I did manage to find a place yesterday. Guess I just needed to be at the end of my rope before something happened.
I’m a week behind on this challenge, but that’s okay. G has her week 1 up so stop over and see what she’s trying to accomplish. LSAM will have hers up on Sunday.
To G: you can do it! write what your heart wants to write, talk about what gets your reader off.
To LSAM: have you taken your BP meds?? No stress, my friend.
We need the encouragement, so cheer us on!
So according to PP’s challenge, the task for week 1 was to discover our individual writing style and use that to develop some kind of writing plan for our goals. So here’s what I know…
For me creativity is a release
“For you, creativity is first and foremost a form of expression: it creates a special link between the internal and external worlds. It allows you to get a grasp of your powerful emotions, by moulding them into a physical form. In fact, the most important thing for you is to be able to release your emotions. You need to be able to touch them or look at them in concrete form, and to do that you have to find a way to make them come alive. This is how your desires and anxieties take shape. Keeping things bottled up creates a tension that can only be resolved once you have expressed how you feel. This means you have to be strong enough not to let yourself get swept away by chaotic impulses; if you turn your creative urges on everyday life — making a picnic, singing to the baby, choosing what to wear — you can express yourself while staying rooted in reality. Creativity is principally cathartic. It relieves a deep need, an almost primal, archaic impulse. For you, being creative is about having the power to give form to something you feel, to those deep personal issues that are often raw and disorganised. For these reasons you are usually attracted to art that demands physicality, that allows you to express what’s inside, and that unites spontaneity, strength, freedom, power and movement.”
I’ve misplaced the link that this information comes from. Regardless, this is pretty accurate. I do write to express all the things I think, want, feel.
According to this I engage in deliberate, emotional creativity.
“This type of creativity also involves the PFC (or the pre-frontal cortex in the brain). That is the deliberate part. But instead of focusing attention on a particular area of knowledge or expertise, people who are engaging in deliberate, emotional creativity have a-ha moments having to do with feelings and emotions.”
So how does this determine the writing schedule I’ll use for the challenge? I haven’t the foggiest idea, but I know me when it comes to completing things. I need to break down the components for each goal and set a deadline for completion of each component.
Goal 1 was editing 3 stories.
– print a story at the beginning of the month (To be done no later than the 5th. Busy right now)
– do I read through. (So take a day and just read through the story objectively)
– let it sit for a day
– edit 2-5 pages a day depending on length of story
– edit specifics for the things that don’t make sense or don’t read well
– pass the story off to someone to offer suggestions
Goal 2 writing something out of my comfort zone at 10k words
– search for genre types/open up a poll with genres different from what I’m used to writing
– research selected genre
– once a week attempt a short story with that theme
– sketch out a plot line
– set a word count of 150 words a day (start date end of May potentially)
– utilize the timer method to help me write
– post here by middle of July in parts
Goal 3 reading a story to a crowd (modified by adding will give work for critique)
– pick a short story I’m proud of to read/have critiqued (deadline is May 13th)
– read it out loud alone
– pick a friend willing to listen to a small section (May 31st)
– maybe read poetry at a coffeehouse
– join a writing group and turn in a longer piece for critique
– find a place that allows for readings
Alright that works. If you see something that warrants tweaking, let me know. I need help reaching these.
Any advice from my encouragers?
Here’s hoping my creativity returns soon. My story writing has slowed to a trickle.