Post: #51

When my first novel was published I made the mistake of going to a "Meet the Authors" event at my local library. I was all excited because my book was on the library shelf.
I didn't have a thing in common with those other writers. It was depressing.

Post: #52

(03-19-2015 08:35 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  A few links you guys might enjoy.

If you want to follow a similar organization method to Robert Greene's (I used to do something similar, though far less organized - going to take it back up): How And Why To Keep A “Commonplace Book”

http://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2...lace-book/

And for fiction writers, here's an interesting piece on Ray Bradbury's strategy for making lists of random nouns that came to mind and then turning them into stories.

Ray Bradbury on How List-Making Can Boost Your Creativity
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2...-on-lists/

Anyhow, off to pick up some index cards and then do some hiking by the lake to get some "writing" done.

I read that Ryan holiday post a couple years ago and started keeping a commonplace book. I also started marking the shit out of my books and tabbing pages.

That makes it so much easier to go back and grab quotes later.

Post: #53

What do you mean by tabbing pages? Do you use those little sticky tabs or crease them or what?

I need to learn to use the note taking features in my kindle better.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #54

Damn it, do I need another notebook? I think so.

Quote:I need to learn to use the note taking features in my kindle better.

The one thing that I miss most about physical books (besides the smell and feel of the pages) is being able to write in the margins.

Post: #55

(03-20-2015 09:43 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  What do you mean by tabbing pages? Do you use those little sticky tabs or crease them or what?

I need to learn to use the note taking features in my kindle better.

I use a combination of folding page corners and putting actual tabs on the really important stuff. These are great for tabbing and highlighting.


I try to limit my actual tabs to 5 per book, but I fold an unlimited number of corners. That helps separate the really important stuff from the kind of important. I do a lot of underlining as well.

After I read a book I will go back through my tabs and copy the important things into my commonplace book.

Ryan Holiday's blog is full of great info by the way.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

http://ryanholiday.net/to-really-know-somethin/

http://ryanholiday.net/youre-not-a-genius/

Post: #56

Three for three so far. Might have to punch out the next 1,000 on my phone though

Post: #57

Failed on my third day. Was too damn tired yesterday.

Doing 2,000 words now to make up for it, but will aim to not miss any more days!!

Post: #58

(03-20-2015 05:57 PM)dreambig Wrote:  Failed on my third day. Was too damn tired yesterday.

Doing 2,000 words now to make up for it, but will aim to not miss any more days!!

Fixed that for you, dreambig!

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #59

As much as I hate to, I'm going to have to bow out of this worthy challenge. My writing work load has ballooned since i hooked-up with Elance and there is no way I can do it. I'm cranking out close to 7000 words a day as is and these are paid projects. Mind you, I never learned to touch-type and have spent years teaching myself how to properly use a keyboard. I'm still a slow typist, but I'm doing all the on-line course work to crank my speed up. My goal is to become a 100 WPM typist because I want to type at the speed of thought.
The other thing I have discovered is that I can only devote myself to writing if it's a paid job. Weird, huh? This explains all the unfinished novels sitting on my shelf. For years I would give-up because it just wasn't worth it to put all the time into a novel just for art's sake. It still astounds me how some of you manage to create these long posts.
Now I am getting paid to write fiction. Never thought this day would come.

Post: #60

Everyone has their unique priorities. The fact that you bothered with an update instead of just going silent suggests to me that it was a very conscious decision. Best of luck with the freelancing.

And keep after the typing lessons. The ability to type without looking makes a huge difference.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #61

I'm a little late to the game on this thread but I'm in. I've been meaning to do more writing whether blog posting, ebooks or even just free flow type writing rambling on paper.

I tried an autoposting blog software a few weeks back which I was really unimpressed with and saw another reviewer say something to the effect of stop trying to learn SEO if your not familiar, stop wasting time doing a million article submissions and stuff and just simply write good content and post it on a daily basis. He said you'll be amazed how much more that will drive traffic than trying to outsmart the search engines.

I've been doing this for a short period of time and am already noticing the difference so I'll have to step it up and continue. Thanks for the inspiration

Post: #62

^Welcome back jamaicabound!

Post: #63

Interesting thread.
3000 words a day. How long does it take you guys to hammer out that?

Post: #64

jamaicabound, I've read several times that the most popular blog posts that rank well and drive traffic are at least a thousand words and focus on readability over keyword density or anything technical. Just write high value posts that your readers will get something out of. There's a misconception that people just don't read anymore and don't have time for long posts. This is true to some extent, but the people who don't have time for a 1000 or 2000 word article wouldn't have stuck around for a 300 word listicle on the same topic. If something is interesting and valuable, you will keep reading it no matter how long it is.

Post: #65

@ 7,000 words and not even a week into it.

Editing is gonna be a bitch though.

And thanks to whoever mentioned 2k to 10k.



WIA

Post: #66

(03-21-2015 12:33 AM)Chaos Wrote:  Interesting thread.
3000 words a day. How long does it take you guys to hammer out that?

I haven't been timing myself and just try to squeeze it in when I can or feel like it, but I believe it took me about 30 minutes this evening, give or take, for 2500 (I'd already done 600 in the morning). I didn't time this exactly and am a bit unsure of when I started. But that sounds about right at 83 words per minute. I'm sure I can type faster if I tried and was copying something, but creative writing is a bit more start and stop.

Considering the time investment, it probably wouldn't hurt to raise my bar even higher.

Actually, now that you got me to think about it, that's pretty inspiring. I'm going to start keeping daily time metrics. Even if I'm underestimating the time, I could knock out a solid chunk of book per day if I really went after it.

Thanks for the extra rocket-juice, Chaos. Off to bed so I can get up early and prepared to crank out some words!

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #67

One thing I have learned throughout this challenge so far is how worthless my brain is in the evening. Every time I wait until the evening to write I am just tired and my brain doesn't like to cooperate.

I am best off writing first thing in the morning.

Post: #68

Agreed!

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #69

It might be safe to say that I am becoming a morning person.

On another note I dusted off some old fiction of mine for shits and gigs today. I am rusty.

Writing fiction made me realize how much my thought process has changed over the past few years. When I used to write fiction it would be very idealistic or pessimistic. Now it is neither of those things. The best thing about all this writing is how it is opening my brain up. It's the closest thing I have felt to mental exercise.

Post: #70

I fell off this challenge for a good while.

As BB knows, I have been going on a bit of a rampage here in Bangkok and getting very little done. Tut tut.

Anyway, I'm back in with the challenge as of April 3.

My new rule for myself - no going out until 1,000 words have been written. My pride rests on keeping to this.

1203 words written for my showcase blog - 89 days to go!

Post: #71

First time poster here.
I'm in for this. I've realized that I enjoy writing as a creative outlet and as a means to develop ideas that float around. I want to develop freelanceable skills as well.

How exactly are you all doing your writing? Are you focusing on one topic at a time, or are you doing "stream of consciousness" type flows?

I'm alternating between developing an essay and writing journal entries. If I get writers block, I'll freewrite and try to figure out why I'm blocked up. Works like a charm.

One last question: How are you all going about getting feedback? Do you edit a piece, then send it off to a buddy to look over it?

Post: #72

Did anyone finish this? I'm still going because it's a fantastic way to come up with ideas, but I already filled out a whole notebook. There is so much knowledge in that book that I regret not starting this years ago. I've come up with so many blog ideas, wrote little pieces of fiction, analyzed myself and my actions with graphs and charts, set goals, took copious notes on my surroundings, quickly jotted down dreams in the middle of the night...it's a game changer.

Post: #73

Great challenge, BB. I'm joining in, today on May 1st. Already cranked out 1000 words. Journaling so far but I aim to create health-related content for a little blog I have, and down the line, write a novel. Always been my dream to do that latter.

Post: #74

I started reading books this year by influential authors instead of the old dust bin fantasy/scifi/thrillers/non-fiction (mostly thanks to this forum). This is something I really wish I had done proactively earlier in my life. I now have a much different view of life and a genuine appreciation of classic books. This new appreciation also brought the glaring issue of my poor writing into light.
I am jumping on this challenge starting today and wanted to run my plan through you guys. I plan to alternate free writing, and then going back and polishing it at a later date. Ideally I would like to have a "gym partner" situation if anyone is interested. Maybe share progress and polished pieces, get feedback, bounce around ideas and keep a competitive dynamic to push each other past plateaus.

Post: #75

I'm going to try this one more time. I've been cranking out 8K words a day for other people while hardly doing a thing for my own material. I've got to get my own work out or I'll end up some nameless pulp fiction writer who gets papers written about him 60 years after he died.