Tag: Pandora Radio

Work In Progress

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Writer's Block

Image by thorinside via Flickr

I haven’t been racking up the page counts as I’d expected to this past week, but then again, I didn’t expect to write much of anything in the month of August knowing how challenging my paythebills job would be this month. So, if I think about it, any progress I made this month is a good thing.

BUT. I still have a goal to get this draft finished by September so that I can get feedback on it from my dear crit partners (*waves hi*).

Seeing that I haven’t made a lot of forward progress in the storyline, I decided to summarize what I had so far, and really think about my MC’s motivations, backstory, basically, evaluating the characters’ goals, why they had them, and what’s stopping them from reaching those goals.

Admittedly, I started out with a lot of nothing.

http://twitter.com/#!/lizakane/status/108737159997042688

And then, Snow Patrol’s Olive Grove Facing the Sea started playing on my Pandora Radio station, which is the first song that I have ever associated with WIP2 back in January. I let myself be transported back in time, and relived the emotion that I wanted to capture. Soon enough, I was able to brainstorm a little and add in little details that I forgot about; I even added in little bits here and there to make the story more logical and believable.

I have a long way to go. Those little bits are not smoothed into the story at all, and I’ve added a lot of [insert something here], but even these little tweaks have helped me stop fixating so much on some issues I’ve had with the beginning, issues that were holding me back from making forward progress because I knew they were there, being all…wrong.

Anyway, I hope that in a few weeks, I’ll be able to report that I’m 85% done with WIP2. Until then, I hope you enjoy some Snow Patrol. I love their live performances, which are sometimes better than their studio recordings. There’s a long introduction here, but he’s funny and cute so please humor him. ^_^

 

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Share The Love

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Love Heart

Image by Pink Poppy Photography via Flickr

I wanted to start a new feature on my blog that I can do on a regular basis, but couldn’t find one that I felt I could commit to. Then, I thought about what I loved most about blogging and Twitter, and realized that I enjoyed sharing, no matter what it was. I love promoting good books I’ve discovered, passing along great advice I’ve heard, and recognizing awesome people I’ve met. So, I’ve simply called this feature “Share The Love,” and will post it on Sundays, hopefully every week.

I traveled around the blogosphere this past week and loved these posts:

I played on twitter and loved these tweets:

http://twitter.com/#!/2morrowknight/status/92384666618834944
http://twitter.com/#!/Zen_Moments/status/92304354039697408
http://twitter.com/#!/Lord_Voldemort7/status/92220320618004480
http://twitter.com/#!/LauraJMoss/status/91334383839092736

(Yeah, with Laura’s tweet, it’s safe to say you “had to be there” to understand it) šŸ˜‰
I borrowed these books from the library, and would love to read them before they’re due back:

  • The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan
  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan
  • Eon, by Allison Goodman
  • Among the Hidden, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
  • Black Hole Sun, David Macinnis Gill

I listened to my Snow Patrol station on Pandora Radio. Run started playing, and I fell in love with Snow Patrol, and my WIP2, all over again.

So Tell Me: Do YOU have any LOVES to share from this past week?

I Discovered I Really Hate Coming Up With Titles to Blog Posts

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So, I discovered lots of things today!Ā  So many things, that I should probably list them for ease of reading.Ā  (Plus, I feel like Iā€™ve been more productive on my day off from my paythebills job when I see it in list formā€¦especially since I have the Friendsā€™ influenced urge to say ā€œcheck!ā€ after naming each point in the list, thus further emphasizing how truly productive I am).Ā  In no particular order of importance, relevance, or chronology here are Todayā€™s Discoveries! (Exclamation points and Capitalization also imply things of Great Importance and Prominence.) (!)

1. I discovered that I find lots of Important Things to busy myself with in the mornings rather than write.Ā  On an unrelated note, Twitter is shiny.

2. I discovered that I canā€™t write dialogue worth crapā€”argh!Ā  [Excuse me, let me take the moment to write a positive affirmation: I write fantastic dialogue!Ā  The dialogue is natural, smooth, and sounds just like two people having a real conversation in my living room.] * eye roll *

3. I discovered a little extra protein in the form of a grub in my would-have-been spaghetti squash lunch. (You can imagine me throwing up a little in my mouth rightā€¦here.Ā  I also promptly threw it away right aboutā€¦now.)

4. I discovered that 1 tablespoon of virgin coconut oil, dried garlic and other seasonings can really jazz up regular spaghetti (the aforementioned seasonings were my original toppings for the spaghetti squash; not as healthy, but I was having spaghetti one way or another!)

5. I discovered that I CAN tell someone about my Work in Progress!Ā  I did it in email form, but it really helped me to sit down and think about it, and Iā€™m so happy!Ā  Thatā€™s like, half a query letter right there, see productive, ha!

6. I discovered that I found a great method of plotting out my story that I can stick with ā€¦but I have way too much procrastinating to do before I sit back down and play with said story.

7. I discovered that itā€™s hard to write about the bleak and depressing parts of the novel when Iā€™m too goofy to settle down and compose my own thoughts.

8. I discovered that even though Iā€™m a really goofy, silly person who can laugh at anything, when I sit down to write, I have a weird librarian voice going on in my head.Ā  Whatā€™s up with that?

9. I discovered that coffee is such a joy and comfort to me in the mornings.Ā  I already knew that but itā€™s always worth mentioning things Iā€™m grateful for. (Is it ludicrous that I automatically edited in my head: ā€œā€¦for which Iā€™m grateful.ā€Ā  Really?)

10. I discovered that quite possibly the number one reason that Iā€™m so distracted, and kinda goofy is the fact that Iā€™m not listening to any music right now.

So, after getting myself another cup, Iā€™ll flick on the Pandora Radio, and get back to The Novel!