A Parody

I am a member of an Author’s online writer’s workshop. Every so often she gives us challenges and assignments to keep us on our toes in our writing and try pushing us to do more than we normally would.

Well the newest challenge starts today. We are to step out of our comfort zone; i.e. writing, reading, read something we normally wouldn’t or write something we wouldn’t normally. Then for the next five weeks, write 500 words a day, five days a week.

I think I can handle this challenge, it seems manageable enough for me. I hope.

I started off by getting a book that is definitely out of my norm. It's a Parody of a popular Young Adult series. When I picked it up and read the back I knew it was going to be silly, that is the whole point right? But I assumed it would be a funny stupid.

This book is not a funny stupid. It is, by far, a ridiculous stupid. 151 pages of absolutely painful ludicrous words, and I am only 77 pages into it. The price of this book is $13.95 and I am just thankful that I borrowed it instead of spending actual money on this absurd waste of a tree. Poor tree. I would be pissed if I would have even wasted Monopoly money on this thing.

I get that Parody’s are meant to be mocking. But being a published item, it should have at least been edited to a better degree. Missing punctuation, ill grammar, sentences that jump to and fro that make you go what the heck just happened?

Okay, Okay, enough gripping about it, sorry. So my first shot of stepping out of my box was a failure, but I will not let it deter me in continuing out of my comfort area.

Now I’m off to my 500 words, till next time.

Back Up Plan

The rule of thumb is to have back up to your writing. Do not just keep one copy of anything.

I have had a near heart stopping experience when my laptop went out on me and I thought I had lost EVERYTHING because I had only saved my work on the laptop. (You might remember that posting labeled Not So Funny posted on 01-27-10)

After that night I made sure I had several back up plans to anything I was working on. I went out and purchased my very first flash drive (Yes I have been behind in the times, I have been told that I need to join the new millennium.) and I saved everything I had onto this flash drive.

Then to back up THAT plan I started emailing myself at work and keeping a file there, just in case. On top of that I opened a strictly writing email account, one that only holds emailed copies of my work as I finish each writing night.

So I thought I was good to go, I took ALL precautions possible. Right?

Well what in the world do you do when your flash drive crashes in the midst of writing and you hadn’t had a chance to go through your twenty minute saving process?
I’ll tell you what you do… You call your husband crying in the hopes he can whip out some magic over the phone powers for you.

After he tells you to calm down – Don’t you hate it when someone says “Calm down, it will be okay” when in fact it is not okay? – You hang up and curse him to the pits of Hell. Even though you know it is not his fault your electronics hate you so much.

Then you growl at the blasted computer and go take a nice long bath and read a good book. Well, this is what I did last night.

Luckily for me, my husband is a freaking genius and managed to pull apart my newest enemy, saving everything onto his own laptop. So I didn’t lose anything this time.

But how do we solve major/minor problems such as these? Am I going to have to stop every few minutes and save my WIP in ten different areas so I won’t have to feel the gripping fear of losing anything again? At what point am I spending more time fretting over if it is saved or not than I am writing the actual story? Even now writing this post I have saved it seven times…

Maybe the real problem is me, appliances and electronics just do not care for my presence.

Achilles heel

Hope everyone one had a great 4th of July. I know I did, I love fireworks!!!

What I do not love is when life sometimes feels like everything is crashing down around you. And that is how I have felt lately. I need a break, or a vacation, whichever came first I'd take it for sure.

So we all know I have my ups and downs when it comes to my writing. Well right now I am at a DOWN... way down there at the bottom of the hill to the point of I am not sure if I will ever see light again.

I have finished very few projects. It is my Achilles heel, finishing a WIP.

I had been so determined to finish this one, I am sitting at around 50,000 words and I can't seem to make myself sit down and go forward. I am 2/3 done, I mainly just need to finish the story and then go back through it to edit like hell and add filler. But I just don't seem to be in the mood. For anything, not just writing. I know what my issue is, I just do not seem to know how to get over it and move on.

Again, back to that dire need of a vacation is in order. Too bad I do not see one in my close future. Instead, I see even less time for myself or writing for the next few months. And I think that just depresses me right out of doing the things I enjoy.

What can I do to jump back on my wagon? My original goal had been to finish Mady's story by the end of June, then I pushed it back to the end of summer. Well folks, the end of my summer is July 31st and my hopes of being finished with the first draft are not high, not even in the middle...

If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.
Till next time...