3rd Note About Everyday Writing

Okay, so "everyday" writing has become more like "once or twice a week" writing.

Don't misunderstand, I'm engaged in the act of writing every single day. Writing songs, jotting down notes from daily Bible readings, annotating books as I read them and then writing reviews on this blog, jotting down Japanese words and translations while I watch J-dramas for listening practice, writing emails, writing movie and J-drama reviews on this blog, and maybe a few other things that I'm forgetting. It wasn't until I decided to insert a little creative writing back into my life that I realized that I'm already writing all the time as it is. I don't know why I just had to add to it with this "Everyday Writing" challenge. But I was up late and greatly inspired when I made that decision, and even though I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be I don't want to stop. If I can respond to 1-3 prompts a week, then I'm okay with that. Now, onto what I've learned.

The biggest lesson I've learned during these past two weeks is that drawing material from my own life is an excellent tool to get and keep those creative gears turning! In no way do I mean just writing about myself all the time, though sometimes a personal story bests suits the prompt at hand. For me, it's difficult to just come up with something out of the blue, especially if a prompt involves situations/phenomena/objects that I either don't care about or I'm not personally familiar with. When I try to write something from nothing, it feels forced, I end up trying too hard, and the work ends up feeling quite empty. But if I can make something about the prompt even the slightest bit familiar to me, like the motivation behind why a character decides to rename herself, or the name of the place where a character gets gypped out of paying too much for parking, that makes all the difference. That little sliver of familiarity helps ground me as the writer of the story, and I no longer feel like I'm desperately grasping at straws. Once I've set this sort of home base, I feel more confident being playful and venturing into the unknown as I write. And I find the story flows better too. So, to sum it up, this fortnight's lesson is to draw from what you know and use that as a springboard to be imaginative and push yourself!

And lastly, my favorite prompt this time around was the wackiest one and the most fun to respond to:

WPTDS #8: What if?

What happens next? You figure it out.

A schizophrenic patient who thinks he/she is Jesus escapes from a mental health institution. Write what happens next.

Happy writing! See you in two weeks!

2nd Note About Everyday Writing

Alright! So it's been two weeks. What have I learned?

First. As I suspected, writing every single day is a lot harder to keep up than I'd anticipated. Maybe it was unrealistic to begin with? Dunno. Anyway, rather than a hard-and-fast rule, I keep writing everyday in mind as a goal to keep me motivated to just write something. Like drinking a gallon of water everyday. It'd be nice to achieve, but if I don't check it off completely, it's not the worst thing in the world. As long as I'm taking time to jot down ideas multiple times a week, then I'm okay with that. Which brings me to my next point.

Second. "Writing everyday" doesn't have to mean "finishing a story everyday". Especially not if I want the story to be halfway decent, and if I want to have even a semblance of a life outside of my journal. To be honest, during these past two weeks I've only completed six of Steph Buchanan's Writing Prompts that Don't Suck. This is due in part to a laziness and lack of ideas, but it's also due to the fact that I had to spread the writing out. In fact, two of the stories I wrote took me three days each to complete! I don't like feeling rushed when I'm trying to do things well, and I  guess this creative writing thing is no different.

Third and last. I've decided against sharing any more of my responses to prompts. Unless I happen to write something super short. Maybe. Dunno. Instead, every two weeks I'll post my favorite of the prompts that I completed during that length of time. My favorite for this week was the most difficult for me to write, and it's the story that I felt most invested in while writing it:

 WPTDS #4: Beginnings and Endings

Start with: Every morning, she wrote down another reason not to nuke the planet. 

End with: She found that the green glass complimented her decor quite nicely. 

Here's to another two weeks. Happy writing!

A Note About Everyday Writing

At first, I'd planned to post all of my daily writings here in response to WPTDS prompts, but then it occurred to me that maybe I shouldn't give all the goods away for free. Plus it'll get pretty crowded here if I do that.

So though I will be writing in a journal everyday, I'll only post one of my writings once a week or every two weeks, I haven't decided. But trust, I am writing! And you'll be able to read some of it if you like! Here's Day 1 again to hold you over until next time.

Everyday Writing - Day 1

While I was up late last night listening to a podcast and thinking about things way past what should've been my bed time, I had a great idea! I'm going to start writing creatively again! Three years I've been running this blog, and I still love it, but it's gotten a little stale for me. Most of the time I write about other people's work or about things that happen to me (which I'll continue to do and is creative in its own way, mind you), but I realized late last night that I hardly take the time to use my voice to create something new. Flex those imaginative muscles. So with the help of Steph Buchanan's Writing Prompts that Don't Suck, I'm challenging myself to see what I can do. Everyday, starting today. Let's get started.

WPTDS #1: Person, Place, Thing

Write a story using these three things: a paper clip, a hospital, an exotic dancer

"I mean, Blue. I like stalling like the best of them. But you know waiting out your nerves from inside the building is an option too."

"I told you I don't like hospitals. Take me home."

"What about the lobby? I'll go in with you and we can sit together."

"The lobby still counts, Violet. Besides, I'm already stuck with you holding me hostage in this car."

"Well, you wouldn't have to be stuck with me if you'd just go up and see him. Everybody's been to visit him except for you. He'll be disappointed if you don't show your face."

"Wouldn't he be more disappointed knowing that I was tricked into coming?  I'm minding my business enjoying my nap when you wake me up yelling, 'Hey cousin! Let's go for some red velvet!'.  I get in the car and you bring us here. Does this look like a bakery to you? I put pants on for this! You owe me for lying and for wasting my time. I'll accept payment in the form of the cake you promised, an apology, taking me home, and not saying another word to me for the rest of the─"

"Fine! I'll do that. Okay? I'm sorry. You win! But let's go in there first. Come on, now. You don't have to say 'Sorry it took me so long' or any of that. Just tell him 'Hi' and 'I love you' and we can leave."

"Nah. I'm good. Take me home, and take that stupid paper clip out of your hair before you try to tell me anything about anything! You look silly."

"Hey now! You know I got all this hair that gets in the way when I'm working. They already don't like to have girls with natural hair up on that pole, so I need to at least see what I'm doing. I get paid to be seductive, not fall on my behind. And I keep losing bobby pins, so I improvised. I told you it was cute when you did it."

"That's because it was cute when I did it.  Stop playing games with me, Violet. Please just take me home. I won't go in there and see him looking like that. I know the real Grandpa, and the real Grandpa's not just somebody's hospital patient."

"Looking like what? How would you know when you haven't even seen him yet? It's not like he's dying, Blue. He'll be back home by next week." 

"But he was sick enough to be cooped up in there in the first place though, right? Well then. That's just not something I can handle. I'll see him when y'all bring him home."

"Girl! For real! He's in there. Eighth floor. In his bed, checking each person who passes by his door, trying his hardest to see out the window, looking for you. Haven't you made him wait long enough? He's expecting you!"

"No he's not."

"I bet you a red velvet and a pineapple upside-down that he is."

"...Hold up. Y-You told him I was coming?! No way! How do I know this isn't another trick?"

"Wanna risk flaking on Grandpa and breaking his heart to find out?"

"Ugh, alright fine! Make me sick, a girl can't even take a nap and─Violet let me out of this car! Not gonna have me lookin' like a jerk on account of you. Play too much. Let's go! I'm telling Grandpa about all this. And you still owe me cake!"