Now get back to work!
If you write flash fiction…check this contest out.
Deadline May 31st. Critique available for an additional $10.
WOW! Women On Writing Quarterly Flash Fiction Contest: Guest Judge, Literary Agent Wendy Sherman.
http://writingnag.blogspot.com/2009/05/filling-silence.html
I’m getting the idea that posting the same post at both of my Writing Nag blogs isn’t helping my reach. So until I figure out what I want to do with my blogs I’m going to post on one or the other.
I am one of those people who thrive on deadlines, nothing brings on inspiration more readily than desperation.
Harry Shearer
I should have written this quote. Due to my procrastinating nature deadlines are what drives me. Yesterday I entered a poetry contest, deadline April 30th. I wanted to enter 3 contests but I waited until it was too late so I had to pick just one. Procrastinating makes my neck and shoulders tense up, gives me horrible headaches, an attitude and a lot of anger towards anything that gets in my way in the final hours before my project, paper or assignment is due. This is something I’ve been working on but as my adviser told me my first semester its become part of my writing process so work with it not against it. With that advise I’m extending the following idea to you.
Today is May 1st, TODAY, research contests, dates, assignments, goals you want to accomplish in May. Print out or use a calendar with big spaces. If the deadline for a contest is May 31st put it on your calendar for May 17th. Imagine how good you will feel when you finish something way before its due. Set appointments with yourself to complete work and don’t break the appointment for anything or anyone.
Ask yourself these questions.
What is one thing I could do this month:
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag
For the last day of National Poetry Month read How to Be A Poet | eHow.com.
A page of my journal is like a cake of portable soup. A little may be diffused into a considerable portion.
James Boswell
I continued with my journaling last semester. When you find something that works its hard to give it up, and I’m not saying that all writers should journal I just find it to be an invaluable tool. First, it gets all the stuff out that I’m worrying about that has nothing to do with creative writing, kind of a dumping ground for my brain. Next, it gives me a focus for the day. If I just sit and write in my journal than everything else seems doable. And lastly, the journal entries are really fun to read months and years after you wrote them. These little bits of personal history tell me a lot about where my head was not only as a writer.
At the writer’s conference Jeffery Deaver gave a very funny talk using his past journal entries. I think some of them were embellished, creative license he is after all a writer, but because he is a very successful writer it was fun to listen to his entries when he wasn’t so famous. It was all in there self-doubt, self-deprecation, humor, stories about the ways he procrastinated.
I recently found my own journal from 1993 that gave me some interesting story and poetry starters. But it also gave me detailed memories of a time 16 years ago I would have never remembered.
Today, if you have no idea how you would start journaling take one of Bernadette Mayer’s ideas and just begin. This is a great list I found online when I was researching her poem, Midwinter Day.Now get back to work!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag
James N. Frey spoke at the PPW Writing Conference last night, his 10 Rules of Writing was just what the participants needed to hear. Affirming the reasons they get up every morning and write.
“Smell brings to mind… a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years.”
Diane Ackerman
A Natural History of the Senses
Here are two memorable smells that Ackerman captures in words. “Violets smell like sugar cubes that have been dipped in lemon and velvet,” She writes this is what writers do “define one smell by another smell or another sense.” “A Peace rose smells like sugared leather dipped in honey.” I highly recommend this book not only for writers and poets but for anyone who is interested in the world of our senses.
Today, spend some time writing about smells or look through your writing and find where you are missing lush descriptions of senses. Try to write about the smell of the ocean, a garden, your mother’s kitchen, a classroom, a new book, a spring morning, your dinner last night, a favorite perfume… Now get back to work!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag
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Fiction
Jena Isle – “Was Love Meant to Last Forever?” - Is there such a thing as eternal love? A story of love’s imperfections.
About Writing
Roy – “Getting back to poetry… my real reflection” - Rediscovering my love for poetry writing…
Izzy Daniels – “Maximizing Your Writing Time: Ideas! I need Ideas!” - Ways to come up with ideas for your writing, and maximizing your outline in order to avoid having to go back.
Poetry / Poetic Fiction
Zorlone – “Ancient Cities” - We are awed by the presence of astounding skyscrapers, sturdy bridges, and majestic monuments. They are in one way or the other influenced by the ancient cities from all over the world.
Deeptesh Sen – “Time Travel” - It’s the creation of a surreal city which you can reach through your mirrors by means of time travel.The vehicle for this telepathic transport is a symphony.
Dragon Blogger – “Unlikeable” - A random word poem about a person who is simply unlikeable.
Gabriel Gadfly – “Shelter” - Two creatures cross paths at the junction of life and death.
Zorlone - “A Gentle Touch” - An intimate beauty of lovers sharing their passion for one another.
Brought to you by PlotDog Press with the Serial Suspense Screenplay “Intervention”
Presenting the finest of the writer’s blogs by the bloggers who write them. Highlighting the top posts as chosen by the April 17, 2009 WOOF Contest participants. Want in to join the next WOOF? The next contest ends April 24. Submit a link to your best writing post of the last 3 weeks using the form on this page.
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