#tenaday

So I haven’t written in forever, right? Partly it’s because I’m in the middle of a big transition in my life and have started shifting into the adult world and trying to figure out what a life for me looks like, but I’m happy and very pleased to say that I still want writing to be a part of it and that my dream of writing a full novel is still burning strong. I’m buckling down and starting to commit! This doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly changing overnight and am ready to pump out a 1000 words a day or anything, but I have carved out a rigid time for me to write consistently and I’d like to welcome anyone into the challenge of writing for (at least) 10 minutes a day!  

What I’ve been doing is leaving my notebook, pen, and a kitchen timer on the table so that immediately following a trip to the park with my dog, as soon as I come home I set the timer to 10 minutes and write as quickly and as non-stop as I can. I can tell you that what I write absolutely sucks, but I don’t allow myself more than 10 minutes so I’ve started to find that I’m getting more and more ideas, but by not letting myself write them down it’s keeping me charged and rearing to go for the next time. I have started collecting tons of just assorted scribblings of ideas. It’s been a wonder for my creativity! 

So if you find yourself lacking motivation or structure, please join me! I would love to help keep you accountable. Only rules are that you get no more or less than 10 minutes and that’s pretty much it. If you’re like me and are finding yourself struggling to start consistently writing, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with starting small. The long-term goal is to build up the minutes, but I find that this has been incredibly effective and there’s no shame in starting small as long we’re starting somewhere.

@naturallysweetnloaded is hosting a writing challenge, where authors devote just ten minutes a day every day to writing. I’d asked her about her thoughts on outlining, since that’s how I plan to use my time for the next few weeks. She mentioned she likes to use the subway method, which I hadn’t heard of before (while I’m pretty decent at literary theory, when it comes to craft I’m apparently a total newb). So off to Google I went to see what this subway method is all about.

I thought I would share a link to one of the blogs I read because I found it to be extremely helpful (as a visual person, story mapping- in this case thinking of plot as a series of subway lines- speaks to me). Also, since I am a THG/Hunger Games-heavy blog, I thought some of the people who follow me might like to see the plot of THG mapped out like a subway system.

(Source)

@naturallysweetnloaded mentioned in a bullet-pointed list the main plot points she jots out first while outlining. I would LOVE to hear those described in more detail because, while some are fairly obvious in meaning, others are less so. And I think they would be helpful to others (and if not, at least they would be to me!).

At the blog I linked, the author suggests jotting out key scenes (which is actually how I’ve begun to outline. I’m cinematically-minded, so I’m looking at this as writing out the “movie trailer” scenes first- the stuff that’s most important, dramatic, impactful, etc.). From there, you flesh out the Dramatic Questions of your story, and place the scenes you’ve brainstormed into the map according to what question(s) they work toward answering.

So in the case of THG, the Major Dramatic Question is: will Katniss survive the Hunger Games? This is the novel’s thesis that ultimately all scenes must work in support of (which isn’t to say you can’t write in counterarguments; you would in an academic paper, and it’s appropriate to do the same in creative writing). And that was really helpful to me because thinking about my novel’s Major Dramatic Question helps to provide cohesion while I’m brainstorming through a mess of scenes that jump around in chronological and even geographic order.

I've been experimenting with art journaling for the Ten a Day challenge. This is the result of several days work!

The part of art journaling that's always seemed hard is the words to put with it. So it's really interesting that by the time I finish painting even the most mundane of objects I have Thoughts.

I’m ecstatic to see so many people joining in on this and tagging your friends! I thought I’d make a tag list just for a daily nudge. If you don’t want in, just let me know and I’ll take you off! 

@papofglencoe @mareebrittenford @itsatimeforwolves @lovelytothebone @awkwardeverlark @safeinpeetasarms @savvylark @dandeliononfire @alliswell21 @princessoftheworld85 @justajifan @peetaspikelets @567inpanem @deinde-pradium @everhutcher @maxwellandlovelace 

Did you do your 10 minutes today? #tenaday 

So the further I work on my #tenaday wip, it's shockingly starting to gain momentum and length and I'd love to share progress with people and be able to post some of my work.