This last month has been a lot of fun. Listening to the podcasts, trying the homework activities, chatting to my writing group, and – most significantly – actually getting some writing work done, has been deeply satisfying. So I thought I might have a quick look at my output over the month.
Output
This month has been more productive for my writing than any period since I started even thinking about writing. I’ve dropped:
– roughly 10,000 words on my primary WiP
– 5,000 words on a short story (to zero draft stage) and
– around about 2,000 to 4,000 words on the blog.
This doesn’t count the planning work on a new story idea that hasn’t involved any writing yet but I’m still pretty enthusiastic about. I attribute much of this motivation to my little writing group. So thanks lads, appreciated. Some of it though, was thanks to Writing Excuses.
Writing Excuses: Month One
We started (as recommended) at Season 10 of Writing Excuses, and the first month was on Ideas, including:
I found these episodes, and particularly trying homework activities, to be very useful. They kick-started my own process of idea generation, which had been laying somewhat ignored and unloved for some time. Back when I was blogging frequently I would stretch the creative muscles often – the Friday Fictioneers exercises were like a creative gym session, a mental circuit class. Deliberately sitting and thinking about being creative woke up some long stagnant imagination-muscles and whilst some ideas were thin or weak or just had limited options, there were a few there that I really felt could work.
So if you’re looking to spark the creative process, I recommend trying these homework exercises. At a minimum, you’ll stretch your brain into the right frame of mind. At best – you might come up with your next project and be infused with a new round of inspiration and motivation.
Do you have any other suggestions? How do you get your ideas? Writing prompts? Random photos? Flipping through the news channels? Let me know!
Cheers all
KT
Uncertain Tales 