Tag: Fiction

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Halfway through NaNoWriMo19

R. H. W. Dorsey

It’s been quite a while since my last blog post. I saw a GIF recently which read: “I’m busy with my free time.” I laughed when I saw it and I can relate. At the halfway mark of National November Writing Month, I’m reflecting on my progress at this point in 2018. Last year I took on multiple projects during the month of November. During NaNoWriMo18, I took on a chapbook poem daily challenge, writing a flash fiction story daily, and working on a novel. It stood to reason something would suffer and it was the novel. The novel is currently completed for content but I’m not ready to let the self-editing process end yet. The novel is near and dear to my heart and I suspect it’s the reason it’s not completed a year later – I can’t let it go. The poetry written last November was published as the first book in my Second Act Writings series in January of 2019. The flash fiction content was published in the Spring of 2019.

In this month of November 2019, I decided to spend half the month concentrating solely on writing a new novel in a new genre. I’ve decided on a Young Adult full-length novel. My experience in writing short stories and flash fiction goes back to my childhood. The NaNoWriMo2019 novel will be my first work over fifty-thousand words. By my calculations, I’m three days ahead of schedule in my word count so I’m feeling good about my progress on the novel.

I decided the other day to make things interesting and push myself yet again. I’ve worked on a novella on an off for the past six months. It’s nearly complete and will be part of a series.  My goal for the second half of November is to devote half my free time daily to the novel and the other half finishing the novella.

I’ll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what other writers participating in #NaNoWriMo are feeling and doing at this half point of November. Please share your thoughts or comments.

Thanks!

Blogs, Creative Writing, Uncategorized

Non-scientific Writing Community Polls on Twitter

R. H. W. Dorsey
person dropping paper on box
Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com

 

I enjoy Twitter polls and can hardly resist scrolling past them (no matter the subject). There’s something about being part of a poll that I just dig. (I’m a Boomer). I thought it would be interesting to get an idea of what writers think, feel, use in their craft, etc. For the last five weeks, I’ve polled the #WritingCommunity on things that piqued my curiosity. I participated in the polls, as well. The writing and publishing processes are dynamic, and I wanted to see what’s fresh. Some of the polls I ran had only a handful of responses – but some data is better than none. Of course, since this is a ‘non-scientific’ poll, the results are technically misleading. I could even go so far to say some responses may have been for sport (see the poll on 3-12-19 below).  At the present time, I’m content being a part of the #WritingCommunity on Twitter.

 

TWITTER WRITING COMMUNITY NON-SCIENTIFIC POLL

(Total votes are listed after polling data)

  • 2/21/19: Writers, how often does your WIP change genres?
    • 36% Sometimes; 18% Always; 46% Never (11 votes)
  • 2/22/19: How much time do you spend reading books every day?
    • 25% Less than 1 hour; 50% 1-2 hours; 0% 3-4 hours; 25% Over 4 hours (4 votes)
  • 2/28/19: Novelists, do you create an outline for your novel?
    • 36% Always; 27% Never; 37% Sometimes (11 votes)
  • 3/1/19: What writing software are you using, if any?
    • 30% Scrivener; 41% Word; 20% Google Docs; 9% Other (44 votes)
  • 3/6/19: Have you ever completely revamped your WIP before publishing?
    • 75% Many times; 25% Once or Twice; 0% Never (4 votes)
      • (I’m filing under questions just stupid enough to ask)
  • 3/12/19: Have you ever taken an online writing course?
    • 64% No; 18% Yes; 9% I’m a Genius; 9% Currently taking a course (11 votes)
      • (I’d love to meet the geniuses one day)
  • 3/16/19: What are you currently writing?
      • 80% Genre fiction; 13% Literary Fiction; 7% Other (15 votes)
  • 3/20/19: Are you planning a book launch?
    • 60% Not sure; 30% No; 10% In Progress (10 votes)
  • 3/26/19: What to do when writing and losing focus?
    • Total 39 votes: 31% Exercise; 23% TV; 31% Read; 15% Other (39 votes)
  • 3/30/19: Which of the 4 genres would you buy a book?
    • 41% Literary; 0% Nonfiction; 7% Poetry; 52% Crime (27 votes)

Tweet comments were posted on some polls (summarized below)

  • 2/21/19 Poll: “…while it might change, it’s never too far from where it started.”
  • 3/1/19 Poll: Other writing software noted in poll comments: New Novelist; OpenOffice; Zenwriter; Hemingway; Grammarly.
  • 3/26/19 Poll: Activities when losing focus noted in poll comments: watch videos; housework; write something else; nap; physically move to a new space to write.
  • 3/30/19 Poll: I purposely used the four categories of my personal interest in this poll. Two people commented:
    • Sci-Fi
    • Crime Fiction and a split between contemporary Lit.

 

What did I learn? I learned that I was almost always in the lower percentage of the polls. I embrace being different so very much!

What was I surprised by? 64% of those that answered had never taken an online writing course – I’m one of the 64% (the only poll where I was with the majority).

As much as the poll was unscientific, it helped me interact with the writing community.

 

Creative Writing, Uncategorized

Creativity While Writing

R. H. W. Dorsey

low angle view of lighting equipment on shelf
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

What spurs your creativity while writing?

 

Very often during my writing process, I take mini-breaks to update social media or read the news, etc. Today, a subject about music and writing came to mind.

Music has been an important part of my entire life. There’s something to the saying about music being the “soundtrack” of one’s life. Name me a few top ten songs on the ‘Pop’ charts during my childhood or young adulthood. I’ll probably be able to tell you what was going on in my life just by the mention of the songs’ title.

Sadly, music for the past decade or more hasn’t had too much of an impact on my memory retention. Almost exclusively now, I find myself listening to songs from twenty or more years ago.

Music gives me inspiration at the beginning, middle and end of my day. I thank my parents for always playing records and having music available during my early years. If ever I were on the proverbial desert island, I’d want an endless soundtrack of music to enjoy.

One of the MC’s in my current short story collection is thinking of The Carpenter’s song “Close to You” when she meets who she thinks is a potential love interest. I listened to the song for inspiration to help me along with the MC’s feelings at that moment.

At other times, I take a short walk outside just to breathe in fresh air and my stories are rejuvenated.

What inspires your creativity in the writing process?

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Uncategorized

END OF NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

R. H. W. Dorsey

Every-Accomplishment-760x500

Congratulations to everyone that took the NaNoWriMo and Write Nonfiction in November Challenge. It was grueling at times for me but worth well worth the effort. So, congrats to all that participated.

I personally wrote more words this month than I’ve ever written on one single project in this amount of time. That’s a huge accomplishment for me considering I’ve mostly done short stories and poetry. My non-fiction novel written in November included every bit of information about the events I felt necessary. However, I didn’t reach my word-count goal for full novel length. I’m giving this one an “incomplete” on the basis I said I’d do forty to fifty thousand words and didn’t. The book may end up as a novella in the end. With that said, my goal of a full-length novel may have been unrealistic considering the topic. Including content not needed for the sake of a word count didn’t work on this one for me. Unlike fiction, there was nothing to make up or embellish. However, a loss is a loss and I’ll own up to it.

I have a decent first draft and now the fun of re-drafting, proofreading and editing will begin. I’ll tell you a secret: I love the proofreading and editing part – it’s fun for me. The professional help will come much later in this process.

I’m taking a breather for a few days then it’s back to writing in December. Does this writing thing ever stop? I hope not.  😊

Going forward, I hope to refocus my blog on other stuff going on in the world around me.

…until next time!

Uncategorized

CRUNCH TIME! National Novel Writing Month

R. H. W. Dorsey

keep-calm-its-crunch-time-12

It’s not lost on me that I’m not alone. The holidays are difficult to keep most time-sensitive commitments. I must research and find out who decided to make National Novel Writing Month in November. Was it because of the “N’s”, I wonder? In any case, I’m behind on my word count goal. However, I’m not so behind that I can’t make it to my goal if I hustle. Also, there’s a push by writing coaches, editors and other industry folks to get their products this month. It’s probably the best time of the year to market. I’d do it if I were them. Well played coaches, editors, and agents.

At the beginning of the month, I blogged about all the projects I was working on and hadn’t a prayer of finishing. I was wrong. I’m on track with the poetry challenge, and the flash fiction stories. The memoir is finished and published on Amazon and Kindle. The short story was submitted to an online contest. Sadly, the full-length novel suffered.

All is not lost. I have approximately twenty-six hours and eighteen minutes left to finish (give or take a few minutes depending on when I finish typing this entry). I won’t get any prize for finishing. I’ll know I can do this, and that’s worth more than any certificate I could earn.

By the way, my Steelers lost yesterday to the Broncos 17-24. Ben, why did you play action fake to the wrong guy? I know you owned up to it – good job. But wow.

Uncategorized

Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Jaguars

R. H. W. Dorsey

football helmet picNeglecting my love: Football

 

I realized a few weeks ago that I’ve neglected my favorite pastime this month: Football. It’s not just football, in general, it’s Steeler Football. It’s hard to grow up in Pittsburgh without being a fan of at least one sports team. Most people I know are fans of the at least one of our professional teams. A great majority of those folks are fans of the big three: Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates. There’s no gender politics where Steeler football is concerned in my town. Plenty female Steelers fans have bled black and gold since they were able to speak. Literally, the baby clothes section at the Pro shops in town gets frequented plenty. It’s hard to go on social media during a season to not see someone’s post of a baby or small child in miniature sports gear. It’s a beautiful thing.

I’ve loved everything Steeler since Mean Joe Green came to my school so many years ago. At the young age of 11, Joe Green was the largest man I’d ever seen in person next to Muhammad Ali a year or two before. I’m no fair-weather fan and I have been known to perform my ritual each Steeler game.

Now to the neglect: This is National November Writing Month. I took on multiple writing projects (by choice) and spend most waking hours writing poems, short fiction or devoting time to my novel. Semi-retirement is great as I make writing a new career – slowly but surely. I’m behind on current events in the local and national news. I hadn’t realized the Steelers were on a winning streak at the present time (I hope I’m not jinxing them). I did, however, get to see the last few plays of the game today with Jacksonville. The Steelers defeated Jacksonville 20-16. So, we’re having a good season and I’m missing most of the games. It’s fine if they keep up the good work!

Besides, I’ll have multiple poems and stories written to put into a compilation and a jump on that novel. 😊

Break’s over!

Uncategorized

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH IS HERE!

R. H. W. Dorsey

macbook pro on desk
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

NATIONAL WRITING MONTH – NOVEMBER 2018

It’s November 1st, the first day of writing, writing and more writing. In the past month, for whatever reason, I decided to ramp up on my writing. So, why not pick the busiest time of the year – the start of the holiday season?

Today, I’ve started participating in the ‘Write Nonfiction in November challenge, and the FlashNano 2018 challenge. Both projects are intended solely for the month of November. I’m also concurrently writing a non-fiction short story that needs to be done by mid-November. I shouldn’t forget the memoir proof copy I’m waiting for in the mail. The memoir requires one last look over before it’s published in a couple of weeks.

It may be surprising only to those who don’t love writing that I’m loving every minute of these writing challenges. Completing all the above projects would be amazing. I doubt it will happen though, but that’s okay. My goal is to get writing again. With that said, hopefully at least one or more of the projects will get done. Did I mention the poetry collection I’m working on as well? It’s said if something makes you happy, you don’t mind doing it. It’s true.

I probably don’t have the time to write in this blog today – but what the heck. I want to wish all of the National Writing month participants good luck and hope you meet all of your goals!

Coffee anyone?