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WFMAD Day 3 – Taste the fiction

Day Three! Judging from your comments, some of you guys are pounding away at the keys…. some of you are having trouble finding your keyboard.

Remember. You have PERMISSION to write this month. Maybe I should change that. You are REQUIRED to write at least 15 minutes a day for the rest of the month. Does it make it easier if I turn it into a demand instead of a suggestion?

Steven King,  in On Writing, says “The scariest moment is always just before you start.” It’s the discomfort of that scary moment that keeps you from starting. As we say around the Forest, pull up your big-girl pants and get on with it.

To help you prepare to battle your fears, I filmed the following video in my Forest this weekend.

Ready….
Enjoy the following Summer Moment of Zen as you settle in to write.

 



Set…
Turn off your phone. Disconnect from the Internet.

Today’s prompt: Writing in short chunks like 15 minute blocks can feel a bit awkward unless you are already deep in a project. I find that it helps a lot to start a piece of writing in a memory and let it roll from there into fiction.

When you are nice and relaxed from the sound of the rushing stream above (or you have returned from the bathroom because the sound of the water made you aware of a rather pressing need) take a moment to remember the breakfasts you ate in the summertime as a child. Was it a bowl of cold cereal eaten in front of cartoons? Pancakes at your grandfather’s house? Bug juice and toast at summer camp? Cold pizza with your big brother home from college? Your first cup of coffee as a teenager, trying to impress someone?

Write down the memory – quickly. Then add in as many details as your remember until you tap the memory dry.

THEN… add details that you can’t remember. Embellish. Put in the pattern of the curtains, or the grease on the window, or the lonesome sneaker on top of the refrigerator.

Bonus points: Have a fictional character walk up in the scene and join you. What will she eat? Why? How long is she staying? And why is she in conflict with the rest of the people in the scene? Show the conflict. Taste the eggs. Spill the juice.

Scribble…Scribble….Scribble!

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WFMAD Day 2 – Why Not?

Yay! You did it!! Thank you SO MUCH for joining our band of merry scribblers and a special big thanks to everyone who commented here on the official blog, as well as on LJ and FaceBook. It was a thrill to hear how Day One went for you.

Well, how it went for most of you.

Today is traditionally the day I get email from people who heard about the WFMAD challenge late and are bummed they didn’t start on Day One. In keeping with our Pirate Code of Writing, I absolve thee. Start today. Start now. (Well, finish reading the blog entry, then start.)

One of the hardest truths about pursing an artistic dream is that it is wicked hard to make the time that artistic discipline requires.  It doesn’t matter how many how-to books you read, or writers’ blogs you follow, the best way to become a better writer is to write more. Preferably daily. That’s why I am cajoling you guys to do this Every Single Day. It is officially A Big Honking Deal to convince your brain that this is a habit you want to establish.

Ready….
Read yesterday’s comments and get excited by what your fellow warrior writers wrote about their own paths.

Set…
Turn off your phone. Disconnect from the Internet.

Today’s prompt The easiest thing to do in the world is NOT to write. We are our own agents of sabotage and we are quite good at it. Write down all the things that get in the way of your writing time. Start by writing the incidents as a list. When you come across one of your acts of sabotage that is particularly vivid, write it out in detail. Once you have it written as a scene, insert the character of your Muse. How does She react to playing second fiddle to things like shampooing the dog or folding socks or the latest mind-numbing favorite TV show?

Scribble…Scribble….Scribble!

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Write Fifteen Minutes A Day (WFMAD) – Day 1

Start your engines!! Write Fifteen Minutes A Day© is here!

Get ready to scribble!

The rules are simple. In fact, they aren’t even rules. They’re more like guidelines, the Pirate Code of Writing.

1. Commit to write for 15 minutes a day for the entire month of August.
2. Just do it.

Seriously. That’s all there is to it. You don’t have to sign up anywhere, or meet minimum word count goals or complete a whole freaking novel in 30 days. You can write fiction, non-fiction, memoir or poetry. Personally, I don’t think blog writing should count because that is immediately published and you always have your audience in mind. I think this month should be a chance for you to go deeper inside yourself. But if blog writing makes you happy, go for it.

Just. Write. Every Day. This. Month.
15 Minutes.

This is not the time for editing or outlining. Just keep your pen, pencil, crayon, or fingers on the keyboard moving for 15 minutes. You can use the entire time to write “I don’t know what to write and LHA is crazy” the whole time if you want.

I’ll give a prompt a day for anyone who is feeling stuck. But you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.

I would love it if you guys checked in with me by posting in the comments section. There will be a prize each week for the person who wrote the most intriguing or funniest or most moving comment. Be shameless. (I will disclose the prize in a day or so.) Tell me where you wrote today or for how long, or what you were working on. Tell me what kind of resistance thoughts cropped up as you were writing, or trying to start writing. Tell me what it felt like when the 15 minutes were up.

OK, that’s enough blathering.

Ready….
Disconnect from the Internet.

Set…
Turn off your phone.

Today’s prompt*** Give yourself permission. Write yourself an excuse note that gives you permission to not do something else in your life for fifteen minutes a day for the next 31 days. Be specific and clear about when you are going to write. Bonus points for writing about what might get in the way of your WFMAD writing, and how you are going to combat it.

Scribble…Scribble….Scribble!

***LEGAL STUFF: These prompts, like all the rest of the stuff I write for WFMAD and my blog entries, are my material and, thus, under my copyright. You have permission to reproduce them for classroom use only. Yes, you may link to these posts. Spread the word! The more the merrier!!

 

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Ready to Write?

Twenty-four hours to go until my annual Write Fifteen Minutes a Day (WFMAD) Challenge!!

I feel like a boxer’s trainer, rubbing her shoulders, fanning her with a towel, about to push her to the center of the ring and say “Go get ’em, champ.”

Are any of you taking the plunge a day early? Can’t wait?

I do have one suggestion. It might not sound related to writing, but it is. Go for a long walk today. If you walk with a friend, use the time to talk about your hopes for your writing in the upcoming month. If you walk alone, focus your thoughts on the same thing.

Moving your body is a critical part of the writing process. I’ll talk more about that in the next month.

The other news around here all centers on the upcoming publication of FORGE. (Which happens in 80 days, for those of you counting down at home.) I’ll be getting my booktour details very soon. Should we work out a secret handshake or something for those of you participating in WFMAD who come out to my signings this fall?

Abby the Librarian was able to score an advanced reading copy of FORGE and has written a terrific review about it.

Do YOU want an advanced reading copy of FORGE? Denise Jaden is holding a contest to do exactly that over on her blog. You have until Tuesday to enter. (And seriously – this contest is the sweetest thing ever and I swear I had nothing to do with it, which makes it even sweeter.)

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My writer’s group & WFMAD approacheth

Are you ready?

Pencils sharpened, pens lined up, fingers nimble?

The Third Annual LHA Write Fifteen Minutes a Day challenge starts on Sunday, August 1st!

::cue roaring crowd and bawking chickens::

WFMAD is a bit like NaNoWriMo, but better. Because writing the draft of a novel in one month (which is the goal of NaNoWriMo) is a great challenge, but overwhelming for a lot of people. My approach is smaller and often, more effective. It simply requires that you write for fifteen minutes every day during the month of August.

Can you do that? Of course you can. Do you want to? That’s sort of up to you, isn’t it?

I will be posting every day during the month. My posts will be part writing prompt, part cheerleading, part gentle kick in your backside. (You don’t have to use the prompts if you don’t want to.  They are just to help stir your creative pot a bit.)

In a way, this blog can become your writer’s group for the next month. If you already have a writer’s group, no worry. You are not being unfaithful to them, you are expanding your circle.

My writer’s group met on Tuesday. We were missing Bruce Coville. I think he was off gallivanting with unicorns. One of our members, MJ Auch, was recovering from surgery, so she beamed into the meeting on Skype.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what MJ looked like on the computer sitting on the end of the kitchen table. (Note her cat lounging in the background.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suzanne Bloom is pointing the camera down at her latest amazing artwork so that MJ can see it. Standing with her back to the camera is author, cook, and amazing writer’s group hostess, Ellen Yeomans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is what we looked like on MJ’s computer!!

 

Distance and circumstance need not stop anyone who has the writing dream in their heart. I’ll be reworking the rules for this year’s WFMAD challenge a bit – details on Sunday. But the general guidelines are the same that they’ve been for the last two years. New this year will be prizes – tee-shirts and maybe an ARC of FORGE (or two) for the people who write the funniest or most moving comment each week.

Any questions??

One more thing…. I have shifted blog hosting sites. The Mad Woman in the Forest blog is now found at WordPress. The blog will continue to feed to FaceBook, LiveJournal, and a bunch of other sites, but if you want to make comments that I can guarantee you I will read (and will make you eligible for prizes), you need to make them on the WordPress version of the blog.

OK, now for real… any questions??