I’m feeling a bit out of shape.
Each word plops onto the page only after much huffing and puffing.
And I’d be lying if I told you my paragraphs weren’t a bit flabby.
And the adverbs? I need to shed those fast!
Yep, it’s sad, but true. I’ve fallen out of writing shape and I’m embarrassed.
In mid-November I wrapped up my writing projects and decided I would devote myself to school entirely. Well, my last final is on Tuesday and I can already just imagine how painful it’s going to be to get those creative muscles back in working order. When you get into the groove of writing every day you can feel yourself getting better and better. But getting started and getting in that groove…well that’s tough.
I watched Jay Leno last night and Michael Phelps was a guest star. He said that for every day you took off swimming you lost two days of training. Well, I hope its not that steep a loss with writing, but I’m not sure I’d equate knowing how to write with riding a bike or anything.
Luckily, even though gluing my butt to the chair and making myself eek out words the first few days might be painful, I am so looking forward to it! I’ve missed writing and I can’t wait to get back into it. I’ll also be back to doing prose. I’m doing a couple chapters as per the request of my agent with the characters of SCOUT. I can’t wait until Tuesday–ok, well I might not be writing Tuesday riiiiight after the exam, but Wednesday for sure!
Despite the fact that I’m a bit rusty, I have written much more intensively since my first novel (not SCOUT). I’ve landed a great agent. Lots has happened. I do feel like I’ve grown as a writer. I think that’s going to make things much more difficult because I’ll expect more from myself, but I’m also thrilled to be flexing my new writing muscles a bit in another full-length project. I’m pumped to see what I can do, but I’ve also gotten to know a bunch of great writers in the recent months and am hoping to use some of their input to bring my work to the next level. (That is, if they love me that much when I ask ‘em!)
Anyway, to start slowly getting my behind in gear, I was wondering if y’all knew of any good websites with daily writing prompts or character exercises or maybe you just have some that you enjoy doing before really digging into a project. Let me know!
Upcoming Topics:
Falling Back in Love: I’m so NOT over you…
Starting with a sense of Direction
What’s OK in YA?
The Left-Brained Artist
Playing off the Pressure
Status: And…Back to studying.
