Ummm...

Well I did very little writing, despite by best laid plans. I did however learn how to crochet. It's something I wanted to try for years, but life always got in the way. I've now made 3 doillies. OK, so they aren't brilliant, but you can see the improvement from the first to the third. I'm also using a medium wool, which means they are a lot more chunky than normal.

So now I just have to use the same technique to write more. It's a very simple technique, which can be applied to anything. And I do mean anything. From flossing to exercise to cooking and to just about anything you can think of.

You start by forming a habit. A very simple habit. The rest grows from there. So for writing, you form a habit, which consists of writing just one word. That word leads to the next and so on.

For the crocheting, I started with just one stitch, which lead to me crocheting for 5 minutes, which lead to me getting totally distracted and crocheting a doily in one sitting. On Monday I made 2, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. The first one took a couple of days...

So for writing, when I have some free time I need to sit down and write one word, which will hopefully lead to a second and so on.

A great place to go to learn about forming habits is http://tinyhabits.com/, which can teach how to form habits. It may seem a little weird, but it does actually work.

Very bad

I haven't written here since January, that is so bad. I have written. I started a new short story and there is another that's mutating in my head.

I start off with an idea, which when I start to write doesn't work, then it begins to mutate into something that might. At least that's the way I look at it.

For some reason I'm writing in very short paragraphs today, and I don't really know why. I normally write much more before changing the subject. Oh well.

I haven't touched any of my novel since NaNoWriMo last November and that is not a good thing. I really need to sit down with it again. The trouble is I sort of promised myself to write and finish a short story first. I think I need to break that promise and actually do something rather than make up excuses for not doing anything.

I'm very good at doing nothing. That's one of my biggest problems. I have Friday off work and I will do something writing related then...just not sure what, but I'll think of something.

I quite like writing blog posts, but they aren't essential to me or to anyone for that matter. Still that's no excuse, I guess.

Anyway time to get back to work.

Long time no post

Well first there was Christmas, then New Year, then I was sick and I never quite got round to writing a new post. I did do some writing, just not here. I wrote a bit more to a short story and I even have an ending for it now. I haven't finished writing the ending, because some of what I've written doesn't sound right at the moment, but at least I know where I'm headed.

This is a different story to the one that I was going to submit. That one I'm hoping to completely re-write. I'm going through all my old files trying to find one of the first drafts. The last version I worked on just isn't right. I have an older version, which is better, but has too many characters. I know I had another version with still more characters. I want to find that one to see if I kept the wrong characters and deleted the right ones - if that makes any sense.

Of course I could just simply rewrite it completely, which will probably happen.

As for a novel, I'm sort of stuck. I know what I want to achieve, I just can't seem to get it right and instead of going round this, I'm stuck. I need to give myself a good push, trouble is I'm so busy it's easier to leave this until later and concentrate on other things that can't wait.