Part II of the StoryADay debrief process, which helps you assess what you learned during the challenge and what to focus on next. This process is useful after any big writing project or push, so don’t skip this episode, even if you didn’t take part in the StoryADay Challenge
::LINKS::
Comment on this episode here: https://storyaday.org/episode211
Get a printable version of these questions: https://storyaday.org/debrief
Last week’s episode: https://storyaday.org/episode210
I found this in my Free Little Library the other day and it prompted a powerful lesson that I thought I’d share here as advice for writers. If you’re struggling to write and wondering if you’re any good, Snoopy has a lesson for you.
Continue reading “You Don’t have To Be Brilliant From The Beginning”Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
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Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
After the challenge it’s useful to capture all the lessons you learned. In this podcast I take you through an exercise for doing that, and give you the Challenge Plus version of today’s writing prompt.
::LINKS::
Need a little more support as you transition out of the challenge month?
Try the 3-Day Challenge. Prompts, videos, short story lessons: https://storyaday.org/3DC
Lessons from StoryADay 2021, including what happens when we keep working through the resistance…
How to keep going as we enter Week 2 of the StoryADay May challenge (hint: it’s about purpose); and how to work with writing prompts.
::Links::
Writing Prompt (The Bridge): https://storyaday.org/2021-day-01
Writing Prompt (A Happy Story): https://storyaday.org/2021-day-07
Writing Prompt (Scenario): https://storyaday.org/2021-day-08
Story: The PILGRIM’s Guide To Mars by Monique Cuillerier: https://www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-75a-the-pilgrims-guide-to-mars-by-monique-cuillerier/
Perfectionism is a creativity killer, and today and I’m talking about how StoryADay May can help you find a way forward.
LINKS
The Challenge: https://storyaday.org
The Challenge+ (even more support): https://members.storyaday.org/join-challenge-plus
It’s that time again: make your writing commitments for the month with the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group
Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
I’m pretty sure I know what ONE of your goals might be this month 🙂
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
****
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
Writing can be a solitary activity. I made the argument that ‘being a writer’ is awfully hard to do, alone.
If you haven’t found your writing community yet, consider joining ours!
LINKS
Is this the year you transform yourself into a writer? Thinking about participating in StoryADay May? I have tips, tricks, and behind-the-scenes info from the 12th annual StoryADay May. Make sure you’re signed up:
::LINKS::
Sign up for The Writer Code Masterclass
Be A Best Seller Summit with Emma Dhesi – http://stada.me/emma
Reading Room: http://stada.me/read
Do you see structure as freeing or stifling? I talk about that and the upcoming free WRITER Code masterclass (2021 edition) in this week’s show along with a brief flash fiction writing prompt
LINKS
Are you taking the StoryADay May challenge this year? Sign up now:
Writing prompt:
In this guest post, StoryADay Superstar Leslie Stack shares her recipe for success during the StoryADay challenge: Story Sparks
This is my fourth year participating in Julie Duffy’s StoryADay May and it has truly been instrumental in jumpstarting and refocusing my writing.
Whether it was in May or September, I found my writing grow in meaning, technique, and purpose.
One of the difficulties of this writing challenge is thinking of a fresh idea every day.
To help me with this, I use both the daily writing prompts and Julie’s Story Spark Notes.
Continue reading “A Recipe for Success During StoryADay”As we come into April I’ll be sharing prompts designed to help you warm up for the 12th Annual StoryADay May (can you believe it?!). This week: what can you capture in a flash?
Write a Flash Fiction story in 500 words, inspired by a vivid moment like the one in the photo, above.
Use these graphics to celebrate your participation, wherever you like.
And why not pick up some swag to keep you hydrated, or to show your StoryADay pride?
Right-click to download the ones you like:
StoryADay May 2021 is coming. Sign up for free writing prompts now
Get on the list now for exclusive writing prompts from
Roxane Gay
Premee Mohamed, Matthew Salesses
Rin Chupeco, Deesha Philyaw, A. T. Greenblatt
Caroline Kim, Michael X. Wang, Fran Wilde
During April I’ll send you tools and tips to help you make May wildly successful, along with some exclusive invitations to free events. Don’t miss it!
There is a danger zone between our aspirations and the moment when our writing practice begins to click. You can navigate it safely if you Mind the GAP.
Also: My ShortLIST for figuring out which courses and events to sign up for in the always-crowded summer of Writing Conferences and Festivals.
It’s an acronym-heavy episode this week, but it’s all here to help you become the writer you know you’re meant to be.
Continue reading “Mind the GAP”Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
****
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
Touch is a sense that some writers naturally use often and others, hardly ever. I mean obviously if you’re writing a romance, there’s going to be some touching, but there are other ways to use this sense that will pull readers into your story. Let’s give it a try.
Your main character has been deprived of a wide range of touch for some reason (a medical crisis? A custodial sentence? Some otherworldly reason…) and re-enters a life where they can touch and be touched. They have anticipated this day for so long. Does it go the way they expect?
To engage with your audience there’s no tool quite like an author website. Even if your social media presence is strong, it pays to have your own home on the web, and this week Nancy Fields of Fields Graphic Design is here to talk us through everything from how to set up a site, to what to put on each page.
::LINKS::
Nancy’s site: https://fieldsgraphicdesign.com
Writing Prompt: https://storyaday.org/wow-taste
Bluehost: Julie’s Referral link (current offer: from $2.95/month)
This month is all about encouraging you to engage with the setting of your story by using your senses. Last week I asked you to use sounds in your descriptions; the week before that we explored the close association between smell, memory, and emotion.
This week your story is going to explore taste.
At a key point in your story, your main character is given momentous news, over dinner.
This week I invite you to think about why you do the things you do in your writing life…and how you can make some quick changes that yield big improvements.
::LINKS::
Leave a comment: https://storyaday.org/episode202
Get the 202-episode Podcast Table of Contents: https://storyaday.org/podcastlist
Should You Buy The Next Book/Course Flowchart: https://storyaday.org/shiny-objects/
Writing Prompt: https://storyaday.org/wow-sound
Last week’s prompt encouraged you to describe everything in terms of smell. It was tough, wasn’t it? But I’ll bet you discovered some things about your go-to style of description and how you could branch out a little.
This week is, I think, a little easier, focusing as it does on sound. It’s a sense that we often see represented on the page, but I’m going to encourage you to move beyond cliches like ‘rolling thunder’ and ‘the squeal of tires on asphalt’.
Your protagonist is hiding from someone. The stakes are high. They must not be discovered.
One of the first questions people ask me, as new writers, is “how can I get some feedback on my writing”. In this episode I argue that might be the wrong question…
Also: a writing prompt about one of the senses.
::LINKS::
Get the critique group primer: https://stada.me/vulnerable
Writing Prompt: https://storyaday.org/wow-smell
One of the most common (and most overlooked) pieces of writing advice is to use the five senses.
This month I’m going to use the five weekly writing prompts to encourage you to get more sensory detail into your writing by focusing on one sense per week.
Write a story in which a non-assertive character is stuck in a situation with other people who know less than they do and keep proposing the wrong solution to a problem. Make as many of your descriptions and metaphors smell-based as possible.
Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
****
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
I look back on 200 episodes of this podcast and pull out lessons for every creative person and endeavor.
Plus, a writing prompt with a pep talk.
::LINKS::
Podcast On-Demand Table of Contents – get it now
I know, people feel really strongly about whether or not to outline, but today—whether you’re a planer or not– I’m going to encourage you to think of your writing session as a road trip.
Road trips are fun, but usually we have a destination in mind. When, in the middle, with whoever is in the backseat complaining, and the last of the sandwiches eaten, it helps to know the answer to the question “are we nearly there yet?”
Traditional, western narrative stories have a structure, and here is a model for that.
Using the framework to brainstorm your story will help you both get to the end and, just when you’re getting sick of the story, figure out if you are indeed ‘nearly there yet’.
Give it a try.
Download the Short Story Framework and brainstorm a story
If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.
Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!
In keeping with this month’s theme of Achieving Wins and Celebrating, limit yourself to 1000 words for this story and just get it done.
Write a story that starts at the end. The story must include a flower.
If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.
Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!
Matthew Salesses is the author of three novels — one written in Flash Fiction — and the writing handbook “Craft In The Real World”. In this episode we talk about writing rules, audience, how to give and receive feedback and what it was like to write a flash fiction novel.
Photo credit: Grace Salesses
Following on in last week’s vein of celebrating wins (and making wins easy to achieve), this week’s prompt is to write an odd little story.
It’s hard to imagine how to make this challenge work well, so just get it finished! (You might surprise yourself)
Then celebrate.
Write a story in a cypher: where the first word of each sentence is the REAL message
When you have finished do something to celebrate. It can be as simple as grinning for five seconds, or doing a little dance (I like a victory dance, myself). The important thing is to take a moment to revel in the good feelings you get from meeting your goals.
If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.
Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!
When Seth Godin talks about creative work, I listen.
This week I talk about his new book “The Practice” and how we can rethink and build up our own creative practices.
Also: if you’re on the Clubhouse audio social app, you can follow me @julieduffy and join me at 4PM (Eastern US) every day next week for a creativity boost.
Links:
Comment on the questions in this episode: https://storyaday.org/episode198
The Practice at Amazon.com (not an affiliate link): http://stada.me/GodinPractice
This week’s Writing Prompt: https://storyaday.org/ow-achieve
The only qualification to be a ‘Superstar” is a desire to write and support your fellow writers.
A supportive group of committed writers, who meet virtually, support each other’s efforts, and inspire each other.
Registration for 2024 open now-June 8, 2024
The only qualification to be a ‘Superstar” is a desire to write and support your fellow writers.
A supportive group of committed writers, who meet virtually, support each other’s efforts, and inspire each other.
Registration for 2024 open now-June 8, 2024
A 6-part journey through the short story.
Starts July 28, 2023
