Funny but nothing to do with writing.

This has nothing to do with writing but it is too funny not to share.
Enjoy! I know I did.

How one word helped my writing.

I'm still working on the Start the Year Off Write challenge, however I'm skipped a few days and now I am going back and doing them out of order.

Today, I did David Harrison Boils It All Down to One Word prompt. To be honest, I didn't expect to get much out of it. (sorry David) I'm happy to say, I was wrong. (I'm not sure I should be happy that I was wrong but I am happy with the result. I'm sure David will also be happy that I was wrong.) I followed his prompt by thinking about the word he provided. The word turned into a sentence. Then another and another! Before I knew it I had a piece of writing that I think I can use in MG story I'm writing. If you want to know the word used, read David's post on Shannon Abercromie's blog at http://www.shannonabercrombie.com/david-harrison-boils-it-all-down-to-one-word/

Thanks David!

Clarity In Writing

In day two of the Start The Year Off Write challenge, Thanhha Lai has us writing clearly and succinctly. This is something I learned in my technical writing courses as well, so I was eager to attack and complete this challenge. To see Thanhha's challenge using the cut-cut-cut method visit http://www.shannonabercrombie.com/thanhha-lais-cut-cut-cut-method/.

Another tool I find helpful for measuring the clarity of writing is the Gunning Fog Index. I learned about the Fog Index last year during a business writing workshop. It measures the readability of English writing. To learn more about the Fog Index read my post Measuring the Readability of Your Writing.

Four Tactics to Reach Your Goals

It's almost the end of day one of the Start the Year Off Write challenge and I haven't started. Well, that's not entirely true. It more accurate to say I haven't finished. I have a thought and a title....and then I got side tracked. BUT I was side tracked by this video on How Successful People Reach Their Goals.

Fitting, no?

Watch it with me...


Now, let's take Heidi Grant Halvorson's tactics and apply them to today's writing prompt.

I'm going to:

• Write a paragraph outlining the beginning, middle and end of my story.
• Finish my paragraph in the next half hour.
• Not let the story gaps stop me from finishing. I can improve on the story at a later date.
• I will not think about white bears.

I better get to work so I can successfully reach my goal. How about you?

UPDATE Jan. 6th: I was successful in writing the paragraph and completing the writing challenge for day 1.

New Writing Challenge! - Start the Year off Write 2014

Happy New Year!

I wasn't going to do any writing challenges this January but then I found this!

Start the Year off Write 2014

hosted by Shannon Abercrombie. With a participant badge this cute how could I not participate? (badge by Maple Lam)

I'm already pretty busy this month but who isn't? I'm going to give it try! Hope to see you there, too.