Day 8 - Build

Today is mid-way through Jeff Goins' Great Writers' series. Throughout this series I have only been giving highlights.  To get more information including additional links, etc check out the challenge link above

Today is all about The Difference Between Starting and Building

Jeff explains the fundamental difference between starting something and actually building it.

“Building” something creatively happens the same it does in the “real” world — with a lot of sweat and pain and grunting. It’s not easy; if it is, you’re doing it wrong.

So what does this look like when it comes to writing? It means showing up and doing the work, day-in and day-out. If you’re not doing this already, you need to be.

Why do we need discipline?
Jeff tells us that we need discipline because one discipline begets another. Take up the habit of jogging or working out and just see how it affects the way you approach the rest of life.

Because it’s good for you. If you take writing seriously, you’ll do serious (i.e. better) work.

Today's challenge:
So let’s build something. You don’t need to start another project you’ll never finish. You already probably have enough of those. Instead, I want you to do something truly creative:
He wants us to finish something. Anything, really. Just pick a project — an essay, a blog post, maybe even a book — and finish it. Not tomorrow. Today.
It should never take longer than 30 minutes to finish anything. If it does, you’re not breaking the project up into enough chunks. Which will lead to stalling, your worst enemy.
Find something and move it across the finish line. Then do the same thing tomorrow. And the day after that. And so on.
If you’re still doing this in a month, you’re building something. Until then, you’re just managing tasks. Pick a few that are worth your time, and keep with them. Your work deserves this.

For a Bonus assignment he wants us to
Pick a handful of people (no more than 20, but no fewer than two) and ask them to come “onboard” for a project you’re working on. What do you do with this team once you’ve assembled it? Anything you want.
Use this group to launch a book or proofread a piece or test your website. Start a conversation on a blog or in a coffee shop and find ways for everyone to help each other. Whatever you do, be specific. You’ll get what you ask for.

To conclude: A writer doesn’t just start things; she finishes them. Do this enough, and you actually build something worth paying attention to

Personally I have had an extremely busy week at work with a looming deadline today, so I have not been doing much building.  I am hoping that I can start getting back to it now that the deadline is over.   

I have truly enjoyed this challenge but the timing has not been good for me.  I am not giving up though, just resetting!  Would anyone be willing to proofread/critique for me when I have something down?

PhotoPrompt Monday

I managed to combine these two photos from PhotoPrompt Monday for another story.  I love both of these photos.  They "say" so much!

This photo courtesy of Susan Kane at the contemplative cat

"Hey Honey, it's ok", Caitlin's grandpa bends over to sooth her as she sits on the sidewalk with a scraped knee. 

Caitlin is a bit of a  clutz.  As they walked into the antique show, she hadn't noticed the pile of what appeared to her to be junk on the ground waiting to be displayed on the row of tables lined up.  Tripping on a few of the items, she went down quickly and surprising herself more than anything.

Her Grandpa Martin helped her up, telling her how brave she was.  She courageously brushed herself off as they proceeded to walk through the displays.  Caitlin didn't see what the big deal was about antiques.  It all looked like junk to her.  Why would anyone want anyone's old stuff?

Her grandpa wanted her to see some of the things that he and her grandma had as children.  She had passed away a few months ago, and he was doing anything he could to bring her back, show Caitlin who she was.  He pointed out old games and car trains.  He told her stories about his childhood playing with these toys with his sister and neighborhood children.  The memories rolled in for Grandpa Martin.

Caitlin was fascinated with the stories and quickly forgot about her knee.  They stopped in for an old fashioned rootbeer float before going to the other toys.  That's when they saw it.

Photo submitted by thefeatherednest

 

Sitting on the end of the table was an old fashioned baby carriage with two beautiful dolls.  As Caitlin ran up to the dolls for a closer look, her grandpa suddenly froze.  Those were his wife's dolls.  How did they get here?  A rush of memories came to him as he watched Caitlin carefully pick up the dolls, cradling them in her arms.  She was instantly drawn to them as all the memories of the dolls came back to him.  These had been gifts for Caitlin's grandmother for the celebration of Caitlin's mom's birth, as well as her aunt.  The nursing home must have donated them to an antique dealer when she passed away. 

The next thing he knew, Grandpa Martin was shelling out money to purchase the two dolls.  He couldn't bare to imagine them being in anyone else's home, and Caitlin admired them as well.  This needed to be done to keep them in the family.  In years to come, Caitlin would have her own story to tell about the dolls.

Day 7 - Start (Make it Ugly)

Day 7 of Jeff Goins' Writers Challenge is to Start Something and Make it Ugly First.  He tells us:
Before it can be beautiful — before it can look like it does in your head — it will first have to be thrown-together and messy.

You can first make it ugly, or not make it at all. There is nothing else.
All creation comes from chaos. All works of art begin as splotches of paint on a canvas. It’s never beautiful at first. Before your work can reach its potential, it will first have to be bad.
The only way to start

When we choose to start with ugly, we do the following:
We actually create something (instead of continuing to dream about it).
We grow. We learn what works and what doesn’t.
We get the chance to make it better.
This is the hardest part of creating anything, but also the most important: starting. Without it, there is no project. Whatever you do, don’t leave it at ugly. But you have to start there. It’s where we all begin.

Today's challenge is to:
Make something ugly. And leave it ugly (temporarily). Be okay with it. Then share it with a few people you trust (feel free to use the comments here, if you like) and look for feedback. Find stuff you can improve and slowly move it towards beautiful.

I have started something ugly for sure!  I finally started writing a novel I have been wanting to write last week and IT IS UGLY!  I have added parts later that I didn't talk about in the beginning.  I have skipped over issues that will be important later, and I have gotten lazy with punctuation (which internally drives me crazy but I was on a role).  It is GRUESOME!...But it's down on paper, started.

That's a START

What about you?  Any projects in the ugly stage?  Any projects that need to be started and put in the ugly stage?

PhotoPrompt Monday

Thank you to Arlene at Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe for submitted this great photo of her daughter this week!

"Hurry!  Take the picture!", I say through clenched teeth.  My knees are shaking from the realization that I am over a thousand feet up.  I can't breathe.  I just want to sit and catch my breath...away from this rock...on solid ground.

"Look at the beautiful view", he shouts. 

"I can't"  My voice is shaking almost as much as my knees.  I need to get off this rock, quickly!

As he snaps the picture I scramble to get down off the rock.  My knees start shaking and I feel myself falling.  NO!

I think I'm screaming but I'm not hearing anything.  I can't see anything either.  Time seems to stop.

The next thing I know, I feel his strong, solid arms around me.  He comes up the rock, sets me down, and holds me tight.  "It's ok".

I feel myself relax and fall deeper into him.  I can't even move.  My feet are sore from rocks in my shoes, my shins are screaming at me, and my knees are wondering what happened.

"Ready to go back down?"

I groan as I get back onto my feet.  He slowly guides me back to solid ground.  With my footing again, I am rejuvenated.  I can do this!

Before heading down, I look over the rock.  What an amazing sight...from a distance

Day 6 - Steal

 

Today is Day 6 Jeff Goins' challenge and today's lesson is to STEAL.  WHAT?!?!?!

OK, so here him out.  It makes sense.



Stealing 101

Good artists copy. Great artists steal.

—Picasso

Jeff explains that a good writer curates. She scoops up all the little pieces of inspiration around her, melding and mashing them, putting it all together in a hodgepodge mosaic that makes something new.

He says that sometimes, we don’t even realize we do this, but we all do it. Great artists borrow from other artists. They meld together pieces of the chaotic mess we all call life, and they end up with a whole new creation.

His challenge for today is:

Find a quote or a painting or some form of inspiration — and steal it. Make it your own. Attribute it — give credit where it’s due — but don’t be afraid to use it. Let someone else’s work springboard you into your own.

Give up on your pursuit of originality and genius and just find something that inspires you. Borrow from your friends and heroes and mash it all up into something that looks, feels, and sounds like you.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes

If you can imagine it, you can create it.  if you dream it, you can become it.  --William Arthur Ward

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.  --Theodore Roosevelt

You have to have a darkness...for the dawn to come.  --Harrison Ford

So where did you find your inspiration?

Never Surrender Blogfest

During the second week of June--that's the 11-15--YA Author Elana Johnson is hosting the Never Surrender blogfest. This is something anyone, anywhere can participate in.

All you have to do is blog about a time you didn't surrender. Trained for a marathon? Queried agents? Had to study for an entrance exam? I'm looking for inspirational stories that you have experienced. Hard things you've accomplished because you didn't give up. She wants to be inspired by you!


I have always had an attitude of perseverance, or maybe just stubbornness, but today I decided to post on what I believe is the root of it all. 

When I was about 18 months old, my parents started to notice some problems.  One things led to another and it was discovered that I had a Wilms Tumor, a childhood cancer that affects the kidney. 
I had one of my kidneys removed then went through chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Thankfully I don't remember much about this because I was so young.  One thing I do remember is the first time I didn't cry when they started the chemo treatment.  There were no ports back then so it went straight into my skin as a shot or blood draw.  They strapped a board to the back of my elbow to keep it straight during treament.

Another thing I remember is jumping up and down on my parents bed, looking in the mirror, and seeing my hair grow back!  By this time, I was about 4 years old but it was a BIG DEAL!

This was in the early 70s so not much was known.  I guess I was a bit of a guinea pig and part of a clinic so they could talk about my case.  I had to go back every year until I was 18 for a check up.

For the most part, now I don't even notice any difference other than the scar going all the way down my stomach.  In 2000, I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure as a result of the chemo drug...(And my coaches used to tell me I was just out of shape!)  I'm on a few medications for that and I can be confident that I will never be a star athlete but I am here!

Day 5 - Prepare

I have to admit I am struggling a little today.  I'm really tired after a very stressful day at work.  I didn't get a chance to write as much as I would have liked this morning either.  I did manage to redecorate my blog a little over the weekend.  It's still not exactly what I would like but it's a little closer.

Moving on to Jeff's challenge today...Prepare

He tells us that there is a difference between putting things off and preparing. Preparation is good; procrastination is not. That makes sense, does it? 

Jeff tells us that we know we’re preparing when:
We’re getting better every day.
People keep asking us, “When are you going to publish X?”
We’re building measurable momentum.

His advice is to:

-Ship something. Anything. It doesn’t matter how bad it is, just put it out there.
-Get feedback. If this is an eBook or article idea, even a book proposal, one way you can do this is ask readers, friends, or fans to proofread something you’re working on. Send it to them, give them a deadline, and ask for brutally honest critiques.
-Make it better. Trust your heart and intuition, but also apply some of the feedback you received.
*Repeat until the project is ready to launch.

Ship and tweak, ship and tweak, ship and tweak.

The challenge

Ship it. Put something out there, anything. Don’t wait; move something forward.

If all you’re doing is stalling, what are you really preparing for? Exactly. Nothing.

For me, I think I need true preparation.  I came out with guns blazing last week.  I just wrote.  No outline, no character development, nothing.  Now, I am at a point where I know where I want to go but I don't know how to get there.  And in the meantime, I'm going to need to add more to some areas to make it work and probably take away from other areas.  My preparation is going to be cleaning up and organizing what I have so far.  Then, I will be able to move forward, or have someone read it :0

I've also been thinking about different venues to submit work to but I haven't come across any place in particular yet.  I will keep looking.

Are you preparing or procrastinating?