ROW80 Week 4: Circling

(Other ROW80 participants)

I was distracted this week.

It begun with reading Drowtales — a good webcomic, but unfortunately quite similar to my current story, to the point where I didn’t feel comfortable reading the one while writing the other.

Then there was roleplaying, which got me all inspired about a completely different project.

In the end, I wrote four days this week (out of a goal of five); but I’m in a good place to catch up this week.

Roleplaying has got me back into the right headspace for this story, and I’ve realised I have a quasi-deadline: on the 18th of August, my Mary-Sue project starts in earnest, so I’d better get this draft done before then.

Good luck and happy writing!

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ROW80 Week 11: Opportunity

(other ROW80 participants)

This week started pretty well: one book read, and three evenings of writing.

Then I saw a house up for auction.

It’s not exactly what I was looking for. There’s a lot of things I need to double-check, and any one of them could rule this house out. But the auction is on Saturday, so if it is the right house, I have four days to confirm it.

I’ll still aim to get writing done when I can; but that may not be much.

Good luck and happy writing!

ROW80 Week 5: Adjustments

(other participants)

This week has been busy:

I finished rewriting my short story on Tuesday. I’m still not happy with it, but the re-write has given me a much clearer idea of what I do and don’t want to change.

On Friday, I had roleplaying again.

We’ve started sharing the work of running the game, which will hopefully make it a bit less of a time sink in future. However, I do have to make some game-mechanics decisions about my own character, which took up a lot of time this week.

I’m reluctant to count that as writing, which leaves me with four days of proper writing this week (two short-story, two on other stuff).

Hopefully, this coming week will be one for editing.

Good luck and happy writing!

ROW80 Week 6: Measured

This week has reminded me of the importance of working on goals first.

I did write on five days, and recite poems on as many, but I wasn’t as focussed as I was last week. Nor was it as much writing; I only got about 60 words written towards Conkers.

But I’m starting this week well rested, and with high hopes.

Good luck and happy writing!

Update: the linky is working, but I had my browser set up wrong and thought it was broken.

First Rule of the Quest

There comes a time when bridges must be burned;
When Fate demands too much to let you share.
When youthful loves and friendships must be spurned
And fire flood the streets, to clear the air.

There comes a time when sanctuaries close.
When seals and solemn vows must lose their force,
Their might made moot by ever-greater foes.
And all you have is courage, and a cause.

There comes a time when doom can wait no more;
What's left of hope, you gamble in one blow —
Let dice a lifetime falling reach the floor.
Here fates conclude, then let the living go.

Till that uncertain day, when all quests end,
You shall not taste the world that you defend.

A Villain’s Holidays

My time is here; all eyes are turned away;
Stood down, the guards who'd watch for evil schemes.
My forces rise and march, this very day,
To strike the sleeping dragon while it dreams.

And on the morrow, other armies ride,
Who will, ere nightfall, spread the word — I rule.
Without their chief, my foes will stand aside,
Or headless fall, if blood does not stay cool.

And when their feasting ends, and weapons rise,
The best-kept knights will find their castles sealed.
The doors to let them out shut fast. My greatest prize,
Their freedom, waiting for them if they yield.

A few scant times the sun will rise once more,
Before the land awakens to my war.

#ROW80 R12, Week 2: Up to speed

Here’s my linky for this week.

Overall, the week went well: I wrote six days out of seven (although one day was only a haiku), and got 1,400 words done on Conkers — enough to make up for being behind last week. Plus, I finished reading Dash and Lilly’s Book of Dares.

That wasn’t what I’d planned to read; but I got the third Avatar: The Last Airbender series this week, and spent much of my evenings watching that instead.

It wasn’t a total loss, though. Several things in the series (especially the swordmaster Sokka studies under) gave me a new perspective on my other ideas; and I got a poem out of my reactions to the show.

It may also have helped to read a non-fantasy book; Book of Dares left me still wanting to write, but less focussed on the specifics of what I’d been watching.

Aside from that, I’m not sure what else I can say about the book. The main thing I enjoyed about it was the premise itself. I also liked the way the narrators were distinguished by vocabulary, but that’s probably because the authors wrote alternate chapters.

Good luck, and happy writing!

#ROW80 Week 11: Pause

I didn’t make much progress towards #ROW80 (linky) this week.

That’s not so much not doing enough, as doing too much on other things. I actually wrote in excess of four thousand words this week; but they were on setting ideas, my research project, and a thing I found on the Internet rather than stories.

Similar to Worm last round, I was distracted this week by watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. While I certainly don’t regret watching it, it did overshadow my thoughts all week, and may have interfered with my writing.

Unlike Worm, though, I can’t claim it as a book. I did start reading a new book this week, but I’m not that confident I’ll finish it by the end of the round.

I’ve had a tendency to redefine my goals each time I’m unhappy with a week. It’s not worth it this late in the round, but I wonder if I need to declare that research project as an actual goal. The truth is, it’s as significant to me as Conkers is, and of a similar scale; it doesn’t really make sense to pretend it doesn’t exist for the purposes of #ROW80.

I’ve been worried it wasn’t mature enough to mention yet, but I have to talk about it at some point…

ROW80 Week 7: Distraction

Here’s my linky for this week.

Although perhaps I should be, I can’t say I’m happy with my progress. I spent most of it reading an online superhero novel called Worm, which was the digital equivalent of unputdownable — I got so wrapped up in that that I didn’t get anywhere with any of the physical books I’m reading, or get my reflection done.

I could arguably count it as my reading for the week, but part of the point of that goal was to spend time away from the Internet. And I haven’t finished reading it yet, anyway.

However, I did try to examine how the story kept me enthralled, as I have been with books. Like The Traitor Queen, Worm cuts away from scenes at moments of suspense, using extra viewpoints and timeskips to break up the first-person narrative. This even applies to the long-term plot: the characters never get a real chance to relax, so I could never go away from the screen and imagine they were safe.

Consequently, I spent most of the time I wasn’t reading thinking about situations in the story. A lot of those raise questions about the place of supernatural powers in society, which particularly interests me. It’s also enough a part of my WIP’s that I was reluctant to work on them, but it did give me a new perspective on one of my other ideas, which I wrote about 1,200 words of background for.

I also managed 470 words on Conkers (before I started reading Worm), and four or five hundred words of miscellaneous poetry (two sonnets, two other poems). That makes a total of 2,100 words for this week, putting me at a total of 12,400 for the round so far. I may yet equal my word count from last round.

So, really, this isn’t that much worse than other weeks from a ROW80 perspective. I’m just frustrated because reading Worm took up all my non-ROW80 free time. Not that it isn’t worth reading, mind you! I just would have preferred to go through it more slowly.

Good luck and happy writing!