You may have guessed from the photo that it's a GIRL {Zoe Bree}! And as my "little one" grows, I'm discovering something... there's a whole lot less space in there for food.
It's been a painful couple of weeks as I figure out how to eat less... more often.
Funny. Life's been teaching me the same thing. Take small bites out of projects. Just because I don't have time to FINISH a writing project doesn't mean I can't START or ADD to it now.
So take that 10 minutes you have now -- today -- and make it count. Eventually it's going to add up to a rather large product -- one calorie... err, word, at a time.
BJ Hamrick writes for teens and for you at www.Real Teen Faith
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
So true on all accounts!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the girl. They're super fun! Do you have a name yet? :)
Aww, so sweet!
ReplyDeleteI know it's important to write as much as possible but unless I am completely INTO an idea I procratinate.
Like right now I have 2 ideas but they are bland to me right now and I don't want to write. So I think "I need a new idea" but don't have any good ones, ugh
I'm not sure if I should push through with one of my 2 ideas as a learning ezperience OR wait for an idea I love?
I never though feeling good about my ideas would be such a struggle when I got the desire to write fiction. I always thought since I wanted to do it words and ideas would flow. I am so lost
Suri, don't worry! There are several ways to brainstorm!
ReplyDeleteFirst, think of a setting or background or season you really like. The beach, winter, the mountains, summer, a carnival, the woods, autumn, etc.
Or think of an activity you want to write about or enjoy doing yourself. Camping. Hiking. Getting coffee. Writing. Reading. etc.
Then you can plug different words into the plot like Mad Libs. :) For example, you could have a story about an author, trying to write a novel, on the beach, in the winter. Or what about a woman starting a coffee shop in the mountains during the heat of the summer?
See how that works?
Once you find a setting or idea or background that feels right, brainstorm from there. Think conflict.
The best way to get instant conflict is to have opposites. The hero wants this but the heroine wants that. Or vice versa. Or if it's a women's fiction or a YA novel where its possibly first person and only one point of view, then maybe the heroine wants one thing but it seems everything in the world is keeping her from it. (getting into a certain college, or winning a certain award, or achieving a goal or a promotion or whatever)
An example of conflict - what if your coffee shop woman in the mountains is a country woman who always dreamed of doing just what she's doing, and in walks a big city Doctor whose car broke down and cell has no reception in the mountains, who needs to borrow a phone and happens to be a physician with a strong anti-caffeine policy? Instant conflict - she loves and serves coffee, he thinks caffeine is overrated or harmful.
Just a small example, that's obviously not enough to carry a book. lol But you can take it further! :)
Another way to brainstorm is to start with one thing and keep asking "what if". For example, say you start with that author heroine who is on the beach writing her next book. What if she has writer's block? What if she's on a tight deadline? What if something awful will happen if she misses it? What if she's out to prove herself because of something awful in the past that she feels guilty of or needs to move past? What if a really hot guy moved into the beachhouse next door to the one that she's renting, and he becomes her muse? Or what if the opposite happened and she's so distracted by him she can't write and stresses even further? OR what if he happens to be the new publisher of her publishing house and she doesn't realize it yet?
Whew.
I did all of the above questions without stopping to think or pause or consider or Google one single time. Sometimes if you just let yourself write/type and think, you can be more creative than you realize! :)
Thank you, I'll have to give it a try
ReplyDeleteOhh! Congrats on the girl! I wish I had your address, cuz I finished knitting the cutest pair of baby girl booties today!!! :D
ReplyDelete