Let's Toast Your Success

Did you get any writing done? I got maybe a page. However, I've written 1200 words since BIAW ended. So perhaps it did some good.

Even if you didn't accomplish your writing goals, hopefully you spent some time thinking about your writing and placing it higher on your priority list. With all of the other hats we wear during the day, it is hard to remember that we are writers and we owe it to ourselves to indulge our passion.

OH, Come ON! Can't you BLEEPING WRITE?

No Chef! Yes, Chef! Sorry Chef!

As you can see, Dirty Harry's warm, cuddly approach hasn't had its desired effect and I'm moving on to Chef Gordon Ramsay of Hell's Kitchen fame. I have been an utter slug about writing until the evening and suddenly I caught literary fire. But then my hubby got home and I had to work on dinner. However, I did come up with some great stuff later on in the evening. So though I didn't actually write, I had a mental break through for my plot. Sometimes that is worth a thousand words.

Did you get your writing done? Well did ya, punk?

As much as I hate to say this, especially with Clint's steely gaze fastened on me, I have to confess, I didn't get a word written. I have no real good excuse (I got watching a documentary yesterday afternoon about people waking from comas). I fell asleep last night before I could get near a computer.

But there is always today.

This is a forgiving BIAW, kind of like "Weight Watchers." Don't worry about what you didn't do yesterday and focus on what you do today. Hopefully some of you did have some sucess. Please share with us who might need a little extra boost.

BIAW Begins Tomorrow

Gerard has that smokey look in his eyes because his is thrilled with the idea of you writing this week. Lets not disappoint him. Make sure you check in tomorrow with your word count. Let us know what your are working on as well.

BIAW: Summer Edition

Summertime and the livin' is easy. I don't know about you, but I've gotten lazy. So its time to put a kick in writing and do a BIAW (Book In A Week). This is a time to focus on your WIP and devote a little extra attention and hopefully rekindle the spark of your creativity.

It starts on Monday. Post your totals and lets all celebrate and encourage one another.

The End

This is it, the last day of our BIAW. Post your totals and share your progress.

Mine wasn't nearly as much as I'd like, but I did finish a chapter and started a new WIP. It was more writing than I'd done in awhile. I only did about 20 pages, but it was real progress.

I'd like to host another BIAW in March, but I don't think I will be able to. It is going to be a busy month and I'm not sure I will get anytime to write, including blogging.

April will be a good month. The blooming of the flowers, the promise of Spring, it should provide us with plenty of inspiration to write.

Thank you for participating.

Lucky Shoes

Author Rebecca Forster's advice is to get yourself a pair of lucky shoes. She said this once in a presentation I saw her give at a chapter meeting and she told me again when I talked to her at a book signing.

Shoes are wonderful things. They don't care if we are 20lbs. overweight or having a bad hair day. A cute pair of shoes looks cute no matter what. They make you feel good. And that is how writing should make you feel. Oh sure, we have those moments when writing becomes difficult, particularly as we advance in our careers and writing becomes more than a dream. Even the cutest shoes give blisters. But we should be able to look down at our feet and admire them in their lucky shoes and we should feel the same way about our book.

I wrote the sequel to a book that was out in submissions. I knew it wasn't the wise thing but I couldn't help it. The story burst forth and I wrote in in a couple of months. The first book wasn't picked up by any agent ergo the sequel isn't going anywhere either. But it doesn't matter. I love the story and will pull it up to read it just for the pure enjoyment of it. Its like that cute pair of shoes you know you don't need or have anything to wear with, but they give you pleasure just looking at them. This book does the same thing for me.

So get yourself some lucky shoes. Not at Wal Mart or Payless, but at a nice store (the shoes pictured are the ones I'm going to buy at Nordstroms). There is no reason for them except they give you pleasure in some way. And when you look at them, remember why you write. For the joy of it.

My page count yesterday was miserable. Not surprising considering it was Valentine's Day. I wrote 5 pages today. This brings me to 50 pages for my current WIP and the end of the 3rd chapter...enough for a proposal. So tomorrow I'm going to move onto something different. I feel like exploring. I have a historical and another dark fantasy in mind, so I might try those tomorrow.

Brick Wall

Yesterday was not a good writing day. I only did 3 pages. I felt like I was hitting a brick wall. I'm not sure why, in the bright light of morning, it looks fine, but yesterday, my mind couldn't go any further.

Brick walls are nothing new in writing, we hit them all the time. How do you deal with it? Do you get out your climbing gear and find a way over it or do you punch through? Do you find the wall so impenetrable that you abandon it altogether? I've been guilty of that one before.

Sometimes the brick wall has nothing to do with the WIP but something else entirely. Had those moments when there seems to be a brick wall sitting on your keyboard?

What sorts of strategies do you employ to get passed this obstacle?

James Bond Says Get Your Pages Done

Sorry, I wrote this post last night and my computer froze before I could post it. Darn computer.

I got six pages done. Once I sat down and started writing, I had little trouble getting the pages to flow. But getting my butt into the chair was tough. So I made promises to myself. If I got my pages done, I could read, surf the web, clean my pantry, play a video game, etc. I needed the proverbial carrot on the stick.

Do you ever need to see a reward at the end or is the writing enough? And is Daniel Craig staring at you with his shirt off pretty good inspiration? It inspires me, that's for sure.

Romancing your Romance: BIAW Begins!

Is your WIP clamoring for attention? Do you remember your hero or heroine's name? Are there cobwebs on your keyboard?

If so, its time to blow off the dust on your creativity and get down to business. To celebrate Valentine's Day, we are going to share some lovin' with our writing. For one week, we are going to put some extra focus on our WIP and see why we fell in love with writing in the first place.

If anyone has done NaNoWriMo, then you have some idea how this works. In a Book In A Week, we are going to spend a week putting our writing at a priority. We are going to crank out as many words as we can for the next week.

Today, think long and hard about what you want to accomplish. What kind of word count do you think is reasonable? I always aim low, that way I feel even better if I go over. Post what your goal is and everyday check in with what you've done or if you are having a problem. I'll post everyday with something to inspire you or something like that.

And no, you don't have to be working on a romance to join in, I just liked the title. My WIP isn't a romance per se, so there you go.

This may mean you are going to have to skip a "CSI" or record "American Idol," but it is only for one week and your WIP will be grateful.

I'm going to start:

My Goal is five pages a day. I'll be working on "Fianna Unleashed," the sequel to my book out with editors.