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[mare]

This past year I read 45 books. This year I’m setting my reading goal for 60. We’ll see what happens. Starting today with The Paris Library.

[mare]

For anyone wanting/struggling to get back into their writing groove this year, I came across a Reddit thread with a strategy that has worked for me in the past:  The one word per day formula.

When I've set goals to write every day or see how long I could keep a daily writing streak going, this is basically what I did.  As long as I wrote at least one word that day, it counted.  Sometimes, on busy or uninspired days, I really did just write one word.  And sometimes I ended up deleting that word the next day and writing something different.  But most of the time, one word would lead to another, and I would end up writing over a hundred words... on a good day, over a thousand.  I've found that when I feel uninspired or am just out of the habit of writing, working up the motivation to open the story is often the hardest part.  But if I open it thinking, "Okay, I just have to add one word, and then I can quit if I want to," it makes it seem a lot less overwhelming.  Once I get over that hurdle of opening the story and writing one word, though, more words will usually follow.  And when I get a streak going, it becomes routine, which makes it easier to stay inspired so I want to open the story and write every day.

I need to remember this for my long-unfinished stories like Guilty Roads and my Harry Potter crossover.  With two other projects I'm actively working on right now, I'm not in the mindset to try to tackle either of those anytime soon, but next time I find myself between stories, that might be a way to force myself to make some progress on them:  challenge myself to write at least one word per day.

I hope this helps someone else!  I miss all your stories and our fanfic discussions. 

Great advice. One word at a time. It’ll get you where you need to be eventually.

[RokofAges75]

This past year I read 45 books. This year I’m setting my reading goal for 60. We’ll see what happens. Starting today with The Paris Library.

Wow, 45 books!  That's almost one a week.  That's awesome!!  Good for you!

I definitely need to get back into reading more.  Obviously reading is important to writing, but does anyone else struggle to do both at the same time?  When my writing is going well, I don't make as much time to read because I'd rather use that time to write.  But when I'm in a reading phase, I don't write as much because I'd rather read.  What I really need to do is be more disciplined about going to bed an hour early and using that time to read instead of playing on my phone or staring at a computer/TV screen.  I would get through more books that way, and I'd also probably get more sleep.  We'll see!

[mare]

I definitely had a hard time doing both at once. When I was writing, the only time I’d read was during my lunch breaks. Any other time (like in the middle of the night when I read now) I devoted to writing.

[RokofAges75]

Glad I'm not the only one!  Do you ever get story ideas/inspiration from reading so much?  Sometimes reading inspires me, and other times it just makes me feel inadequate LOL.

[mare]

Mostly the second one. Lol I spend a lot of time saying “I wish I had thought of that!”

[RokofAges75]

Right?! Me too. And you are already super creative with your ideas! I always felt that way reading your stories too LOL.  But I feel like, if nothing else, reading does help strengthen my vocabulary and ability to string words together to tell a story.

[mare]

Reading has helped my vocabulary immensely. And thanks for the compliment. While reading Needless street, I must have face palmed a few times with the direction she took at the end thinking how incredibly clever to go that way. Made me want to reread the entire thing again. Not sure if you know what I’m talking about yet lol

[RokofAges75]

Reading has helped my vocabulary immensely. And thanks for the compliment. While reading Needless street, I must have face palmed a few times with the direction she took at the end thinking how incredibly clever to go that way. Made me want to reread the entire thing again. Not sure if you know what I’m talking about yet lol

Haha, I just posted about it in the reading thread!  I finished it last night, and yes!  I agree!  It reminded me of a movie... I can't say the title here without giving away the twist, but the movie has the same twist, and I've always thought it was so incredibly clever.  I loved her author's note at the end explaining how she came up with that and how the story changed from her original idea.

[mare]

I love reading authors notes where they explain how or why they do what they do. Those twists is one of the reasons this story lacks any real description to people other than saying you have to absolutely read this! Lol

[RokofAges75]

Just sharing this post because it made me laugh.  I was reading this Reddit thread about how to write the "in-between" stuff that comes between the major events, Point A, B, and C, and someone posted:

"I write the “in-between stuff” on acid, and the important stuff on coffee.
I’m not saying this is the right way to do things, but at least it keeps the fluff from being boring."
https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/s71j4z/comment/ht76tx6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Caffeine fuels both kinds of writing for me - coffee in the morning, soda in the evening.  I've never done acid or any other illegal drug, but it does make me wonder what the hell I would come up with if I did LOL.  I came up with and wrote my first pandaskunk story under the influence of cold medicine while I was sick with the flu, and I think that story is quite clever, so you never know!

[RokofAges75]

There's also an interesting little discussion in the same thread about how we see our characters.  Someone called their characters "dolls" because "they dont move on their own and the only people that will understand the particularitie s of your fondness are people that play along with the fantasy u set up."  Another poster disagreed and said, "I've always thought of it more like I'm 'looking' into another universe and just nit-picking until I find the exact version I like then writing it."

Can you relate to either of these views, or do you see your characters a different way?  Does this represent the difference in thinking between plot-driven and character-driven writers?

I've never thought of my characters as dolls, per se (except for Broken Nick Doll! LOL), but I'm mostly a plot-driven writer, and that view does make sense to me.  When I was little, I loved playing with Barbies and acting out stories with them.  I didn't see it as "writing" at the time, but in a way, it was - I was coming up with stories the same way I do now; I just performed them out loud in the moment instead of putting them down on paper.  As an adult writer, I've also had that mindset of "I am the god(dess) of my fictional world, and I can make these characters do whatever I want them to do."  It doesn't always work out when what I want conflicts with what the character would actually do, but I guess that works with the doll analogy on some level, too - you can only make Barbie move so many ways.  If you try to force her to bend too far, you end up breaking her.

[ForeverFrick]

This past year I read 45 books. This year I’m setting my reading goal for 60. We’ll see what happens. Starting today with The Paris Library.

Wow, I am amazed at the 45!  I'm currently reading Cleeton's Next Year In Havana.  I read The Last Train to Key West last year and really enjoyed it.

I'm simultaneously reading Harry Potter 1 but that's not for the first (or second... or third...) time.

[RokofAges75]

Wow, I am amazed at the 45!  I'm currently reading Cleeton's Next Year In Havana.  I read The Last Train to Key West last year and really enjoyed it.

I'm simultaneously reading Harry Potter 1 but that's not for the first (or second... or third...) time.

Wow, I couldn't believe it when I saw your screen name pop up on here!  Welcome back!

Harry Potter rereads are always worth it.  Any chance it will inspire you to return to Brian Potter and the Malevolent Musician?  I know it's been like a decade, but a girl can dream!

[ForeverFrick]

Wow, I couldn't believe it when I saw your screen name pop up on here!  Welcome back!

Harry Potter rereads are always worth it.  Any chance it will inspire you to return to Brian Potter and the Malevolent Musician?  I know it's been like a decade, but a girl can dream!

Hi!!! Thanks! I reset my password. lol. I was on briefly last year and realizing how much I missed this forum/this site.  It's a blast from the past for sure. 

Yes, I love the HP series so much.  It's my literary happy place... Aw, thank you for asking!  That feels nice that someone remembers it.  I'm looking for a writing project (I need some distraction from the stressful disaster that is work these days).  I always hated that I didn't finish.  I never wanted to be "one of those fans."  I need to reread my chapters and I'll see if I can remember where I was going with it (or come up with something new).  It might be exactly what I need right now.