and also uncovered a way to raise the stakes and make them more personal!)
(I wrote a long missing scene last week, and also uncovered a way to raise the stakes and make them more personal!)
Finish the synopsis for The Charm of Time
Submit Druid's Moon somewhere, perhaps a small press...
Keep writing about Austin and Brother Arcturus for CampNaNo!
Keep writing about Austin and Brother Arcturus for CampNaNo!
Clean everything in preparation for guests...
Stop adding to the To Do pile!
Catch up on blog comments!
Today is Insecure Writer's Support Group Day!
IWSG Day Question: What is one valuable lesson you've learned since you started writing?
Only one? I've learned so many! All about character development (not that my characters weren't developed before, but I'm getting better at showing their full characters to the reader), raising the stakes (still learning about this), and other story structure and theme connections.
One other thing I've learned, and the IWSG and the wider blogging community have played a big part in this (not to mention the Compuserve Books and Writers community), is the importance of making connections! Writers tend to write in isolation, and I think this can sometimes gives us a skewed vision of not only our talents, but our needs. It's all very well to get a confidence boost from thinking that we're brilliant and that Hemingway never needed to edit, but there are endless numbers of other writers out there, and endless numbers of readers too. To reach out to them, we have to come down from the ivory tower once in a while, and give a little of ourselves.
But not too much either -- agents need to wade through slush piles but writers shouldn't let beta reading and writers' exercises and blog hops take over the writing of their actual stories. Sometimes I feel virtuous and busy when I'm occupied with reading others' stories and snips and (hopefully!) offering constructive comments, but I need to remember to spend just as much time on my own edits!
Thank you to this month's co-hosts:
Rest in peace to:
Michael Bond, author of the wonderful Paddington Bear books. I love The Guardian's throwaway comment in their obituary: "(Of course Stephen Fry read the audiobooks.)" I'd like to read his series about Detective Pamplemousse, too!
John Freely, author of Strolling Through Istanbul and about 50 other books, and father of author Maureen Freely: "In 1960 Maureen Freely’s family packed up all they possessed, waved goodbye to Princeton, New Jersey, and stepped out into the unknown. She had no idea why. Their destination was to her merely a name on a map: Istanbul. It was to become the place she still thinks of as home. Her father, John Freely, would write the classic guidebook ‘Strolling Through Istanbul’. More than forty years later, Maureen looks back on a golden childhood of parties, laughter and, above all, adventure."
They're the sort of expat family I'd love to be friends with!
Frank Delaney, author and broadcaster. I've only ever read his The Celts, retellings of Irish Celtic myths. I'd love to listen to some archives of his interviews on the Bookshelf, on BBC Radio 4. They only seem to have three of the interviews online; wonder if I can find the Stephen King one?
Happy 150th anniversary to Canada!
What is one valuable lesson you've learned since you started writing?
Have you read any books by Bond, Freely, or Delaney?
Comments
These things used to make me feel like I was taking precious time from my writing - but time has shown that they make my life, and therefore my writing, richer.
I've read Paddington Bear to many young people. =)
One lesson I've learned from writing is that I must, must, must plot and plan for novels. I can get away with pantsing shorter works, but pantsing falls apart for me with longer ones.
Good luck with this round of ROW80!