Fast Draft, Day 14 - The End

Well I finally made it. I slapped together four more pages tonight before saying goodbye to my Fast Draft project. Actually it's not goodbye, it's more like you'll be next in line honey as soon as I'm finished with my first book, which is hopefully soon.

I am so glad I went through the Fast Draft process. I've picked up some good writing habits, and if I'm smart I'll keep these habits for the rest of my writing career - which might be short lived if I don't get paid soon.

So what I've learned is:

1) I won't die if I check my email only twice a day
2) I won't suffer too much if I only check the LHOP and DQ forums during lunchtime
3) I can actually set writing goals for myself...and meet them almost consistently
4) I really like blogging and I'll do more of it in the near future
5) I am a writer because I love it more and more each day

I guess I can get back in touch with my friends now, and unlock the coat closet so the kids can crawl out of the place they've called home for the past two weeks. I'm kidding about that last one. If I had locked them in the closet I would have gotten more Fast Draft pages done.

Signing off. I hope you're enjoying the weekend!

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Days 12 & 13

Well it's a double UGH! for me. Yesterday I got no work done on my Fast Draft project because life interferred - as it often does - and I ended up balancing the checkbook instead. The hubby was freaking out over an error he couldn't find, and so I took up the gauntlet and spent the night with the checkbook register, Microsoft Money, and the adding machine.

So I upped my five pages a day goal to ten for today, hoping to make up for my lost time. I managed four pages before the brain said, "Please go to bed." So here I am logging in my progress and heeding the warning before the old body shuts down.

I hope you all have a nice Memorial Day Weekend!

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Day 11

Three more days left - wow does time fly when you're having fun. I typed out another six pages tonight before deciding my body needs sleep. This has really been a great experience for me because it is training me to focus on my writing instead of writing a little bit and then taking a break to surf the Net or post on forums or anything else I did which stole valuable writing time.

I still have that July 1st deadline for my first book hanging over my head and I think with the habits I am creating with Fast Draft I should be able to plug away at it pretty quickly as soon as Fast Draft is over. I'm so glad I decided to participate instead of languishing in self-pity while I didn't write if I wasn't in the mood, or if I didn't have some inspiration, or for any other excuse I used.

If I want to be successful I have to run my writing career as if it's a business, and believe me I do want to be successful. I'll always write - no matter what - because I love it and because I think I'm good at it, but making a little money at something I love doing doesn't hurt either. I don't need fame and fortune, though I wouldn't pass them up if they were ever to come my way. I am a writer, because I write; and maybe one day I'll be an author because someone else believed what I wrote was worth reading.

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Day 10

Well, it's very close to the end of Fast Draft and I don't have as many pages as I would like...but I have more than before I started, so it's been a good adventure. Last night I scribbled down four pages before the youngest woke up crying.

The oldest turns 19 today so I'm not sure how much I'll get done after the party, but I hope to churn out at least a few more pages.

Thank you all for your support. I really appreciate it.

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Day 9

Well I hit my goal of five pages tonight, but I wish I had gotten more. The Mexico story is now on it's way along with the hundreds of others to the Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition. I would be happy to come out with an honorable mention, but even if I don't garner a prize or a mention I could enter it in another contest or try to sell it, so the time and effort are not wasted.

Off to get some beauty sleep...and man do I need it!

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Days 7 & 8

Yesterday I got down to the computer late, but I still typed up six pages of nonsense - one more than my goal. Tonight I wasn't so successful. I feel myself falling asleep as I type this note, and if there is a story inside me clamoring to get out, I am going to ignore it until tomorrow. I did force myself to get in two pages before putting my Fast Draft away, but that's three pages short of my daily goal. What a bummer! Oh well, I guess as Clarice said to Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, "There's always tomorrow for dreams to come true." So I'm placing my bets on tomorrow and signing off.

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Days 5 & 6

Well, Fast Draft has taken the back burner to my Mexico story, but now that it is finally done - I think - I'm free to work on Fast Draft. I managed a couple pages today, but after the all day conference in Waltham, and lack of sleep for the past two nights I couldn't write more than two. But tomorrow is another day and I will be back on track by then.

The ovarian cancer conference was a great success! There were so many informative and engaging speakers and many of the survivors spoke to us, so we will be able to portray our character from The Sisterhood realistically, which I am thrilled about. There's nothing worse than losing credibility because you didn't do the research.

Well off to bed. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Days 3 & 4

Well this certainly is a bummer. I got only six pages in last night because I started late. Those little kiddies just didn't want to go to sleep. And tonight I didn't get to work on my Fast Draft story at all because I had to finish two contest entries - one needed to be mailed out tomorrow. So I am ticked off at myself, but since it's 1:30am and I have to get up early I am heading off to bed. Hope to catch up on Fast Draft tomorrow, but it's not likely with the conference looming over my head on Saturday. Where, oh where does the time go?

TTFN (Ta-ta for now)

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Day 2

So I managed another ten pages tonight. Some of it I'll keep, but I have a feeling a lot of it will hit the recycle bin. It's strange to write this way. I try to keep the sections flowing into each other, but I know at some point I'm going to be standing over the hardwood floor which will be littered with 8 x 11 pieces of paper moving them around to see where parts fit best.

I'm at a very intense part for me right now. Actually most of it is intense to me, but this latest chapter is the most intense so far. Gee, I've just used the word "intense" three different times in the past two sentences. Argh, I think I'm losing my internal editor from writing this way. LOL!

I hope to keep up this pace because I am going to lose one or two nights of writing at the end of the week while I attend a conference which will give me some information for the book I'm collaborating on.

Off to bed. Tomorrow is a new day.

Signing off,

Cheryl

Fast Draft, Day 1

Well last night I managed to churn out 13 pages of what is probably drivel, but at least the story is started. I worked a little over two hours on it, so if I am able to keep up this pace I could have the majority of it written by the end of the two week period. Then comes the hard part, revising it and making sense of all the ramblings going through my feeble mind.

I'm off to plot some more drivel.

Cheryl

Fast Draft

Well, I decided to bite the bullet and participate in a Fast Draft. A group of writers are getting together online and have committed to writing a certain number of pages each day for the next two weeks starting on Monday, May 15. This will be my first attempt at Fast Draft and I hope to succeed. Even though the stated goal of Fast Draft is to write 20 pages per day, I didn't think that was doable for me with the other writing project I have going and my family committments. So it's 5 pages a day from May 15 - May 29.

I will try to track my progress here and offer you my feelings about the Fast Draft program. I think I'm going to like it, and maybe it will be just enough to get me into a regular writing schedule so that I spend less time surfing the Net and more time writing.

Wish me luck!

Cheryl

Destiny3 Fiction final issue

Hello all,

The final issue of Destiny3 Fiction is now online. I was saddened to see this news when I went out to check the site last week. Destiny3 and its editor, Tonya Stokes have given my articles a place to call home. I am grateful to her for having faith in my work, and for accepting the articles I offered.

But I'm sure new things are in the works both for me and for Tonya, and I look forward to a chance to work with her again in the future.

You can check out the May-June issue of Destiny3 Fiction at http://www.destiny3publishing.com/. While I did not have an article this month, my other articles are in the archives in case you missed them.

Thank you for your support.

Cheryl

Trying to keep an open mind

I finally purchased The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane by William Holtz. I had wanted to buy it years ago, but I knew I wasn't yet ready to approach it with an open mind.

I am only 60 pages into this nearly 400-page biography of what seems to be a complex and interesting character. As the reviews on the back suggest, Holtz's biography of Lane attempts to prove Rose Wilder Lane was the co-author of the famous Little House books along with her mother Laura Ingalls Wilder. My deep love for the Little House series and Wilder's other writings is what kept me from purchasing Holtz's book until now.

As the title of this post indicates my intention is to keep an open mind as I read this book, but not even 100 pages into it, I am already struggling. Holtz has made the Wilders out to be less than adequate parents and Rose Wilder Lane is portrayed as a precocious child who understood things way beyond her years. Even the quotes by Rose which appear underneath each chapter's title are carefully selected to make Rose out to seem like the victim of her circumstances.

Chapter 1 - "I hated everything and everybody in my childhood..."
Chapter 2 - "Influences: 1 - 16: no affection, poverty, inferiority"
Chapter 4 - "The worst thing about life is the necessity of trying to do something with it."

There are non-derogatory quotes by Lane for other chapters, but none that I consider inspiring or uplifting. It seems Holtz felt sympathy would influence the reader, thus swaying her into believing Lane was the co-author of the Little House books along with her mother. Perhaps Lane did offer her mother more than editorial advice. I have 300 plus pages to figure it out.