Write or Die

“Writing is easy, all you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” Mark Twain

The Rant 'N' Rave Section

You've got nothing to lose as you sit at your desk contemplating your next scintillating sentence. What will it be? What's next? Uh-oh, you're stuck so you get up and walk away in order to “think about it”. HA! Procrastination and writers block leap wildly on your back like a pair of half-crazed gorillas, stealing all of your drive and motivation while leaving just a helpless husk of wannabe writer writhing on the floor. Is there a cure for this malicious malady?

You bet. You see, the problem lies in the fact that there are no immediate consequences to stopping. Oh sure, it'll take you longer to finish that first draft of your novel, if you ever do, but so what. Nothing to lose but that dream that sits waiting for you sometime in the foggy nebulous future. The only consequences are INTANGIBLE.

Ah, a key word is that. INTANGIBLE. NOTE: Only tangible consequences are known to produce results. Now to the cure for this malais. It's free, it's online and it's called Write or Die, Dr. Wicked's Writing Lab. http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html. The writing lab is set up so the user can choose which mode of writing suits them. I started with the gentle mode, just to get a feel for it. The comments below explain it much better that I could. Read them, visit the site and watch your words per day escalate into a finished draft in no time. Note, this is a free service.

“Write or Die”

The idea is to instill in the would-be writer with a fear of not writing. We do this by employing principles taught in Introduction to Psychology. Anyone remember Operant Conditioning and Negative Reinforcement?Negative Reinforcement "strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior."Consequences: Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing. Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write. Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself.

These consequences will persist until your preset conditions have been met (that is, your time is up or you've written your word count goal or both)This text box is not a word processor, it is not for editing, the way to save is to select all of the text, copy and paste into your own text editor. The idea is to separate the writing process and the editing process as much as possible.This is aimed at anyone who wants to get writing done. It requires only that you recognize your own tendency towards self-sabotage and be willing to do something about it. If you're sick of saccharine writing advice that no one could honestly follow and you want a real method to getting work done. Works great for real deadlines too! Excellent for getting your 1667 words a day for NaNoWriMo

Good for writing on lunch breaks, just enter 30 minutes in the time limit box.

"TIDBITS"

Here's a great contest to enter:

The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is open to everyone! This competition welcomes anyone who loves arranging words into the beautiful art of poetry or to write a short story that is worth telling everyone. And to all who have the ability to dream... Write a poem or short story for a chance to win cash prizes. All works must be original. http://www.dreamquestone.com/
Guidelines:
Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style, or form, typed or neatly hand printed.
And/or write a short story, five pages maximum length, on any subject or theme, creative writing fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal entries and screenwriting). Also, must be typed or neatly hand printed.
Multiple poetry and short story entries are accepted.
Postmark Deadline: July 31, 2009
All winners will be announced on August 31, 2009
Prizes:
Writing Contest First Prize is $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $100.
Poetry Contest First Prize is $250. Second Prize: $125. Third Prize: $50.
Entry fees:
Writing Contest entry fee: $10 per short story.
Poetry Contest entry fee: $5 per poem.
To send entries: Include title(s) with your story (ies) or poem(s), along with your name, address, phone#, email, brief biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself), on the coversheet. Add a self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation. Fees payable to: “Dreamquestone.Com”
Mail to:
Dream Quest One
Poetry & Writing Contest
P.O. Box 3141
Chicago, IL 60654
Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com/ for further details or to enter!
No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude. “And remember, in whatever you do, it’s okay to dream, for dreams do come true.” –Dream Quest One

Last but Not Least

Writer's Wrecipes
Erle Stanley Gardner's
Recipe for Podunk Candy

I haven't tried this yet but it sounds good. You may have to experiment with the timing on this, though.

4 ozs. Chocolate
1-2/3 bottles Dark Caro Syrup
1 lb. Dark Brown Sugar
2-1/2 Tbs. Butter (reserve 1 Tbs.)
Lots of Vanilla extract

Cook in a fair size pan over good heat until it bubbles like a volcano. Add 1 Tbs. butter at the end to soften.
Pour on greased (?) cookie sheet or candy plate. Cool and crack with a hammer.

From Valerie J. Naso, Gardner's grand daughter
Thanks to: http://www.phantombookshop.com/erlestanleygardner/esgodd_.htm

Well, that's it for this time, see ya later gater…..Aelf

Sites to see, places to go and groups to join

Long Story Short: http://www.alongstoryshort.net/
Fantasy Gazetteer: http://www.fantasygazetteer.com/
My Writing Friend: writingfriend@yahoo
Linda Barnett-Johnson Editing: http://lindabarnettjohnson.homestead.com/
Pindersoft's Writers Project Organizer: http://www.pindersoft.com/wpo.htm
StorYBook 2.1.11: http://storybook.intertec.ch/joomla/
Nick Daws Writers Circle: Nick Daw's Writer's Circle.
Wridea: http://www.wridea.com/
J.D.Vine Publishing: http://www.jdvine/com/index.html
Tennessee Writers Alliance: http://www.tn-writers.org/
USA Patriotism, Poetry: http://www.usa-patriotism.com/
Poynter 30 Writer's Tips: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&aid=103943

Freebie Writers Tools

Idea Cruncher: http://www.ideacruncher.com/

Freemind: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Word Web download: http://www.wordweb.info/

I’ll be adding to the above list as time goes on and I find more newbie friendly sites.
Copyright © 03/17/09

Character Checklist

"Writing is just having a sheet of paper, a pen, and not a shadow of an idea of what you're going to say." --Francoise Sagan


The Rant 'N' Rave Section

Well, the first thing up is a rave. My short story, "Hop Village, a Christmas Story,." has won first prize in the Fantasy Gazetteer Short Story Contest for December. Be sure to read it for a little Chistmas cheer in December. Go to http://www.fantasygazetteer.com/.

Next up, I have a new acronym." PMF", which stands for Personal Motivation Factor. It works on a scale of 1 to 10 and is sensitive (in my case) to the time of day. Early AM I'm a ten. Lots of creativity and desire to work. By noon I'm about a 5, maybe even a 4. By 3 PM I'm useless (a zero, zilch, nada, worthless, good for nothing except vegetating and promising myself I'll do better tomorrow.)

Next I'm adding a new little section to the blog. It will be Word of the Month. Watch for a new one each month.


Word of the Month

Shpilkis - 2 definitions - {Transliteration from the original Yiddish} Noun: To
'bounce off the walls', nervous energy without purpose. Something we writers tend to do whenever writers block gets the best of us.

And finally, here's a great article I received on the net the other day from Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ


Using Real Life Events in Fiction Stories

You are as happy as you can be: your story, be it short story, novel or novelette, is finally finished. However, when you are using real life events as a source of inspiration, you may not always get a true-to-life effect. Before you send your work to a publisher, first check if the story makes sense as it does in real life.
In order to reach the final draft, you need to be tough with yourself and cast an editor’ eye over your piece. Although real life events have their own logic, when you read your story from head to tail for the first time you will surely notice some plotting errors. However, there are other vital points you should check off when comparing your version of the story to the events that inspired you.

1. Is the behavior of your characters as believable as it should be? Bear in mind that in fiction, the people you describe rarely, if ever, act "out of character." If your character behaves differently, you have to be attentive to this and ask yourself whether this corresponds to a real life pattern.

2. Do your characters relate to each other as they should? As in real life, events in your story may influence the attitudes and emotions your characters have towards one another. Real people would always mention events that happened to them within the story -- make sure your characters do, too.

3. Do your characters manifest believable reactions? If in the same type of situation your character is once enraged and the other time annoyed, there is something wrong. If you have a real person in mind, you should be aware of the fact that real people are usually constant in their reactions.

4. Do readers understand what your characters are doing at the precise time they are doing it? You need to make clear what happens in your story, otherwise your readers will lose the thread and your story may be lost altogether. When transforming reality into fiction, make sure you don’t forget any relevant links, so as to avoid alienating your readers.

5. Are your characters where they should be? You may easily have a character in two places at once if you do not control this critical thread. Especially if you have one or several subplots at the same time, you need to pay extra care as they can quickly spiral out of your control.

Checking all these points will take you a lot of time, dedication and effort. However, is you fail to make sure that your story makes sense according to the real events, you will only manage to waste your own time. Editors expect stories that hang together.
Copyright © Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ
About Shery: Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"TIDBITS"

"Dream Quest Contest"

And now for something entirely different, a hot tip on a great contest. The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is open to anyone who loves to arrange words into the beautiful art of poetry or to write a short story that is worth telling everyone! And to all who have the ability to dream... Write a poem or short story for a chance to win cash prizes. All works must be original. Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com for details or to enter!
Guidelines:
Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style, or form, typed or neatly hand printed.
And/or write a short story, five pages maximum length, on any subject or theme, creative writing fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal entries and screenwriting). Also, must be typed or neatly hand printed.
Multiple poetry and short story entries are accepted.
Deadline: December 31, 2008
All winners will be announced on January 31, 2009
Prizes:
Writing Contest First Prize is $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $100.
Poetry Contest First Prize is $250. Second Prize: $125. Third Prize: $50.
Entry fees:
Writing Contest entry fee: $10 per short story.
Poetry Contest entry fee: $5 per poem.
To send entries: Include title(s) with your story (ies) or poem(s), along with your name, address, phone#, email, brief biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself), on the coversheet. Add a self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation. Fees payable to: “DREAMQUESTONE.COM”
Mail to:
Dream Quest One
Poetry & Writing Contest
P.O. Box 3141
Chicago, IL 60654
Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com for further details or to enter!

Last but Not Least
"I didn't know that!"
Hugo Gernsback.

The famous science fiction awards, The Hugo's are named after him.
One little known fact was that Gernsback was noted for sharp (and sometimes shady) business practices, and for paying his writers extremely low fees. H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith referred to him as "Hugo the Rat."

Well, that's it for this time, see ya later gater…..Aelf

Sites to see, places to go and groups to join.

Long Story Short: http://www.alongstoryshort.net/
Fantasy Gazetteer: http://www.fantasygazetteer.com/
My Writing Friend: writingfriend@yahoo
Pindersoft's Writers Project Organizer: http://www.pindersoft.com/wpo.htm
Nick Daws Writers Circle: Nick Daw's Writer's Circle.
Wridea: http://www.wridea.com/
J.D.Vine Publishing: http://www.jdvine/com/index.html
Tennessee Writers Alliance: http://www.tn-writers.org/
USA Patriotism, Poetry: http://www.usa-patriotism.com/
Poynter 30 Writer's Tips: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&aid=103943

Freebie Writers Tools

Idea Cruncher: http://www.ideacruncher.com/
Freemind: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Auto Crit: Automatic manuscript checker: http://www.autocrit.com/
Word Web download : http://www.wordweb.info/

I’ll be adding to the above list as time goes on and I find more newbie friendly sites.Copyright © 11/16/08