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tttime · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Western Austrlaia

Yesterday was great. I couldn't seam to get a quite spot to myself. I jumped in the car and headed to one of our paddocks. We call it Island and it was great. I took my laptop and ran the battery flat, reluctantly after 3 hours I had to head back in. Once back in and pluged to power I spend another hour at it.

In short I'm feeling positive about this week. i don't have another day off until next friday but I'm not going to let it stop me I intend to achieve 7 hours. An hour a day. I have already done an hour today so its a good start.

Its amazing how motivated i feel, thanks admin Very Happy

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absolute amature writer. well have to start somewhere.

Monster · Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 19

Hi all,

I know what you mean, tttime, since we started this last week, I can't stop thinking about when I can sit down again to work on my writing some more. I haven't been this inspired for ages.

I'm going to write for 8 hours for this week. That's 6 hrs over the weekend and another 2 through the week. I've agreed to put in a few more hours at work so I probably won't get a lot of time, but I should be able to handle 2 hours.

Actually, I'm going to start as soon as I finish here. Very Happy

Amy · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 14

My inspiration hasn't kicked in yet, am I doing something wrong? Sad

I made plans to finish a short story and send it off, remember?
Well I got as far as twenty minutes working on it and sort of fizzled out. I don't plan to give up, I'll keep trying, but if anyone has some pointers, I'd really appreciated it.

tttime · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Western Austrlaia

Hi amy

The best advise I can give you when you are having trouble reaching your goal is to try and fool yourself. Very Happy

before you laugh at me what I mean is that maybe trying to finish a whole story is too big for your mind to handle so how about shortening the goal. Maybe say this week I am going to devote an hour to working on story ideas and thirty minutes to some writing exercise just to get the juices flowing like a diary or a blog. It may be that the pressure of the word finish is you problem.

good luck and remember that any writing is a positive step.

Hi Everyone

please call me Tammy it seams funny to get messages refering to me by my handle.
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absolute amature writer. well have to start somewhere.

admin · Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:47 pm Post subject: Well said

Well said, Tammee. I agree.

Finishing a short story and submitting it involves a lot of time and effort. Remember, Amy, take it one step at a time. Work on your characters and plot ideas - this can be quite a lot of work. You may have to research points depending on what the story is. When you're ready to write, focus on the first draft only, and forget trying to get it to a polished tale or submitting it. Just get the story from your head onto the page. It doesn't matter if it takes you three weeks working on the first draft, just take it as it comes. I get the feeling you might be trying to push all the steps in together, break it down and concentrate on each step as you come to it.

The idea of setting targets is not to compete against each other, it is just a guide for you to work towards. To get you on the right track, why not set a target you are confident you can handle, such as twenty minutes a day. See how you go with that for a week, and if you miss a day or whatever then don't let it worry you. We are human, not robots, so things won't always go according to plan.

Also, if you are having trouble with this particular story, then it might not be the right story for you to write. Or you might be looking at it from a POV that isn't working. This can slow the creative process down and cause frustrations. If this is the case, try writing it from a different angle, or write a completely different story.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Amy · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 14

Thanks so much for that, Tammee and Admin. Smile

It helped so much. I'm not sure if it was the story or not, but I try a different one and focus on it in steps.

So I'll concentrate on a fresh new idea and start writing it. I'm not aiming to finish it, just as long as I've worked it out and started the writing process. Then I'll see how well I do.

tttime · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Western Austrlaia

Your welcome but its Tammy not Tammee
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absolute amature writer. well have to start somewhere.

admin · Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 8:21 pm Post subject: oops, sorry

Oops, look what I started ...

That's my fault, Tammy. My niece has the same name but spells it with 'ee'. I typed it without even thinking. Sorry. Sad

admin · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 3:24 pm Post subject: Update

Okay all you writers out there, now's the time to let us know how your targets are going and if you're changing your current targets?

Are you spending enough time writing or have you drifted back to old habits?

Looking forward to hearing how you've gone.

brooke · Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 12 Location: Perth

Yep, well I reached my targets, have new book review to do, another article due tomorrow and am in talks to co-write book, the contract should be getting drawn up soon! So am way ahead for now, but I tend to write in big waves, just not consistently!