LykosEcho

I'm taking the plunge. I've joined Merilee Faber's Creativity Workshop, thanks to urging from a friend.

To be honest, I said no at first. This is wayyyy outside my comfort zone, and being an anxious person, I don't like to stress it too much. This sort of thing scares the pants off of me, and I didn't want to have to be 'responsible' for making a deadline. But...again, to be honest, it might be just what I need. Or maybe I'll fail miserably! Hey, who knows! ;D At least I'm trying!


Issues and Interests:


1: Procrastination:
I'm horrible at the whole "I don't -feel- like writing tonight, so I'll write tomorrow instead" and then tomorrow comes and I repeat the same thing. Soon, a week of non-writing goes by and wham, I've gotten nothing accomplished. I need to get into the habit of writing 500 to 1,000 words a night, every night, only allowing myself to be off the hook if something comes up (like a friend staying over, etc, staying somewhere where there's no computer, etc).

2: Ideas:
I'm typically not good at coming up with ideas unless I'm hit with inspiration and, quite frankly, that doesn't happen too often. I have some sort of mental block with them, especially when it comes to thinking up ideas under a deadline/on demand -- I panic, blank out, shut down. So one of my goals is to figure out how to come up with ideas on a whim of "I need an idea, Muse: Hand it over." And get an idea, or a sliver of something I can work with!

3: Non-Fantasy:
To put it bluntly, unless there's some sort of magickal element in my story, I usually lose focus and let it die off. Don't get me wrong: I adore 'normal' novels. I've even come up with plenty of mainstream YA ideas, but the minute I try to write something non-fantasy, I freeze up, my juices stop pouring, and then I give up. I'd like to write a short story without a hint of fantasy and actually -finish- it.

4: Perfectionism:
AKA allowing myself to have a fairly crappy first draft. I'm so paranoid about having it 'good enough' in the first draft that I work myself up and just quit writing it. It never gets to the second draft.

4.5: Writing With Distractions:
I can't write unless there is total silence. No music, no background noise, no talking. It has to be quiet. (I blame my Sensory Integration!) But the only time I get quiet (and therefore get to write) is when everyone is in bed, 11pm+ sometimes as late as 12 or 1am and that just won't do if I ever want to seriously publish my work. I need to practise writing with more and more distractions, until I can tune them out and just write. I feel this will be easier if I can tackle #4, Perfectionism.

5: Completing The Story:
I have a bad habit of getting geared up for a story, plotting it out, writing half of it and lose steam and just...quit. I don't push through, because that would be difficult. I just skip to the next great idea and bounce through half of THAT story... I need to focus on finishing things and completing the story, not just shorts but my novels, too.

6: Witty/Smartass Characters:
I always adore the intelligent/witty/sometimes smartass characters in novels, however, I usually cannot write them. Perhaps it's because I'm blond and flaky and a rather submissive person. Perhaps it's because I dislike studying a certain type and just write what's easiest. For this goal: in at least one of my stories, I want my MC or secondary character to be one of these things.

7: Softer/Gentler Women // Macho/Manly Men
My girls are usually strong-willed, stubborn and (with the exception of Remie, who was an emotional roller-coaster) unemotional. My boys are typically submissive and friendly without much ego. I need to develop different types of characters, definitely; a broader spectrum of personalities. Perhaps a softer/sensitive woman, or a macho/manly-man (even if manly-men can be, in my book, uncouth.) I'd also like to try my hand at someone flamboyant.

8: Using New Words:
Maybe it might help to go through the thesaurus, open up a random page, and write down some new words I might use in a story. I love the thesaurus anyways, so why not?