Writing Update - February

Melissa:

Another month past in 2014. ALREADY!?! Where is this year going? I wanted to be done with Christmas Spirit by now. Ha! I don't like dragging things out to long, I want a raw base on paper as I'm afraid I'll loose the grasp on where the characters are in feeling and where going. I've got to get my keister in gear!

I did have my International Pub Writing Day (IPWD) with Skyla Dawn. I was a tad nervous I wouldn't make it. We got a snow storm and my local area wasn't playing nice. They called it an Emergency Situation and we weren't to be driving. Well...I went out anyway. Hey, I took the kiddo to doctors and roads were clear as a bell and they Emergency was lifted. So I went to my local pub, had lunch, drank two Banana Bread beers, and wrote. What stinks, my laptop battery doesn't last any longer than about 45 minutes. So had to use dad's ipad to write in word. But I transferred over. For the day I came out with 4095 words! Woot!

Another thing that seems to be surfacing... my husband is accepting the book/writing/working as a real thing. That it's something I want to do. He's actually supporting it! Shocker. He used to pick on me, but now he's all supportive about it. He was completely supportive about IPWD too! Other than an excuse for me to drink beer. ;) This makes me happy and I relax a bit more knowing that he's not thinking I'm making this stuff up.

But back to words for February. In the group RaToJanNoWriMo group I pledged to write 20,000 words in February. Yes, it's less than January. I know there are less days in February and mundane life was starting to pile up, so things needed to get done. I cut back what I wanted for the month. How'd I do?

Total Word Count for February:
Christmas Spirit:  16,039
(coming to a grand total thus far... 47,014 words)

Christmas Spirit was the only project I worked on. I fell short for the month. Saddening to me. But that happens when life doesn't stop going.

For March in RaToJanNoWriMo I have pledged 20,000 words again. I'd *like* to finish out Christmas Spirit by the end of March. But that would be more than 20k in the month to do that. Then start into Jayda's world once again for April. Maybe even a short story for April to submit. Hmm...we'll see how March goes. ;) It's all totally doable, I just need to make it happen.


Jackie:

I missed out on the IPWD because of a holiday my daughter had the week before. I truly like the many benefits that IPWD was offering: beer, writing, a day off work. I'll be joining in for sure next time!

My month flew by in work, movies, essays, and poetry.

It's the last two things on the list there that really count towards actual writing, so I have a few thoughts on the subject of essays and poetry for this month. For essays, I have to admit, I always struggle here. I think I finally figured out why that is exactly: I don't like to have an opinion. That's not to say that I waiver and then to submit to prevailing ideas. It's more that I don't like to assert my opinion openly and really, that's what essays are. I had to write one for my film class with back up evidence to prove my point and I think I completely flailed despite having an initial, firm idea in mind. So, for March and the next essay I have due, I'm going to strive towards having a clearer idea of what I really think and prove it better, which I hope will solidify my writing as a result. Now, if I can only manage to accomplish this BEFORE the due date, it just might actually work. We'll see, I guess.

Poetry is a different ball game altogether and has been something I've avoided like the plague in the past. I do have a few favourite poets, like W.H. Auden and Robert Frost but true modern poetry escapes me for the most part. Naturally, having to write in either form (new or old) for someone who feels this way is rather intimidating or at least, I thought it would be. I have to admit that I'm really beginning to enjoy these challenges more and more. Poetry forces you to tell a story in a limited space with limited words; it requires a fine balance between implicit and explicit meaning.It also forces you to choose the right words to convey the meaning you are looking for. These can all be really scary things to think about but I'm truly hoping that writing with the...constraints?...of the poetic form will help me improve my skills overall. I now think of new poems I might like to write from ideas that flashes through my head. Before, a simple idea would just be the beginning of a potential story arc to pursue with a novel length work as the ultimate goal. I now understand that I have options when it comes to writing formats...lots of them :)

That wraps it up for our February progress and goals for March (and beyond). Happy writing to all of you out there.