After months of misery, I’m happy to report that life is AWESOME. Medical problems still persist and my house is a wreck, but writing wise, life is good.
Last IWSG had me hoping I could finish chapters 8 and 9 in Isto. I did even better! I had breakthroughs on a character scale, decided to murder a character who had previously died due to a natural disaster, and gave an inanimate object a life of its own. I have 14 chapters I can confidently call finished and I added 7K to my total keepable word count.
So what makes me an insecure writer this month? I just made a pact with a friend to hold each other accountable. She’s aiming for a certain number of words a week, I’m going more based on concept. I must kill the character I mentioned earlier. Oh, I’m all sorts of excited to do so, it’s just getting it all laid out properly. Can I get all the scenes finished before next Tuesday? We shall see.
IWSG Question of the Month: Did you ever say “I quit?” If so, what happened to make you come back to writing?
Honestly? Nope. I’m a bit of an odd duck when it comes to writing. I have no great aspirations of commercial success. I don’t do prompts. I don’t write for other people. I don’t try to make stories work.
I write to tell Derek’s tale. Oh, I might deviate from time to time if I’m invited/encouraged to participate in an anthology. Especially if inspiration strikes. But I always return to Derek. If I lost him, then yeah, I might quit. Until then, I will keep plugging to share him with other people.
How was your May? Do you have an accountability partner? How do your approach your writing/creative goals?
About Insecure Writer’s Support Group
You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.
I’m so glad to hear how AWESOME things have been in terms of your writing. It’s really nice to read this post. So encouraging 🙂
Hi Loni! Yay for your break through! I do have an accountability partner. They make a world of difference 🙂
So happy life is gooood. Congrats on your progress. The good thing about housework, it will wait 🙂 or is that a bad thing LOL! Stay cool!
Congrats on achieving your goal and even more. Have fun killing that character.
Isn’t it great when stuff is going smoothly? Man, it makes writing easier when life is good. Or maybe it’s the other way around? Either way, can’t complain.
Hope the momentum keeps up and the accountability partner is useful. I don’t have any such useful tools, just me, myself and I. The biggest and most useless tool. 😛
We are much the same. Sure money would be great, but I have other priorities. I’m glad the health issues are better. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
So glad things are going better, Loni! And good luck with the accountability. I think having that helped me during Story A Day last month.
Good for you! Keep after it.
I never had aspirations either. Funny how things work out.
Awesome! I can’t wait to see what you have and where you’ll be going.
I think I need an accountability partner. I’ve been slacking. When I had someone I had to show something to every month I was on the ball about editing. But that group kind of fell by the wayside for the last few months.
I have a pair of critique partners who are kind of like accountability partners. I always want to make sure I have something to submit for our meetings.
And I’m in that same odd duck boat. I really lack aspirations of commercial success, too, because I just wanted to tell my characters’ stories the way I wanted to tell them. Still occasionally frustrating, because I don’t feel as though I’m doing right by my characters, but I can’t imagine that I’ll ever actually give up on them. Even if they maybe wish I would…
Happy writing! Have fun murdering your character!
On the up and up. LOL. You’re excited to kill the character… I don’t think I’ve ever been excited to kill a character. Not even the bad ones. How weird is that?
Wanting to share your character with others. That’s what makes us writers!
Congrats on the progress. If only you could bottle that up and send me some.
Congrats on your breakthrough, Lori! Sorry to hear you’ve had struggles with your health. I’ve certainly missed you.
I do have accountability partners, but I’ve found nothing works until I’ve made up my own mind to stop wasting time and get writing. Once I’ve found my inner motivation, it’s a powerful thing.
Have a great month!
I do write best when I use an accountability partner, or at least that worked while I was drafting my novel. Now that I’m posting to blog a nonfiction book that has helped my motivation a lot. I know I’ll revise the posts down the road, but for now the act of hitting publish keeps me writing.
Way to go, Loni! Great attitude….
Very awesome that you got so much done! Having an accountability partner sounds like a good idea. I could probably do something like that with my husband (he’s a comedian and should be writing more jokes) but I think we’d let each other slide too much.
I have a cheering partner, does that count. Happy everything is going so well. I know that feels good,
Juneta @ Writer’s Gambit
You’re doing great on the writing front. Hopefully, your medical problem will be resolved to your satisfaction soon.
Thank you for visiting my blog and suggesting that critique group. I’ll certainly check them out.
Happy to know life is back to AWESOME (as it should be).
I hear the excitement in your voice (tone?) about writing and am *so* happy it’s there. Oh! I also love that you go back to a Derek every time. It’s like author-character soulmates. 😉
Congrats! It’s good to hear things are flowing (and other things are settling down).
Hooray! So glad to read things are going so well on the writing front. I could feel your enthusiasm just reading the post. Happy for you!
It’s funny how, even when other things are going bad, having the writing go well can make everything better. ^_^ And hey, nothing like a murder to make a story better.
As for me, well, you’ve seen my blog so you know what I’ve been dealing with. I’m just glad to have pulled through it. >_<
Making a pact with another writer is a great way to stay accountable. I like your reasons to keep writing.
I’m sorry to hear that your health isn’t doing so great. I can relate. I’m happy to hear that you’re rockin’ and rollin’ on your writing. That’s awesome! I hope the trend continues. All my best to you!
Elsie
Awesome! I’ve never managed to keep a writing accountability partner, they always give up, LOL! SO I just set deadlines and announce them and then I am held to that or else I look bad.
Yeah I do have an accountability partner, but I gave myself a break over the past couple of months when I burned out.
I might be getting in touch with her again, soon. 🙂
Glad to read that you’re making such good progress.
Kill a character? Crikey? I struggle with that.
Do I have to? Literally? I suppose not.
Depends on the story, hey?
Get better soon, Loni! 🙂
No, I don’t have an accountability partner, but that seems like a good idea. Nothing like someone depending on you to get those words going! Belonging to a writing group used to help, but too many people moved away so it fell apart.
That’s great you have a friend with whom you can share mutual encouragement. Hopefully you can spur each other on, even though your approaches are different. Glad to hear you’re making progress!
When awesomeness comes into ones life, the other not so good stuff doesn’t seem so bad.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out