Here I sit in the Laguna Hills Community Center foyer, intending to write, to tackle my memoir and collection of short pieces from my blog.
I find myself stuck. Spend time on social media. Avoid the draft I have saved in Scrivener.
The pieces I’ve chosen to share as stand alone pieces documenting my blogging journal — those I’m comfortable with — at least for now. But, the cut and paste job I’ve done for the narrative introduction — that is a mess.
That cut and paste job I wonder if I should walk away from, or should I read the scraps, then write. Weaving duplicative snippets from various sources is more difficult (perhaps) than setting them aside and writing fresh prose.
Wish me well as I both avoid tackling this task, and tackle it. Late May, I’m going to a writers’ conference where I’ll be participating in the memoir track. I would like to have a completed draft of my book by then. That’s my goal.
Intent to Write
Comments
20 responses to “Intent to Write”
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Thank you! I haven’t been focused. Finished my parents’ taxes and most of ours. Need to sift through pile of papers to find Goodwill donation receipts and car registrations. Time for less social media activity and more writing.
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I’ll be interested in hearing your thoughts.
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Thank you, Carol. I actually went back into the Scrivener document yesterday and edited it. Got to keep chipping away at it.
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Thanks, Robert. Looking forward to it.
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Stay with it Kitt. It’s a challenge worth taking. Going to a writers conference is a great idea.
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Hello Kitt,
I don’t always know where a blog post is going until I’m in it, and sometimes end up writing myself into a corner and abandoning ship altogether. Oh, dear. That was two metaphors combined, wasn’t it? But I think you know what I mean. Writing doesn’t always go as planned. Sometimes the little snippets can be combined into a beautiful patchwork quilt. Other times, the writing feels disjointed and doesn’t go anywhere.
That happened to me today, as I was writing a longer piece, and my editor friend said “I have no idea what this means!” Whoops! That was one to toss out!
Thanks for sharing your process. It’s something we all go through.
And I have faith that you’ll finish, despite some stops and starts.
Sincerely,
Carol -
Thank you, Mihran.
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Thank you!
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Actually, I think the links still work…
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Kitt – you are such powerful lady, creative and nothing going to stop you to be the best in your hobby!
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So good to see you and “hear” your voice Kitt!?e
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Hi Kitt,
My WordPress password is okay. Since I do not have a blog site, WordPress has probably timed out my ability to provide a comment.
Your Community Center looks like a nice Serenity Zone to tackle your task of completing your book by late May. Your strategy to create fresh prose rather than transform previous pieces seems appropriate. In addition to being on too much social media, I imagine you will be handling taxes as well. Also, you will taking care of family tasks and need to maintain a healthy lifestyle to keep your liver panel happy. The deadline is late May to participate for the writer’s conference.
Wow !!! What a project schedule. Dyane is right, you have a lot on your table and should abstain from the social media ASAP to accomplish meeting your targeted deadline for your book. I apologize for sending you too much correspondence recently.
God Bless + Namaste !!! -
Glad you corrected the title, not so happy about the links not working. Hopefully you got them sorted out by now….
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I wish you great luck!! I know you can do it Kitt!!!
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Will do.
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I screwed up the title. Just corrected it. Now links won’t work.
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Thank you!
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Just follow your heart…and it will set you free <3
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You’ll notice in my re-tweet of this blog post I wrote,
“What’s that famous Robert Burns quote, @KittOMalley?
‘The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.’
Plus Robert didn’t even have social media distracting him!”
Robert Burns didn’t know you, my tenacious friend, plus he was only talking about men in that quote. We all know that women are so much better at completing all kinds of things such as growing people.
I wish you well as you complete this project – I KNOW you can do it
Having the May conference deadline will be very motivating. When I was finishing my book, I had a strict rule that I wasn’t allowed to go on social media at all during the precious chunk of quiet time I had while the girls were at school.
Since I was so stressed out about meeting the biggie deadline, I was able to stick to the “no social media” rule for the most part, and (lest we forget) I gained 30 pounds in just a few months. I know you won’t do that because I saw you earned the fabulous Lose It “Ten Pound Club” award – that’s equivalent to the same weight as a house cat or a medium bowling ball! Congrats, congrats! Well done!
As far as cutting & pasting vs. writing fresh material – that is a very hard decision. I’d like to see what others advise. My first thought was to go with the “fresh prose” option.
p.s. In this post’s title, is it “intent” or “intend” -
From a fellow professional writer–stay with it. DO all you have said and more. The story will make itself clear as you write it.
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