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Apples to Apples to Words
Since it’s the weekend, we want you to have a little fun with your writing.* Give our Apples to Apples Challenge a try! This is *not* a contest, we’re just playing with words today, but here are the rules: Incorporate the words in large text from the cards below into a short piece of writing. (250 words or less) Once you’re done, post your story in the comments for us all to enjoy. Please keep it family friendly! We want to show off your well-crafted work but we can’t keep it on our site if it goes against our family-friendly policy. You can explore dark topics but you have to…
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On World Book Day, Encourage Yourself to Write
Today, April 23, is World Book Day and I think the celebration is an excellent reason for you to find ways to encourage yourself to write. Most of my writing coaching is about helping people to develop consistent habits. Sometimes, though, I like to encourage writers to think about their big goals and create some reminders to lead them forward. Imagining your book-related future can be an excellent way to motivate yourself to write. Here are a few of my ideas, add your own in the comments! Create Your Future Book Cover If you have dreamt of the day when your book will be out in the world instead of growing…
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Apples to Apples to Words
Since it’s the weekend, we want you to have a little fun with your writing*! To help you in that quest, may we present: the Apples to Apples Challenge! This is *not* a contest, we’re just playing with words today, but here are the rules: Incorporate the words in large text from the cards below into a short piece of writing – 250 words or less. Once you’re done, post it in the comments for us all to enjoy. Please keep it family friendly! We want to show off your well-crafted work but we can’t keep it on our site if it goes against our family-friendly policy. You can explore…
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Guest Post: 5 Ways Playwriting Improved My Fiction
By Sharon King-Campbell When I was 9, my English teacher (one of a long line of superhero English teachers) assigned us a 2-page story for homework. I wrote 7 pages of my Hilroy notebook in large, clumsy cursive writing. I think it had something to do with a haunted house. Mrs. Pereira (superhero) was encouraging and kind. I don’t remember my grade on that assignment, or if she graded it at all. I do remember that she contacted my parents to let them know they had a writer on their hands. Writing has followed me my whole life. As readers of this blog will know, it’s a versatile skill. Essays,…
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365 First Page Contest Winners
March 31st we announced the winners of our first 365 Writing Challenge Contest. 56 people entered. These were our top three. If you love their piece, please be sure to comment below. Our 3rd place winner was Ian McAllister with One Step Ahead Maybe we should have repainted the spacecraft dark grey, but you know Amisool. He insisted that a space yacht in chartreuse was the only way to be seen. Yeah, by the port authority, and after we stole the thing in the first place. He waved three arms around, just the three, because the other one gripped a large drink. “Sweat the small stuff, Panslemann. We’ll walk away…
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How To Write When You Don’t Feel Like It
By Christine Hennebury Do you fall into the trap of thinking that you have to be motivated in order to write? Writing is often *easier* when we are motivated but it is indeed possible to write without feeling like it. I’ve found that a lack of motivation to write often has little to do with writing itself and, instead, just reflects how challenging it is for us to switch tasks. Switching tasks is hard. When you are already doing something, even if it is just sitting on the couch, the energy cost to start doing something else can feel prohibitive. If the new task is something that you feel apprehensive…
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Apples to Apples to Words
Since it’s the weekend, we want you to have a little fun with your writing* so we’re bringing back the Apples to Apples Challenge! This is *not* a contest, we’re just playing with words today, but here are the rules: Incorporate the words in large text from the cards below into a short piece of writing – 250 words or less. Once you’re done, post it in the comments for us all to enjoy. Please keep it family friendly! We want to show off your well-crafted work but we can’t keep it on our site if it goes against our family-friendly policy. You can explore dark topics but you have…
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5k Walk/Run/Write
Zero. That’s the number of words I’ve written so far this week. With a hard deadline approaching, I can’t afford to not be writing, but life and work have kept me busy. It happens, but I don’t despair because I know what I’m capable if I sit down and do it. The Power of a 5k Event Four years ago, I took part in the very first 5k Run/Walk/Write event along with about a hundred other 10 Minute Novelists Facebook group. I got up at 8AM and wrote, taking ten minute breaks at the end of each hour to get up and move, check in with the group, and take…
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How Marie Kondo Can Change Your (Writing) Life
By Katharine Grubb Back in 2008, when I first started setting my timer in 10-minute increments to write, I had five children who were 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2. I discovered pretty quick;y that in order to maximize the writing 10 minutes, every other 10 minutes had to be maximized too. So let’s say I’m preparing a meal when I’m not writing. Wouldn’t it make sense to be as efficient and organized as possible while I was doing it? If I’ve already planned my menu, already bought the necessary groceries, already knew the recipe, already understood the tasks required, already had all of the tools I needed in the…
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Apples to Apples to Words: Writing Challenge
NOTE: We know that you have been having trouble commenting on these posts and we *think* we have the problem solved. If this doesn’t work, we’ll keep working on it until we get it figured out. Sorry about the confusion and frustration. Since it’s the weekend, we want you to have a little fun with your writing* so we’re bringing back the Apples to Apples Challenge! This is *not* a contest, we’re just playing with words today, but here are the rules: Incorporate the words in large text from the cards below into a short piece of writing – 250 words or less. Once you’re done, post it in the…
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Apples to Apples to Words
Since it’s the weekend, we want you to have a little fun with your writing* so we’re bringing back the Apples to Apples Challenge! This is *not* a contest, we’re just playing with words today, but here are the rules: Incorporate the words in large text from the cards below into a short piece of writing – 250 words or less. Once you’re done, post it in the comments for us all to enjoy. Please keep it family friendly! We want to show off your well-crafted work but we can’t keep it on our site if it goes against our family-friendly policy. You can explore dark topics but you have…
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Apples to Apples to Words: Writing Challenge
Since it’s the weekend, we want you to have a little fun with your writing* so we’re bringing back the Apples to Apples Challenge! This is *not* a contest, we’re just playing with words today, but here are the rules: Incorporate the words in large text from the cards below into a short piece of writing – 250 words or less. Once you’re done, post it in the comments for us all to enjoy. Please keep it family friendly! We want to show off your well-crafted work but we can’t keep it on our site if it goes against our family-friendly policy. You can explore dark topics but you have…
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Apples to Apples to Words: Weekly Writing Challenge
Since it’s the weekend, we want you to have a little fun with your writing* so we’re bringing back the Apples to Apples Challenge! This is *not* a contest, we’re just playing with words today, but here are the rules: Incorporate the words in large text from the cards below into a short piece of writing – 250 words or less – and post it in the comments for us all to enjoy. Please keep it family friendly! We want to show off your well-crafted work but we can’t keep it on our site if it goes against our family-friendly policy. You can explore dark topics but you have to…
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You Don’t Need Permission To Write
…but I’ll give you some anyway. The writing world is alive with the ‘rules’ of writing. Everyone and their uncle has something to say about what you should write, when you should write it, how you should write it, and why you should write it. Naturally, a lot of that advice is contradictory. After all, while we can all expand our practice and our skills, we each have to make our own way to the page. We each have our own interests, our own reasons for writing, and our own hopes for what will become of our words. But a lot of us get tangled in all of the writing…