Tag: #amplanning

Where’s my routine gone?

· Leave a comment ·

Hello,

Where has my writing routine gone?

I remember a time not so long ago when I used to sit down most days and write something. A few words or a lot of words or somewhere in between. I’d also make time to read in any gaps that were presented to me along the way.

Now, though, that seems to have disappeared. I am still writing but its ad-hoc and my motivation is all over the place. It does feel like its creeping its way back to the forefront of my mind and I think I just need to let it happen. But, that’s easier said than done.

It could be because I’m trying to focus on too many things at once. Writing my WIP, finishing my Short Story Course, reading a number of books at the same time, and drawing pictures to accompany said stories.

I’m thinking I need to bring in an actual, written down, schedule to try and keep to. Maybe I could buy a big wall chart or a computer screen the size of my office wall that I can change when….

Hold on. I’m getting ahead of myself now. Take a step back. I’ll just use one of my notepads. That’ll work just as well. The above would take up most of my house. And be slightly more expensive than a notepad one would assume.

This leads me to ask, how do you keep a writing routine?

Advertisement

11 Must-Have Instagram Apps for Writers – by Frances Caballo…

· Leave a comment ·

on Social Media Just for Writers: With all the apps that exist do you know the 11 must-have Instagram apps for writers? I’ve made it easy for you by including the list right here. Being a content creator or an author on Instagram is a very intricate job. Apart from putting out content regularly, it […]

11 Must-Have Instagram Apps for Writers – by Frances Caballo…

Hello,

The article above is a very informative look at how some Instagram apps can help you manage and improve your posts on the photo and video sharing app.

Admittedly, I don’t use Instagram that often and I’ve recently taken a break from it as I was becoming more and more distracted and less and less productive. I did follow different writers and publishers who use Instagram to great effect. I hope to do so when I go back onto the platform in future.

This article gives a short description of apps that help with collating images, utilising captions, editing photos as well as apps offering free images and the ability to schedule times for posts when your followers are usually most active.

The original post was from the site https://socialmediajustforwriters.com/2020/01/20/11-must-have-instagram-apps-for-writers/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11_must_have_instagram_apps_for_writers&utm_term=2020-01-20

But the blue link at the top of this post will give you a snap shot of it, so you don’t have to go to the full post straight away. Its all about options, you know.

I hope you find this useful. Have a good day and thanks for visiting.

Some Kind of Monster. This monster lives.

· 8 Comments ·

Hello,

I take inspiration from many things. Usually, it’s during my day job (The odd comment I ‘accidentally’ overhear mostly) or when I’m out running. But mainly it comes from when I’m watching movies. I’ve always enjoyed watching sci-fi and western movies with the occasional monster movie in-between. Like everyone who enjoys films, I have watched plenty of the awesome as well as plenty of the abysmal. But I keep watching them. Even bad movies inspire me with how not to do something.

Like I said, having watched my fair share of monster movies (such as Godzilla, Clash of the Titans, Attack on Titan, and many others) I have always wanted to write a monster story of my own. But, for whatever reason, I have put it off. Until now.

Most recently, I have been focusing on a short story for a competition. I managed to get it finished before the deadline. That story is about two hunters, more concerned with getting plaudits than actually doing their job efficiently, and the giant lizard they are pursuing. When I clicked ‘submit’ and then wondered what to work on next, that lizard started to slither its way through my thoughts. But that lizard kept growing and went from twelve feet long by six feet wide (In the short story) and got a lot bigger. MUCH bigger.

UC5Ms46

Guess what influenced my story. You’ll never get it.

Anyway, in most of my other stories, I have included demons and dragons but never have I ever written a story with a big monster at its centre. I have my idea, and I’ve started to write. The beast is mid-rampage through Manchester City Centre, and I have one man who wants to get up close and see and another who is too close and has no idea what to do. I have started to write, and the story is moving along well enough. Each man is learning, and each is getting closer to the monster and who they are. However, I am beginning to wonder, should I work on the history of the monster first before starting to write a story about it? As in, should I create a full profile of the monster before I continue?

I know the origin of the monster, and I think I’m going to link it to other attacks from different countries. Or possibly keep it contained to the United Kingdom.

All this leads me to my question, have you written a monster-centric story, and how did you go about preparing for it?

Thank you and have a good day.

 

Another break. Another return.

· Leave a comment ·

Would you look at that? Its been too long (12th August was my last post) and I again have no reason for it. This seems to be a bit of trend with me nowadays. So, lets see if I can break this down and find out why I haven’t posted in a while.

Most days I hear by blog crying and having a go at me. Why aren’t updating me? What did I do? I hate you! No wait, no I don’t hate you. You created me. My blogging existence was only possible because of you. I love you!!

And so on.

My last post was the first few pages of my last finished story. I posted this to get some feedback, which I did and it was very useful. Then, I remember wanting to wait a while (a few weeks) to see if any more feedback would come. Alas, none did.

Then, I wanted to post but I decided too…. too…write another story! That’s it! It’s all coming back to me now.

I decided to write a story and focus on this alone. The story is actually a side story to go along with my main WIP that I started to write 3 years ago. I’ve been thinking about and have wanted to complete my main WIP since I started writing oh so many more years ago. The side story concerns Steven (The hero of my main WIP) who has been chosen to be one of a select few who must guard and protect all the realms (Earth being one of them) from each other when needed. Reluctantly, he was recruited and trained by the previous protectors who had grown very old and weary and could not continue to do their jobs. In total, there are 6 main protectors who have been recruited. They must recruit others to help defend the realms alongside them. However, the new protectors have to contend with old, bitter ones who wish to cause chaos…

Dun Dun Dunnnn!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cphNpqKpKc4

So far, I have written 55,992 words of my main WIP. I only realised when I started to write it that 50,000 is only a small part of the story. A really small part. With this in mind, I have decided to write side stories that will accompany the main story or potentially will be mixed into the main WIP in due course.

My thinking behind this is to write a novella or maybe novel-length stories for each of my main 6 protagonists. Each story will take each one on an adventure away from the others and see how they get on and have their characters grow. The first side story involving Steven has him thrown into a medieval type realm and an adventure with a Princess. Strangely enough, I have had not the ending of this story in my head but rather the moment they see each other again 6 months after their adventure finishes. This plays out in my head every time a particular song, Katherine Jenkins version of Hallelujah, comes on my MP3 player. It always goes the same way but before I can write that, I need to write the story that sets it up.

I used NaNoWriMo 2018 to write most of and ultimately move along with this side story. As a result, I am almost finished having reached the 50,000 target and in total, I have written 55,992 so far. I am taking a break at the moment for Christmas to concentrate on my reading but will get back to it soon. But not before posting on this poor neglected blog of mine.

As I have now successfully completed NaNoWriMo for the 4th time I will endeavour to use it to kick start my writing again and in particular my blogging activity. Here’s hoping I stick to it. Or I will see in 3 months or so.

Have a good day! And here is a quote that I have only recently found and really like.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

The joys of my own writing. For now, anyway.

· Leave a comment ·

Hello,

For the past month or so I’ve been working on two things:

    NANoWriMo 2015

    Course work.

 

Both have now been completed. Well, the course has been completed for now. One assignment down and one exam to go (In April). I have enjoyed working on the assignment and I’ve learned a lot along the way but working in front of a computer all day and then coming home to…working in front of a computer is tiring and makes me hate my laptop.

This also made me absent from my blog. A thing that has eaten away at me during all the coursework that left me with a bad back and not wanting to be in front of my laptop. Oh, my laptop, I never thought I would hate the sight of you but the last few days I have. Sorry laptop (you’d think I’d have a name for him by now)

Anyway, all the time away has let me think about what I want to do with my 2016 writing wise. The first thing I thought about was finishing my NaNoWriMo story. But then I remembered that even after 50,000 words, I only around 1/3 through that story. And I need to make a lot of notes to make the story work and bring all the elements together. I worked mostly from memory with some notes but seeing how big the story will be, I might give a timeline or storyboard a try. What do you think?

What method works well when planning a large, and possibly epic, style story?

This story has been growing for years so I want it to work. But then I read the following quote:

Ray-Bradbury-quote

And I got to thinking. I want to enter more competitions in 2016 and to increase my following across my Blog, Twitter and Facebook feeds. These are my two initial goals for 2016. I’m aiming to push myself towards this by writing a short story each week. For as many weeks as I am able. Or can be bothered too if I’m honest. I do have ideas enough to write short stories with so I’m hoping that the first few will spark all the others. I’ll probably end up writing stories about people I see out and about. I’ll have to make sure to not look too creepy if I end up people watching for story ideas.

It’s good to get back into the blog writing groove. I look forward to 2016 and more of the same.

Thank you for your time.

Bye!

The more I write the more the ideas keep flowing.

· Leave a comment ·

Hello

 

I finished Eriden Grainger’s little yarn about how she has fared since the events of ‘The Town of the Mountain’ took place. I mentioned last time that she had a lot of worries on her plate. She still does by the end of the story but she now has a clearer idea of what value she may have to Manchester and its demon problem.

As she arrives in Manchester she is welcomed by a policeman who is flanked by five more policeman. Is this some kind of welcome wagon you may ask? Not really. The policeman is not so subtly letting Eriden know that he is scared of her. She finds out that none of the police on show, and probably most of the ones that aren’t, believe in the hunters or value them in anyway. Despite Markus’s already titanic efforts to reduce the demon population. Once she finds this out, she knows that she can’t wait to get to work and prove them wrong. She watches a local news report and see’s Markus being interviewed after his heroics which have been charted in his own short story. He then pays her a visit and fills her in a little bit more. I have always liked linking stories together using only one or two lines or just a small paragraph. Anytime this happens in a film or in a book I get excited. I just don’t want to do it too often though. It is helping me move these stories along so I’ll keeping doing it for now but I’ll stop soon. Honest.

And a related note, at the rate I’m going with planning the second book I’m asking myself, should I start writing it soon? No, I shall not. I’ll need to do plenty of planning and note writing before I do that. I might do it for NaNoWriMo this year. Hmm…..I’ve just paused for a few minutes while writing this to contemplate something I’m going to do in November. I always disliked people who relentlessly wish their lives away. Maybe my impending 31st birthday is making me think like a grown up or summat. I dunno. Whatever.

Other than the above, I’ve had a quiet week. I applied for a new job. I went out for drinks for a friend’s birthday, chilled on Saturday and won £14 betting on the Champions League final (cheers Mr Ramos), visited a food festival before more drinks and watched the latest X-Men movie. Come to think of it, maybe my week hasn’t been that quiet.

I’m going now.

Bye Bye