Writing Battle Plan

This is one of the posts that I started a while back, and forgot about. Still relevant though.

I finished reading CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT by Orson Scott Card. Awesome! Needed it at this point in my career. I had lots of aha! moments of how to fix my first novel. I had a moment where I wondered “Why didn’t I read this years ago??” Then I realized I’m probably only now at a point as a writer where I’m actually “getting” the info on the right level.

My battle plan:

• Write at least 1000 words per day, across any of my three stories. With a minimum of 250 words (one page) in each for any given week.
• Finish books (goal: this year!) then give FM some undivided attention for a final serious revision.

I even made myself an awesome Excel worksheet. I put in the project I work on each day, and how many words. It calculates my weekly word count, yearly total, and what total and percentage is for each project. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.

Muse Theory

While my sick brain has a hard time forming sentences, my Muse doesn’t rest. Apparently she decided a week off was plenty. Yesterday I got some dialogue and character notes for one of my stories (better yet, one of the three I’m not focusing on…). And last night, or this morning, whatever you want to call 2 AM, I woke up from a dream and had to write down some of the images.

In my dream, the world was ending and yet the sight of a couple mermaid children playing in the water still brought joy. I couldn’t let that image go to waste.

Some say the Muse isn’t real. That it’s merely hard work and a good imagination. But moments like these make me wonder. When ideas seem to come from nowhere, or at least no where inside myself. Especially when I’m not feeling an iota of creativity in my sick slump. And somehow the Muse gets through.

I may not have the energy or brainpower to put these ideas to much use right now, but I have certainly been taking notes. Do you ever get inspired at the least likely of times?

Sick Days

After my kid was sick all weekend, and stayed home Monday, I wasn’t surprised when Tuesday I was the one sick. I actually got it worse than he did. Feeling a bit better today, so hopefully I’ll be good by weekend. And ready to write again next week.

I’ve heard of people who use sick days to do writing, and are quite productive. I am not one of them. The creative side of my brain does not work when I’m sick. Not for writing, or even for the interior decorating I’m doing in my Sims dream home. I envy those that can write poetically even when totally out of his mind.

I’m all fuzzed when sick. How about you?

I Write Like…

a multitude of authors. Which is to say that I write like none. After seeing Liana’s post, I plugged each of my novels into this analyzer. The results varied. I suppose that means that no two of my books are alike.

For TRINITY COVEN, my paranormal romance:

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

 

For FEY MOON, my traditional fantasy:

I write like
William Shakespeare

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

 

For FLY WITH ME, my contemporary fantasy:

I write like
Stephenie Meyer

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

 

For RACE TO 100 DEATHS, my dark fantasy:

I write like
Anne Rice

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

 

For THE MINOTAUR STAFF, my urban fantasy:

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

 

And my smallest writing sample, TWILIGHT RAIN, a portal fantasy:

I write like
William Gibson

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Though, interesting enough, the writers do seem to correlate to the genres of my books. So maybe the analyzer isn’t completely bunk after all. I’m not familiar with James Joyce or William Gibson, but I can see the connections for the rest.

And, I’m sure the algorithm hates me, but I ended with throwing them all in at once. So overall I write like… Anne Rice.