Back in November, I was chronicling my progress through National Novel Writing Month. I undertake the challenge annually, beating my head against the 30 day, 50,000 word wall. When I’m done, I say to myself, “Self, take a well earned week or so off. You’ve deserve it! And we’ll buckle down to rewrites soon!”

Except that soon never really shows up. Life takes back over and I lose my writing momentum, until next November rolls around and I re-promise myself that I can dedicate more of my time to fiction writing. And I know it’s not just me. Life takes over and creative endeavors get the short shrift.
Well, it’s time to break that nasty cycle. I got a lot of feedback during the NaNo process from many of our readers and fellow writers. One thing that came up again and again was how helpful the weekly check-ins and the attending accountability were to staying motivated. So that’s where we’re going to start.
Our first challenge comes from @QoB : 1,000 words by 8 p.m. next Sunday, January 29th. Any topic, any genre, any format.
1,000 words? In 7 days? That’s nothing. That’s pocket change. Totally doable!
Check in next Sunday night in the writing group, Nano and Beyond (you can also navigate to the group via the ‘Groups’ tab at the top of the page). There is no pressure to share what you’ve actually written. We’ll take you at your word.
Need a little nudge to get started? Try this writing exercise:
Go for a walk, paying careful attention to your surroundings, until you find something that doesn’t belong. It could be a piece of garbage on the street, a coin, an animal, a car battery in the woods, anything out of place. Tell the story of how it got there. (via Poet and Writer)
54 replies on “What’s Shaking, Writers?”
sweeeet. With all my science-y smart-kid writing, I want a creative outlet.
This is exactly what I’ve been needing for months! And at the best possible time; my university’s literary magazine is accepting submissions again.
EDIT: Also, the link to the NaNo and Beyond group isn’t working.
Awesome! I’m looking forward to congratulating you on Sunday.
Thanks for the info about the link, I’ll poke at it. You can also get to the group on the ‘Groups’ tab on the upper righthand side of the page.
O, lovely exercise. But story first!
Hey, if you don’t need it, file it away for later. I’m glad you’re throwing down!
Alright, I will definitely do my best to meet this challenge. School started back up last week though, and as of today, my life is gonna be significantly busier, but that just means I’ll have to make more of a point to take time to write – which isn’t a bad thing by any means.
Exactly. The idea is to hopefully prod people into making time to write. And it can be anything — if you have paper you’ve been putting off or half-finished story idea, whatever gets you to your 1000 words.
(I’m not counting my P-Mag pieces, because that’s how I excuse not writing every week. “But I’ve already written 2 articles this week! Whine!”)
. . . Actually, I probably *should* do this fo P-mag stuff, it’s been like 2 months since my last P-mag post. hm…
Ugh, I ended up having to put my NaNo on the back burner because of the other thing I am working on that has just been so easy to write.
It’s not just NaNo – it’s whatever you want to write!
I’m in!
I gave up on my NaNo novel for now, it needs a lot of plot untangling that I’m not sure if I’m up for right now. In the meantime I’ve been doing serious research for my epic medieval trilogy, and uh…writing Skyrim fanfiction. (I’m both embarrassed and kind of :( because it’s only got one review so far, hah.)
The latter is embarrassing, but at least I’m writing. I’ve written 19k in the last five days. Which is…insane.
19k is nothing to sneeze at! That’s amazing.
And don’t be embarrassed. There’s several fanfiction authors who have gone on to have mainstream careers, including the one who got caught plagiarizing a bunch. Cassandra Claire, I’m looking at you.
I think it’s partially because it’s something that I’m not taking as seriously as an original project, the words come a LOT easier.
Haha, well, it’s based on a video game, so… there is definitely some shame action going on. :) I wouldn’t do anything with this, it’s just to keep me in the game of writing until I feel the motivation to go back to my awful tangles of Serious!Novels.
And aaargh Cassandra Claire. I tried reading her books just to see and even beyond the plagiarizing they were just–bad.
I fail at plot, but will try. I’m super rusty at prose fiction! I’ve been writing so much non-fiction my fiction writing is corroded!
Don’t worry about plot, just your word count. (But yeah, my non-fiction writing has overtaken my fiction writing as well.)
The important thing is just to get writing again! You can always edit and figure things out later. The hardest part is to start writing again after being rusty. :)
I’m in! I have a couple of fiction ideas rolling around in my head that I need to get down.
I carry a notebook around with me that has half started ideas scrawled down in it. If I don’t write them down as soon as they come up, I’m guaranteed to forget them.
Speaking of which, I need to go write down that idea I had about exorcism school.
Exorcism school? Yes, yes you do. Write that down. Then tell me about it.
And, yea, I’m the same way. I have issues with memory (see: side effects of persistent and heavy antibiotics) anyway, but my ideas seem to go the quickest.
For ex, I’m ready to go to bed and I know I should so I can get a good start on the day; plus, I feel my body slipping (aches, fatigue, etc). BUT! I have so many emotions/thoughts post my first class this semester that… I just… must… write… first…
Well, there really is exorcist training in the Catholic Church. But as I was watching the not-terribly-awful-movie Devil Inside, I started to think about practical training. Like, what if the church had captured a demon or two and made them possess people so that exorcists could get on the job experience? And instead of being sent back to the hell when successfully expelled, the demon was still trapped in the school until it was forcibly injected into a person again. And so on and so on for, decades.
And then it gets out?
That’s about as far as I’ve gotten on the idea. I can’t decide if the demon goes nasty and Destroys All The Things, but I’m leaning towards a reverse Sandman Slim thing, where the demon just wants to go home and can’t, so its stuck here for a while.
That is terrifying. Go with it.
I just saw a movie all about exorcism on an airplane (to clarify, I was in an airplane watching it). American dude went to Rome to learn all about. Anthony Hopkins was in it, if I recall. I enjoyed it, for what it was: A hot priest with some serious issues. Anthony Hopkins being scary as hell. Gross exorcism scenes. Oh yes, it’s call The Rite.
The Rite! I started watching it a couple of weeks ago and fell asleep. I got basically as far as meeting that first girl in Hopkin’s apartment. Is it worth watching?
I enjoyed it for what it was. Then again, trapped on an airplane, anything can seem good. I was satified with the plot and the outcome, which from me is high praise.
I would totally read this book, especially the second variation.
Thanks! Its nice when my ideas sound good outside of my head too.
I think I am going to plot out the second variation. I’ll probably even spend my 1000 words on it this week.
This sounds awesome.
Thanks! I can never tell if my ideas sound good only in my head.
SO. GLAD. I didn’t read this right before bed. =|
#chicken
Also, I totally understand the headspace your in. My sleep patterns are always hell the first day of something exciting. My mind totally races.
I think this .gif should be the P-mag mission statement.
Seconded.
Thirded. … (?)
Indeed.
This is exactly what I need!
Awesome! I’ll see you in the finisher’s thread.
Awesome! I finished my NaNo project and it’s now with my beta readers. I’ve written another 30K words on the sequel to my book in the last 45 days or so – I’m thinking this 1000 word challenge will be me finishing this sucker in the next week. It’ll be 34K or so when done I think?
Yay writing goals!
You can do it, writers! *Waves pom-poms*
Rah rah rah! You can do it too!
Need some incentive? Write 100 words and get a picture of a kitten! There can’t be better incentive than that!
http://writtenkitten.net/
ZOMG. THANK YOU.
It never gives me my kitten! I feel robbed.
really? That’s so sad.
Here you go!
I squeed! I admit it.
My work here is done.
WHAT.
I feel like… I’m speechless. This is EXACTLY what I need every 100 words.
Marry me. <3 I’m loving this tool!
I will be writing all my academic papers with this now. Â To hell with footnoting.
Footnoting is for the weak.
Or those that don’t wanted to get thrown out for plagiarism. but still. KITTIES!
Indeed.
yes! 100 words on genetic issues in fisheries, get a kitten! I imagine the kittens would like all my writing about fish…
It’s on like a 90’s Nintendo game:)
Space Invaders? Pitfall?
:)
YES! I love this. I have 3 incompletes from last semester. I’m at about 8 pages when I need (in total) ~36.
This semester just started. Writing goals/community to support them are EXACTLY what I need!
I look forward to your successful update at the end of the week!