Writing 300 Words a day Will Give you a Novel in a Year, by Karla Stover

                                                                                                                                    I am a slow writer. Once upon a time, I would have been in good company: Margaret Mitchell spent ten years writing Gone With the wind; J.R.R. Tolkien spent seven years working on The Hobbit,  and Maya Angelou took fifteen years to write the final book of her autobiography. But when I read about others ( should there be an apostrophe?) writing habits, I realize I can't do the same. Of course, most of them were men where cooking, cleaning, yard work, dog walking--chores in general don't get in the way. However, I am always thinking. Does that count?  Right now, I am seven thousand words into Parlor Girls, my next book for BWL. Since it's a historical novel based on fact, there is always research to do. Here's an example: my protagonists have just arrived at a boarding house circa 1885. First I found one which fit what I wanted. I looked at the street and the neighbors. Then I went inside (virtually )and looked at the reception area. Up the stairs to a bedroom and once again, I had to research until I found one meeting my requirements. Another time, it took me a whole afternoon to find an appropriate toilet and then what to call it. Of course, I could have made it all up but I'm not comfortable with that; one reason is that I hate it when I'm reading something and a setting doesn't feel real to me. 

I decided to research the "slow writing" issue and found two comments, the first:

 “Not presently ready to begin writing” means you haven't done enough pre-writing to enable you to write under the framework “the words that I am writing are the words the reader will be reading.” ... Many writers who write painfully slow do not do the necessary pre-writing. It's not part of their process." https:academicmuse.org

Well, that isn't nice. I moved onto the second:

"To write slowly is to write deliberately, and often the best way to write 1,000 words in an hour is to sit down with the intention of giving yourself more time and writing 300. Slow writing also has greater clarity, because your thoughts have time to form. Writing fast works when you know exactly what you want to say," https://alifeofproductivity.com

Much better.

The johnfox.com says, "It is the fast writer who uses language in a utilitarian manner. The slow writer prizes the texture of language, and all the richness that creates language." 

Now, we're talking.

I have had two dental procedures recently, and after the shots (why hasn't someone invented a way to make them less painful?) I just zoned out and mentally worked on what was next in my book. Then, I came home and wrote my thoughts. Another thing I've discovered is to work on what I want to say when I can't sleep or when I am super depressed from missing my parents and my brother. It keeps the pain of their loss pushed away.

Here's what two of the best writers had to say:

"Go wisely and slowly. Those who rush stumble and fall." William Shakespeare. Hah! So said the man wrote wrote at least 38 plays and 150 poems.

And to paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, "I don't want to empty the well of my writing." Since he wrote 9 short story collections, 9 non-fiction books, 10 novels / novellas, among many other things, his well must have been deeper and fuller than mine is.

At least I'm doing better than Anna Sewell (one book, Black Beauty) Edgar Allen Poe (one novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket ) and Emily Bronte ( just the one book, Wuthering Heights.) She did have a good excuse, though; she died.

That's it. That's all I have to say. It's time to fold the laundry, sweep the floor and move the hose. Then I'll get back to my book.

R.I.P.

 

My books available at Baldwin, Barbara - Digital and Print EBooks (bookswelove.net)

R.I.P.
James Otis, Jr. (1725-1783)
                …Blow to head “unhinged his reason” (in 1769)
                …”got in a mad freak”
                …killed by bolt of lightning
Poor James encountered a number of difficulties even before he met with a tragic end, according to his tombstone at the Granary Burial Grounds in Boston, MA.

            However, he managed to live longer than Thomas Webb, who “died very suddenly, much lamented, on 8^th July 1769 – aged 33 years”.

            In one small section of the cemetery you find James and Thomas, along with others on whose tombstones are carved weighted words:
                “Sacred to the memory of…”
                “Here lies buried the body of…”
                “Here lies deposited the remains of…”

            Tombstones from the past tend to give us more history of the person than more modern ones, which often only have a name along with birth, death and possibly marriage.  I like to visit cemeteries in my travels. They are peaceful paths through a city’s history. Sometimes there are keys to what happened to the people but often we are only reminded of the finality of death.
                John MCluer esq^r, who departed this life May 21, 1785, aged 40 years.
                “In the cold mansion of the silent tomb,
                How still the solitude, how deep the gloom.”

That doesn’t mean the messages on tombstones aren’t sometimes irreverent and we should take them with a bit of humor. Apparently not everyone in Dodge City liked McGill’s pastime, as this wooden marker in Boot Hill Cemetery implies. (“A buffalo hunter named McGill who amused himself by shooting into every house he passed. He won’t pass this way again. Died March, 1873.”) You have to wonder if one of the town residents didn’t “help” McGill find his final resting place.

                Original markers at the Granary Burial Grounds were slate and fairly similar in structure. I found quite a difference at the cemetery in Paris, where there was everything from flat individual markers to family mausoleums, some quite ornate.

 

 

You have to wonder what they were thinking with this one, right in the middle of the lane, which wasn’t very wide or exactly straight.

                Many people die as they lived, with humor and a touch of sarcasm. Some simply want to have the last word. When I decided to write about tombstones, an article happened to pop up on my Facebook page with humorous sayings people actually put on their markers. https://www.daily-choices.com/the-funniest-headstones-you-will-ever-see-part2/17?xcmg=1 is the link.

                My visits to cemeteries wouldn’t be complete without a picture of standing stones we found in Scotland. This group was very small and out on a country road. There were no markers or information; we had found it from a tourist map, back before Google GPS. Is it a religious ceremonial site, directional markers for long ago travelers, or a burial site?

Writers and cemeteries appear to be equal targets for columnists and cartoonists!

“Live your life so your children will say you stood for something wonderful.” – on the headstone of a woman close to me who truly did make the world a better place for all who knew her.

Barb Baldwin

http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin

https://bookswelove.net/baldwin-barbara/

– When once asked why I write, I said, among other things, that I wanted to leave my name on something other than a tombstone. I have been fortunate to be able to do that.

Why Writing Erotica is... Weird

 

Vanessa Hawkins Author Page

I wanted to call this blog post: Neurotic Erotica, but I didn't think it quite got the point across. Now I am an avid fan of assonance. Chaotic Erotica, Psychotic Erotica, and Hypnotic Erotica were all valid choices, but the fact of the matter is erotica... and writing it... 

is weird. 

Now I'm not bashing the genre! I have greedily offered many hours of my life to the pursuit of reading words that might offer the slightest tingle or giddy laugh in the middle of a rainy day... or on a bus ride, or at work... or during... I dunno, a family reunion or somethi--

Ahem! 

But! 

Not that kind of butt! Get your head outta the gutter.

...There is a world of difference between reading something spicy and writing your own. I am quickly learning this the hard way. 

Hur hur! No pun intended...

READING sexually explicit material is... well, discreet. It feels okay to do on a crowded bus or in lieu of your biology class, because the only thing giving us away is perhaps the front cover. But even cover pages are becoming less obvious! Unlike flipping the centerfold of an old playboy magazine during your daily Americano at that high traffic Starbucks downtown, we are free to wallow in our lewd literature because at the end of the day, it is head and shoulders classier, even if it isn't!

Even if it isn't... 😒😒😒

But personal taste aside, WRITING erotica--at least for me--is entirely different. Writing erotica is like tossing yourself off a cliff and hoping that someone catches you at the bottom and likes what you've happened to wear that day. It's being that weird woman at the typewriter, living out her own lecherous fantasies while she takes you along for the ride. It's... weird... 

...but only because we're inviting you. In fact... we hope you tag along and recommend us to all your friends!

"Captain Pedro's buff trouser soldier was in full salute at the sight
of Madame Avery's ankles on display..." This is sure to get five star reviews!

 On top of that, there is always the awkward time of completion where you sit and wonder if you really want to let everyone read your guilty pleasures. I'm talking #authorproblems. 

Like I've said before, I've read erotica. I'm not ashamed to say it! I READ SMUT! However, now that I am writing something that I want to eventually publish, but also has the potential to be terribly embarrassing/controversial/etcetera... there is the issue of whether I want to attach my real name to said piece of scandalous pron. 

I know you're proud of me for becoming a 
published author, Mom... but my new book has tentacles... and people
who sit on cakes for fun...

On one hand, doing so will ensure that I receive sales from my usual group of fans. It means I can do book launches, online video giveaways, signings, you name it! But... it also means that people will know I wrote it. It means other weirdos may see me as their own personal sexy safe space. It means people might think I'm into all the weird stuff I write... it means...

...

...

...

that my family may read it. 

AHHHHHHHHHH! 

So what do I do!? Narcotic Erotica! That's what I should have named this post, because if I ever finish my next work in progress, I am going to need narcotics to get through the marketing phase!--which, by the way, is the devil.

How do other authors cope?! How do they continue on writing salacious material without an alias and without having awkward dinner conversations at Christmastime with grandma?! What in the heck do I do?? How do I respond to the question of... hey there, Vanessa! Heard you were coming out with a new book! What's it called? 

It's called...Lord of the Flings, Middle Girth...
thanks for asking Auntie Anne 

So I am at a loss. I suppose I should just write the darn thing first, figure out what to do later. But still... it's eating at me... I need to figure it out! Any advice? I know what George's response would be at least... 

Just don't finish it!

 

But what about yours? What would you do? 

HALP!