Mars, Status Update, and Planning…
First off, happy belated 8th anniversary to the Mars Rover Opportunity! I think it’s so very awesome that it’s still going!
Status Update:
OK, so I haven’t written since Sunday, because of going away for a trade show for work Monday through Wednesday, and being too darned tired to write yesterday or this morning… But leaving that aside, I think my first month has gone very well. 
The first draft has 20,528 words, and while it isn’t *finished,* I have a good idea of how the last part of the story goes. So I’m going to settle for writing a summary of what happens next in case I come back to it later, and move on to the next one in accordance with my plan.
I definitely think I’ve learned from the experience of my first month, though nothing solid enough to really talk about. I’m looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring!
Planning:
Speaking of which, for February I’m going to try to pattern my writing as follows:
First week: Introduce the characters, the world, and the key problems, as well as complications.
Second week: The characters try to address their problems and make things worse, but there are hints of what the final resolution will be.
Third week: Achieve the final resolution and tie up loose ends.
Week four: Work on short stories, and maybe put one up for sale on Amazon. This’ll give me a chance to let go of the last long story and its pattern before starting the next one. It’ll also let me start building up a body of work for sale, for readers to find me by.
In fact, I think that’s what I’m going to work on this coming week, as January ends and February begins. I think I might take a fresh look at Changing Course.
I’ve been seeing a lot of short stories published as stand-alones for $0.99, and even bought a couple, so it seems like a more reasonable idea to me than it once did. What do you guys think? A decent way to put stuff out there for new readers to find?
Site Stuff
I’m adding the scintillas back to the main page as of today. While I had moved them off to their own page in an effort to avoid confusing new visitors, I think I sent my subconscious the message that they were unimportant, or unwelcome, and killed all my motivation for posting them. :-p
So, here they are, back in prominent front-page position.
I enjoy doing the scintillas, and you guys seem to enjoy them too, so hopefully it’s all good! I’m keeping the short story page and scintilla page in the navigation bar up top, since I like the idea of making it easy to look at just one category or the other. (Though you can do that using the category links or the tags in the sidebar too.)
What do you think?
Shifting things around…
So, I’m trying out a new theme… I did consider a yellow background, but I just loved the blue.
I’ve also shifted the Daily Scintillas to their own page (check out the new tabs in the nav-bar above) to help de-clutter the home page a little. Brian mentioned that the scintillas might be confusing for new visitors, especially since there are generally a lot more of those than short stories or commentary.
So… what do you think?
Welcome, Accomplished Daydreamer Readers!
Welcome, visitors from The Accomplished Daydreamer! Settle in, take a look around, let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s anything you would like to see.
You can read more about my new short story collection, The Trouble With Wishes.
If you’re interested in more short stories, You can start from the beginning, use the tag cloud to the right to find topics you’re interested in, or try one from a little later in the challenge. (How can you go wrong with zombies and yoga?)
I had a ball writing the guest post for Laura! A lot of my readers might enjoy her blog too. It’s completely different from mine, and yet we share a lot of similar views when it comes to pursuing what you want to do. You might enjoy her post on making pita bread, for instance, or one of her show and tell posts about what she’s been making lately. (I love how that hat came out!)
Thanks again!
© 2010 Catherine Wechsler, used with permission.
I’m back! (I hope)
Hi everyone!
I’m sorry for the long and unplanned hiatus here at AntheaStrezze.com. I have lots of excuses which aren’t really that interesting, so let’s move right on to what I’m planning to do going forward.
The story a week challenge was fun, but takes up enough time and energy that I’m not planning to do it again any time soon. On the other hand, it was really useful to have the accountability of posting my writing progress here. Therefore, one of the things I intend to do going forward is to post here saying whether I’ve written anything or not, every day.
That in itself wouldn’t be very interesting, though, so I have also been thinking about what *I* like to read in blogs, and what the whole point of this blog is.
I have found that most of the author blogs (and blogs in general, really) that I read regularly are ones where the blogger is just posting about what’s going on in their life. There might be a theme, but a lot of what informs that theme is just day-to-day observation. I figure if I like to read that, so might you, and I might enjoy posting that way too.
A while ago, I wrote myself a mission statement: “to nurture a sense of wonder in myself and others through sincerity, questioning assumptions, and story.” In light of that, I’m also going to work on posting stuff I like and find interesting or wonder-inspiring more often – starting tomorrow, since this post is getting long as it is.
So that’s it: daily posts, day-to-day life and observations, stuff I think is cool, and a note each day on whether I have written or not. I hope it’ll be fun to write and fun to read, and comments are always welcome!
Thanks.
Writing note: I am happy to say that I HAVE written today!
Edit: I’m also trying out a new site title: Nurturing Wonder. What do you think?
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