To Write...or to Edit?

I recently subscribed to a page called "Writing for Dollars" on Facebook. The first update I recevied from them was titled "Sneak Peak for you-all." Obviously they are not "Editing for Dollars," which brings me to my point: Just write! Edit later. Do edit, of course, but keep in mind that if you pick a grape before its time, (that's the possessive "its," by the way. I can understand if someone might think I meant "before it is time," and therefore believe that I should have put an apostrophe, but I digress because I'm editing while writing)... um... what was I going to say??? Oh yes, if you pick a grape before the appropriate time, the end result may - no WILL - be piss-poor wine.

This was a response to: "Is writing making me dumber? Or, more dumb? Or dumberer? - Writing a Novel is a Piece of Cake... Right?! - The Speculative Fiction Writers Tookit" - http://www.sfwriterstoolkit.com/cake/2009/3/27/is-writing-making-me-dumber-or-more-dumb-or-dumberer.html#comments#ixzz0BHGalNOS

I interrupt this blog for a picture of my imaginary friend

If you were to scroll all the way back to the initial entry of this blog, you would understand why I was so excited to encounter Pegasus AND the Fountain of the Muses at Brookgreen Gardens.

Today's Writing Mission - Accomplished

Earlier today I proclaimed to the world (okay, the three people who might read this blog from time to time) that I would "work" on my stage play for Script Frenzy by reading my NaNo novel from 2007 to get more clarification on how to proceed.

The first monkey with a wrench: I couldn't find it! Holy cow!!!! I looked in every folder on my hard drive that resembled a place where I might have saved it. Panic. Panic. Panic. (Do you hear the buzzer going in the background? It sounds like a Dharma Initiative Alarm. Sorry, I don't know how to spell that sound).

But here's something to remember about Word: When you first open a document up and look at the page count or word count... it won't finish counting for a while. So don't assume that when it says "page 1 of 1" there really is just one page. In fact, there could be 100 pages.

So, I found the document --- all 50,004 words of it. Whew! And I read the additional previously written chapters that I added to the beginning of it so that I could reach 50,000 words. That's when I realized I wasn't stuck with the sucky opening I created last year. Yee ha! I have a plan. That's all that matters right now. I have a plan.

It's not a complete plan, of course. That would have required much more work than I was willing to do today. What I have could actually be called a springboard. And that's all I need to entice me to jump head-first into the deep and empty pool called "ScriptFrenzy."

April 1 is just around the corner, and I'm fool enough.

Today's Writing Task

Since I seem to be SO keen on reading instead of writing these days, I have decided to prepare for Script Frenzy (which begins April 1, and, yes I'm a FOOL for doing it!) by re-reading my 2007 NaNo Novel that I plan to turn into a script. Maybe these brain circuits will start working again when I get back in touch with the wacky characters I invented.

Wish me luck! I'll update tomorrow. Yeah, right.... I promised I'd do Nixy's last Writing Adventure, too. If I don't tell someone I'm going to do something, I'm much more likely not to do it, because apparently it's not important for me to keep promises to myself.

“WAG #3: A New Friend” . . . but not yet

This week's exercise from Nixy Valentine (http://www.nixyvalentine.com/): Sit somewhere that you can watch strangers passing by. Choose someone that you don’t know, but you can imagine being friends with. Describe them in concrete terms, particularly whatever it is about them you find appealing (or unappealing!) Feel free to also write what you imagine that makes you warm to them, but don’t forget to describe reality as well!

I had every intention of observing people around me when I went to girls' night out tonight. But I plumb forgot! And I don't get out much, so there's no telling when I'll have another opportunity. :)

What started out as possibly a half a dozen or so of us meeting for dinner, drinks, & music turned out to be three of us, which was great... more chance to get to know one another better (because we don't actually know each other very well). The interesting thing is that all night, I thought there were only two of us. That's because there were, indeed, only two people at my table. Myself and Donna. But where was Shannon? Where was the woman we knew we couldn't possibly miss because she has very lovely BRIGHT RED HAIR that should easily have been spotted from across the restaurant.

Somehow we managed to be in the same restaurant for three and a half hours - arrive at nearly the same time and leave at nearly the same time - and completely miss one another. Thankfully, Shannon brought a friend, so she wasn't alone. AND she was smart - she sat by the quesadilla bar. Normal women would have grazed in that area. Not us! We sat down and didn't budge. After all, there was a young man bringing us drinks and food. Why should we move?

So... By now you've figurd out that this isn't actually my WAG exercise. I promise I'll get to it... sometime. The irony of it is that I was supposed to be observant. If I had been, perhaps we would have been able to enjoy Shannon's company tonight.

Writing Adventure #2

Adventure Guide from http://www.nixyvalentine.com/index.php/writers-group/: Go outside, and sit for a minute. (This can be in your yard or garden, on a city street, in a park, in a shopping centre, where ever you choose!) Soak in everything you see, hear, smell, etc, for a moment, and then describe something that you did not notice at first. This can be anything! Just make it something that you overlooked when you first arrived. Keep your descriptions as concrete as possible!

- - - - - - - -
I open the sliding glass door to my back yard and feel the crisp coolness of morning. A refreshing breeze touches my skin. I wait a couple of seconds, expecting a humid undertone to the breeze, but it doesn’t come. Ahhhhh! We don’t get many mornings like this in Texas.

The sky is overcast with varying colors of blue, gray, and white, but the wind is chasing the darkest clouds north at a fast clip.

The distinct “weeeeeEEEP!” of a grackle in a neighbor’s tree. I look up to see if the whole flock is near, but there’s only a mockingbird in my budding oak tree. Squeak! It’s a blue squeaky football-shaped toy in the mouth of my prancing, teasing, half-boxer, half-tasmanian devil dog. She bows and wags her short tail, saying “let’s play” to her boxer brother, who is busy investigating the fallen tree limb in the middle of the yard.

Swoosh. Squeak. The bus stop behind my fenced yard. Vrom. A passing truck. I bend to pet my sweet lynx-point kitty as I hear the mockingbird taunting him. Click click click click cheeeee! The breeze is still refreshing. Birds of all types are chirping and singing their varied songs.

While most of my small yard is mulch (because no St. Augustine or Bermuda grows where big dogs play), the area I call the “poop garden” is sprouting clumps of green buffalo grass. It’s time to start mowing again.

As I head back toward the back door, I glance up to my oak tree again. The lone mockingbird has been replaced by a flock of grackles. Over a dozen black birds perch in my tree. On the telephone pole outside my fence sits the ring-leader on his throne, stretching his body and raising his head to send another “weeeeeeeeEEEEEP!” There will be hundreds of them soon. Time to go in.

My name is Jackie, and I'm a Twitterer

I admit I have a problem. It all started with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where I hooked up with a few other writers like myself - you know - One-day novelists ("One day, I'll write a novel"). Some of us started following one another on Twitter. One thing led to another and now I've joined the Writing Adventure Group.

So I blog my writing adventure, and then I read other people's blogs about the same writing adventure. Then I click into some of the blogs they have listed on their blogs and end up reading more and more interesting, funny, creative, inspiring blogs.

Then I start following all of those blogs, AND I start following all of those blog writers' twitters. Then I start following literary agents' twitters and then following literary agents' blogs. I knew i had a problem when I went to Facebook and wrote a status message that was unrecognizable to anyone who doesn't follow the same Twitters I follow. (It takes someone reading #queryfail to recognize someone writing about #queryfail.)

I don't know where it's going to end. It's like opening a box of cookies and saying "I'll just eat two." The next thing you know, you've spent an entire day doing nothing but reading... not....writing.

So I'm posting a cry for help on my blog. This way, I'll find out if anyone else has the same problem I have, or if I'm all alone in this cruel, cruel world. Is there a Bloggers or Twitterers Anonymous? A little bit of blog reading can be a good thing. Everything in moderation, as they say. But it's gone too far and I don't know how to stop.

I now think in Twitters... as if I'm doing or thinking anything relevant enough for the world to want to know about in 140 characters or less??

WAG: The Sky's the Limit

Today's WAG Adventure: The Sky's the Limit. "Describe the sky exactly as you see it. Use concrete words, no flowery language or metaphor. The idea is to let the physical speak for itself and to train us to be able to create the idea of “peaceful”, “beautiful”, “amazing” without using those kinds of empty words that tell the reader how to feel. Keep it real. No aliens or imaginings or memories. This is an observational exercise!"

The sky today is overcast with white and gray clouds. If I didn’t know they were clouds, I might think the sky itself was white fusing into darker hues at a distance. But there are hints of blue here and there as I pan to the North, reminding me of the sky’s native color. The white dissipates to blue, as if an artist had taken a soft sponge and dabbed a blue canvas with white cotton. I squint to take it all in because, while it isn’t bright, there is a glare. The sun cannot be ignored, even on overcast days.

Okay, so it's hard for me to write without using at least one simile! So perhaps I failed my assignment. Oh wait! It's not an assignment. It's an adventure.

Writing Adventure Group

I've been neglecting this blog ever since I started the wordpress blogsite. But now I have joined the Writing Adventure Group, so I'll be using this blog for my exercises .... er... adventures. The first one is called "The Sky is the Limit." (http://www.nixyvalentine.com/index.php/2009/02/writing-adventure-group/) When I get my courage up... um, I mean, when I get focused, I'll add another post in answer to "The Sky is the Limit." Really I will.

Why, you may ask, am I bothering to post about the fact that I'm going to post something? Well that's a good question.

*The previous statement, and the question preceding it are an example of procrastination ... otherwise known as a delaying technique. You've heard other examples of these before. They spew from your teenager's mouth in the form of "huh?" after you ask him a question that you know he heard and understood perfectly well. He uses it to buy himself time to think of a believable answer.

And that's enough about that. Coming up next: "The Sky is the Limit." Huh?