In which I discuss the ‘rules’ of StoryADay May and how to get started laying the foundations now.
Truly Life-Changing
An Interview With StoryADay Superstar C.H. Schoen
Before I found StoryADay I had been back to writing for three years after a long break.
I Had Ideas But Nothing On Paper
I was not confident in what I was writing and I was not consistent. I would start stories and never finish them. I had book ideas coming up left and right but nothing outlined on paper.
I came across StoryADay when I was randomly googling about short stories. I thought it was interesting to find a group that would be writing a story every day for a month.
I have always been up for a challenge so I joined.
Sharing My Writing Again
Since doing StoryADay I am more confident and constant than I have ever been in my writing before. I am finally sharing my writing again with others and I’m putting myself out there for critics.
The writing I produce now is finished and more polished than it had been previously. Within the next few months, I will start sending out queries to get my stories into the world.
Confidence in My Creative Process
My biggest success in writing has been completing multiple short stories and finding confidence again in my creative process. I completed my first draft of a novel I had been working on for two years thanks to the encouragement of our NaNoWriMo group this last year.
Being part of a writing community has changed my life”
It has been absolutely amazing to be part of the Superstars group and to have fellow writers at all different levels to talk to.
I haven’t had the opportunity to be part of a writing community until this last year and it has truly changed my life. It has been great to share my writing successes and struggles within this community. Everyone has been very supportive.
The progress I have experienced in this group has been a driving force to keep pushing my craft. Meeting up with blank pages daily can be daunting at times but when you know there are others doing the same thing it makes all the difference. This experience has taught me writing does not have to to be a lonely process people have made it out to be when you have a community of writers to turn to.
Day 29 – The Story You’ve Been Waiting To Write
Here we are, the final three days of this extreme month of writing.
It’s so impressive that you’re still here, that you’re still writing, that you’re still coming back to this.
I know you have stories you want to tell, that the world needs to hear.
Your experiences, your outlook, your way of expressing yourself, are unique in the history of the world and I’m so glad you’ve come this far, and you’re still writing.
And I know you’re going to continue to write, because you’ve come this far.
Today I’m giving you a prompt that might seem a little lazy from me, but there’s a reason.
The Prompt
Write the story that you’ve been hungering to write.
I’ve been very proscriptive this month, telling you what you write, and you’ve been writing for four weeks. You’ve got stories in your head that are nipping at your brain, whispering “tell me!”, so today I’m setting you free.
Tell one of those stories.
Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote today
Day 24 – Disappearing Act
This week’s theme is, in part, to encourage you to try out stories that use each of the types of story threads from the MICE quotient.
The Prompt
Tell a story that features a disappearance
This could be an Intrigue/Idea story. At it heart it has a question, or a mystery or a big idea.
It could be the disappearance of a person, a cultural phenomenon, or of the bees, or of Arctic Ice. Or it could be something more nebulous. Your story could be serious or slapstick. What will you come up with?
What did you make disappear? What kind of story did you write? What tone did your story take on, today? Leave a comment and let us know!
Day 22 – A Rude Awakening
Welcome to Week Four!
This week I’m providing you with story starters, to give your imaginatiosn a little kickstart.
The Prompt
Your character wakes up in a space they don’t recognize.
They could wake up in a white van, a locked room, or anywhere that is completely different form their everyday. This gives you the opportunity to explore your character in interesting ways.
There may be other people inside the space, outside the space, interacting with them, or not.
Have fun with this, today!
Day 21 – News Flash
The Prompt
Write A Story As A News Report
This could be a TV report with a panel of pundits yelling at each other, a reporter on the street, the voice of a producer in your anchor’s ear…
Or, this could be a traditional newspaper report.
Remember to tell a story, though! Then tell us all about it in the comments.
Day 20 – I’m Gonna Sit Right Down
The Prompt
Write A Story In The Form Of A Series of Letters
Tips
- You could do social media updates, conference call, letters, records.
- In this story remember that each party in the story has an agenda, conflicts.
You could tell three different sides of a story - Your format will affect the type of language that the characters use: in letters things might be more formal, in texts it’ll be more brief.
Remember to leave a comment to let us know how you got on!
Day 19 – Direct To Camera
May is far from over! Don’t give up now. And if you’ve just discovered StoryADay May, it’s not too late to jump in. Here’s today’s prompt, and you can find a new episode of the podcast here: Is It Time To Quit? (spoiler: no!)
The Prompt
Tell A Story ‘Direct To Camera’
This is probably going to be in first person.
Write as if you’re writing to your best friend, or talking directly to a police officer, or relaying this to a room of strangers.
if all else fails, stand in front of your phone and tell the story. Tell a real story or a fairy story. See what this does to your writing.
Leave a comment and tell us how it went today!
Day 18 – It’s A Bit One-Sided
The Prompt
Write a story today in which the reader only hears one side of the conversation
This could be a telephone conversation, a text conversation, a series of social media updates, a series of letters, whatever.
Examples
Bob Newhart telephone does this in telephone calls
Watch Neil Gaiman read his story Orange here or read it here
Day 17 – Write A Sonnet
Today’s prompt is all about limits, but don’t worry, you don’t have to know anything about poetry and you don’t have to make this rhyme!
The Prompt
Write A Story In 14 Sentences
That’s it!
(Sometimes limits can be surprisingly freeing so if you hate this idea, try it anyway!!)
Day 16 – We Need To Talk
To see four excellent examples of a 100 word story, hop on over to the publisher’s site now. Or pick up the book from Amazon or request it from your local indie bookstore.
Today we continue our look at short stories as not-mini-novels and play with them in ways you can only play with short stories!
The Prompt
Write a story completely in dialogue
It’s probably best to keep this to two characters because it’s harder to have more than two characters, without attribution.
I want you to keep it straight in our heads, who’s talking, simply by the way they talk.
A guy who works on Wall St should sound different from a farmer from a rural area.
Don’t forget to leave a comment and tell us what you wrote today!
Bonus: Writing Contests as Prompts – a guest post from Elise Holland
Today’s bonus prompt comes from Elise Holland, writer and editor of the 2Elizabeths online literary magazine
There are so many excellent contests available to short form writers.
Sometimes the clear-cut parameter of a deadline serves as inspiration, and
many contests are genre specific, creating a built-in, detailed prompt.
In order to provide a precise prompt, I suggest looking into submitting
your work to Nowhere Magazine’s Spring 2018 Travel
Writing Contest. Beneath the prompt, you will find my tips on how to find
writing contests, and how to use each set of submission guidelines as
future prompts.
The Prompt
Until May 31, 2018, literary travel magazine Nowhere is seeking
contest submissions from young, old, novice, and veteran writers.
Specifically, they are looking for stories with a strong sense of place.
Send your fiction, nonfiction, or essay, but be certain to specify which
genre your work falls into at the top of your manuscript. Submissions
should be kept between 800 – 5,000 words in length. The contest winner will receive $1,000 and publication in Nowhere. For further details and
to submit your work, visit the magazine’s website here.
Tips
- You can access a free database of writing contests from Poets &
Writer’s, here. For a minimal fee, you can access additional contest databases and information for writers through Writer’s Market or
through Duotrope. - When you write for a contest, be sure to carefully read each set of
submission guidelines. Each publication will seek different stories based
on criteria such as genre, word count, and deadline. Use these criteria
dutifully to hone in on your story, and to ensure that your work is
considered by contest judges.- Many contests will be genre-specific. For instance, the contest for Nowhere is seeking work revolving around travel. And later this
year 2 Elizabeths, the magazine I edit, will host its second annual Love & Romance Writing Contest. (Grab a copy of our submission guidelines, here.) - Use these genre-specific contests to propel you into your work. You can
either be hyper-focused and choose to enter work only into the genre you
write, or you can choose to enter a variety of work into different
genre-specific contests, expanding your repertoire. - I’m a firm believer that limitations breed creativity. And that’s exactly
how I would encourage you to view word count restrictions pertaining to a writing contest. It can be a fun game, squeezing an entire tale into a
limited number of words, and it’s a fantastic exercise in the economy of
your words. - As you peruse any of the aforementioned databases, consider which
contests you might like to enter. Use these contest deadlines to help you
build your own editorial calendar.
- Many contests will be genre-specific. For instance, the contest for Nowhere is seeking work revolving around travel. And later this
- Many writing contests require participants to pay a submission fee. This
is generally intended to cover the prize which will be paid to the
winner(s), as well as to keep the publication running. - When submitting your work there are a couple of key terms to be aware of:
simultaneous submissions and multiple submissions.- The term simultaneous submission means that you will be
sending the same piece to several literary magazines or journals at the
same time. Most publications accept simultaneous submissions, but some do not. If a publication does not accept them, this will be stated in their guidelines. - Should your work be selected for publication by one magazine, it is
important to notify other publications where you have submitted that piece.
This courtesy will prevent complications, and will keep you in good graces with various editors, should you wish to submit to them again in the future. - The term multiple submission means that you are submitting multiple pieces to the same literary magazine or journal. This is generally accepted, but if it’s not, that will be specified in the submission guidelines.
- The term simultaneous submission means that you will be
About Elise Holland
Elise Holland is the editor of 2 Elizabeths, a literary magazine
focused on poetry and short fiction, with an emphasis on romance and
women’s fiction. Her work has been published inWriter’s Digest Magazine, The Writer’s Dig, and at DIY MFA. Find Holland online at 2Elizabeths.com.
Day 15 – The List
Welcome to Week 3! You’re still here! I’m very impressed…
This week we’ll be looking at some of the fun ways short stories can be written that are nothing like mini-novels.
The Prompt
Write A Story In The Form Of A List
Ideas for your list story:
- Shopping List
- 10 Things I Hate/Love About You
- To Do List
- List of books the character has/wants to read, with commentary (also movies)
- A list of deceased childhood pets
- A list of your character’s fears
Suggested reading
- In the video I credited this story to Lydia Davis, but of course it is Jennifer Egan: To Do.
- You can also look at McSweeney’s list articles, which are a little more snarky commentary than character stories.
This is a great refresher after a week of deep narrative work.
Go and have some fun!
Day 14 – M.I.C.E. and Where Stories Start & Stop
Today I want to give you an overview of something that I find useful when figuring out where to start and stop a story and how to keep it on track.
It’s called the MICE Quotient and I learned about it from Mary Robinette Kowal, though it was invented by Orson Scott Card.
The letters stand for:
M – Milieu
I – Intrigue/Idea
C – Character
E – Event
Each letter tells you what type of story you’re telling.
Milieu story
This is largely a story about place. Usually your character arrives in a new place at the start, and most of their struggle is about them neogitating that place, learning about it, trying to escape it. The story ends when they leave that place or they fit it.
EXAMPLES: The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Ever After.
Intrigue/Idea Story
A question is posed at the beginning of the story. The story ends when the mystery is solved or the question is satisfactorily answered.
EXAMPLES: Sherlock Holmes, Arrival/The Story Of Your Life
Character Story
A character starts off with an internal conflict and, by the end of the story they have changed it, or rejected the idea of change, or at least understood where the problem lies.
EXAMPLES: Die Hard (Seriously, John McClane has issues at the start of that movie!), The King’s Speech.
Event Story
External forces change the world at the start and drive the struggle in the middle of the story. At the end of the story the status quo has been restored or a new normal has been established.
EXAMPLES: The Hunger Games, The Parent Trap, disaster movies!
The Prompt
Pick a dominant thread for your story today, based on the MICE categories. Work towards the ending that fits the story type you chose.
I was introduced to this idea by Mary Robinette Kowal, who talks about it on the Writing Excuses podcast. She also made this excellent infographic, to help keep things straight.
Me? I give a workshop about this and how the first three Die Hard movies fit into different categories. Tell your favorite conference organizer to book me now!
Day 13 – Start With A Bang
Today we continue with the third of my ‘fairy story’ structures: Hansel Gretel.
The Prompt
Start with a life-changing moment and lead your characters through the story to show us who they become.
Hansel and Gretel starts off with a bang: two kids, alone in woods, abandoned!
What are they doing to do?
After the big opening, all their struggles teach us about the kids’ characters. By the time Gretel finally kicks the witch into the oven, grabs her brother and they make their way out of the witch’s cabin, we know enough about these kids to know they’re going to be OK.
How can you replicate this for your characters?
This is a big week at StoryADay: we’re creating a lot of skills that will help you build stories throughout the rest of the month and beyond. Stay tuned!
And don’t forget to leave a comment to let us know you’ve written, how it’s going, and what you’re learning.
Day 10 – Let’s Make These Stories Flash
Yeah, yeah we’re writing super-short stories this month (well, some of us are!), but do they flash?
The Prompt
Write a story in under 1000 words focusing on creating one billiant image in your reader’s mind.
Tips
- The image you leave in their mind doesn’t have to be visual. It could be an idea.
- Really focus on making everything lean and making every word count. Make sure your story is about one thing, one moment.
- Aim to change your reader’s mind about something, whether it’s a person, an experience or a condition of life.
[Writing Prompt] Day 9 – Character Desires Are Key
Knowing what a character wants, tells us what’s at stake in the story. Conflict between the character’s desire and their circumstances will keep your reader hooked.
The Prompt
Establish, within the first couple of sentences, your character’s desire. Put them in a situation that conflicts with that desire. Tell us how it works out.
Tips
It’s important for a reader to know what your character wants.
Once they know what your character wants, is afraid of, would never do, or desperately wants to do, the reader knows WHY they’re reading this story. That will keep them reading.
Keep it simple. In a short story, you can only examine one of your character’s desire.
103 – StoryADay May 2018 is Underway!
The first week of StoryADay May 2018 is drawing to a close. In this episode I tell you about
The webinar I did with NaNoWriMo’s Young Writer’s Program, Marya Brennan: http://stada.me/ywplive
The Superstars program, and how you can still join (today): http://stada.me/superstars
Here’s where you can find all the prompts for StoryADay May 2018: http://stada.me/may2018
And I answer a question about burnout and revision during May.
Day 6 – Steal From Yourself
Steal from yourself!
The Prompt
Retell a story you’ve told before, in a new way
This exercise opens up opportunities in future, when you have a piece that isn’t quite working. You can cast your mind back to today and remember that yeah, there’s more one way to tell this story, too.
Let us know how you got on today, in the comments below!
Day 4 – Tell A Story In 40 Minutes
Sometimes limits can be good…
The Prompt
Set A Timer For 40 Minutes, Write A Story
Spend 10 minutes brainstorming and starting the story, 20 minutes complicating your character’s life, and the final 10 minutes reviewing what you’ve written, making notes and writing an ending.
Leave a comment, to tell us how you got on today.
Non-Traditional Love Story – a writing prompt for May 27, 2017
The Prompt
Write A Non-Traditional Love Story
Tips
- You could use non-traditional partners for your love story (it doesn’t have to be romantic love; and if it is, it doesn’t have to be between straight, white people).
- The way you tell the story could be non-traditional (it could be told in a non-narrative form).
- Here’s my review of The Sentry Branch Predictor Spec by John Chu (with links to the story).
A Refusal – a writing prompt
Continuing our week of prompts aimed at creating rich backstory for novelists and short story writers alike, today we create an alternate story for your protagonist.
The Prompt
There is a moment in every story where a protagonist has to make a choice: to take up the challenge of the story or to turn away. Everything else flows from that.
Today, write a story in which your protagonist makes the other choice.
Tips
- This will, of course, result in a shorter story than otherwise.
- It will still have fallout. (Think: It’s A Wonderful Life, Sliding Doors etc.)
- Examine that fallout in a story.
Don’t forget to leave a comment, or do your Victory Dance in the community.
The Protagonist’s Journal – A writing prompt
Continuing our series of prompts to help novelists as well as short story writers, today I encourage you to move forward a little in your protagonist’s timeline, but still stay before the main story.
The Prompt
Write a story about the days leading up to the beginning of your novel, or your story’s big incident. Alternatively, write a journal of those days from your protagonist’s point of view.
Tips
- Use this story to ‘brain dump’ all the stuff that your reader doesn’t want to wade through before they get to the jumping-off-point for your story.
- You can use this knowledge to season the story later, with a light hand.
- Remember, you can recycle these stories are freebies and giveaways to help you promote your novel and build your audience.
Don’t forget to leave a comment to let us know how you got on.
Welcome to Week Two
Okay, you made it! Welcome to Week Two.
| jump to this week’s writing prompts |
Week 2 Elements of Story
[Remember, if you want ALL THE PROMPTS NOW you can get them in the ebook A Month of Writing Prompts 2016, and help keep StoryADay free at the same time!]
This week we’re going to get a little more serious, but still keeping the stakes very low. I want you to remember that nothing you’re writing this month needs to be brilliant. The point of all of this is to get you writing a lot so that you can find out
- what it is you really want to be writing
- what your strengths are what your weaknesses are and
- how to get over that hesitation when you start to write, and instead find your way to the place where the writing is flowing.
Having said that I don’t want this to be a waste of your time.
So this week we’re going to work on some skills that you’re going to need as you get into crafting your stories when the month of short story writing is finished.
This week I’m going to give you three different story structures that you can use with the story sparks that you’ve been collecting (you have been collecting stories parks haven’t you?) We’re going to take a look at
- Setting and incorporating setting into your story so that readers feel like they’re part of the action.
- Ways of making your protagonist a rounded character by giving him or her some flaws.
- Antagonists and villains and how to incorporate them without making them flat but also without letting them take over the story.
- Sidekicks and secondary characters to see what they can do for your protagonist and your story.
If you’ve already written a story a day for seven days I’m confident that you are discovering your best practices. Hold onto that knowledge while we dive deeper into the nitty-gritty of storytelling this week. Work when your energy is highest. Squeeze writing into tiny pockets of the day if you have to. Harness your community and your support group and get them to keep you accountable. It’s going to get harder this week, but it’s worth it. Keep writing.
This is important to you.
You deserve this.
Tips For Success In Week 2
It’s getting harder this week so take all the lessons you’ve learned from last week and make them work for you.
- What was the best time of day to write?
- What did you do on your most successful days? How can you replicate that this week?
- What did you do on your worst writing days last week? How can you avoid those things this week?
- Did you read any short stories last week? Try reading some this week, to help recharge your imagination.
The Prompts
- Day 8 – The Cinderella Story Structure
- Day 9 – The Ugly Duckling Story Structure
- Day 10 – The Hansel & Gretel Story Structure
- Day 11 – Paint A Vivid Setting
- Day 12 – Your Flawed Protagonist
- Day 13 – Your Villain As A Mirror
- Day 14 – The Sidekick In The Tale
Tips For Taking Part
- Write a story every day (you don’t have to use the prompts)
- Come back to each day’s post (or this one) and leave a comment telling us how you got on.
- Encourage other people to keep going!
- Even if you’re not using the prompts, click on the links above, because the comments of those blog posts are where the community discussion’s happening for StoryADay September 2016!
Keep writing!
P.S. Want me to read all the prompts to you in my soothing Scottish accent? Check out the new podcast on iTunes, Android, or any other podcast player.
Happy 6th Birthday, StoryADay May!
Six years ago today, I posted this at StoryADay.org
(Of course, the site didn’t look like that, back then. And look, I haven’t even set up any categories for the posts yet. Bless.)
That first year about 100 writers joined me in my harebrained scheme, largely due to the fact that the very lovely Debbie Ohi is unable to resist a challenge (or the urge to blog about it), and spread the word.
Since then, thousands of writers have started writing again, written their first-to-be-published story, embarked on careers as novelists and generally had a ripping good time.
We’ve started hosting challenges in September too.
I’ve published books and run courses.
Neil Gaiman, Gretchen Rubin, Heidi Durrow, Joe R. Lansdale and more have posted guest writing prompts for us to enjoy.
And this year, in less than two months, the seventh annual StoryADay May starts up.
How To Set Your Writing Rules
The point of doing this challenge is to push yourself to do more than you thought you possibly could.
The point is to unleash the flood of creativity that comes when you have to write every day.
The point is not to give you yet another way to fail at a creative endeavor.
So yes, you should set yourself a goal that seems momentous, preposterous, monstrous even. And maybe for you that will be: writing 30 stories in 30 days. But maybe it will mean writing a story on five out of seven days.
The StoryADay Rules say there is one rule, “Write and finish a story every day. That’s it.”
They then promptly go on to talk about all the ways you can add to — or subtract from — that absolute.
I know it’s a bit confusing. It’s my fault. I appreciate rules, but I’m just not very good at being told what to do and I fail to see why I should expect other writers to be any better. Hence…
So, here follows my attempt to make sense of the part where the site says “set your own rules.”
What Do You Mean “Set Your Own Rules”?
The point of doing this challenge is to push yourself to do more than you thought you possibly could.
The point is to unleash the flood of creativity that comes when you have to write every day.
The point is not to give you yet another way to fail at a creative endeavor.
So yes, you should set yourself a goal that seems momentous, preposterous, monstrous even. And maybe for you that will be: writing 30 stories in 30 days. But maybe it will mean writing a story on five out of seven days. Or limiting yourself to 100 word stories. Or taking Thursday’s off.
If you know that your Saturdays are packed with people and obligations, sun-up to sun-down; or if you have tried the challenge before and noticed that you always failed to finish a story after five days of successes; or if you are a member of a religious group that takes the holy day extremely seriously, don’t torture yourself. Write it into your rules that you get to take certain days off.
How Do I Know What A Good Set Of Rules Is, For Me?
And if you haven’t done the challenge before (or if you haven’t written anything for a while) I strongly encourage you to stick to the basic rule: write and finish one story every single day for a month.
I know that sounds ridiculous in itself: surely if you haven’t been writing you should warm up a bit, ease yourself in? No. Sorry. This is not like running a marathon. You’re not going to pull a muscle or ruin your knees.
If you haven’t pushed your short-story writing before, you have no way of knowing what your boundaries are. Only by trying to write a complete story every day for 30 days can you know whether or not you can do it. Or how close you can come. And the effort is its own reward.
If, however, you took part in May, you’ll have a good sense of how much time you could make for writing, and what your goals need to be.
Just be honest with yourself. If you wrote 12 stories in May you might be secretly disappointed in yourself — or you might be thrilled. It all depends on you, and your circumstances. Just set yourself a goal that’s a little more ambitious than whatever you accomplished before and promise yourself you will push and push to get to it.
The Second Rule
The second absolute rule you should set yourself is to treat every day as a new day until the end of the month.
No going back to finish yesterday’s story – until next month
No berating yourself for yesterday’s shortcomings
No looking ahead and saying “I’ll never make it!”
Try your utmost to stick to your writing rules today. Forgive the past, and forget the future. Just write today.
What If I Fail?
Well, first of all, I have a problem with that word: “fail”.
Did you try? Then you didn’t fail. Did you complete a story every day for a month? No? Hmm, well, did you learn something about your style or your voice or your writing method? Did you write more than you wrote the month before (or in any month before. Ever.)?
There may well be days when you fail to finish a story. Forget it. Forgive yourself and move on. You are in pursuit of a great challenge here. Keep after it.
It’s entirely likely that some of your stories are great steaming heaps of passive voiced, prepositionally phrased, tedious prose peopled by heroes who wouldn’t know a plot point if it pointed right at them. Don’t give up on them. Keep writing until you get to the end. Even if you have to kill someone (in fact, that can be kind of fun). Pushing through to the end of a story teaches you so much more than giving up and starting afresh. Finish.
And if it gets to midnight (or whenever you go to bed) and you simply cannot finish today’s story: get some rest. Let it go and vow to start afresh tomorrow.
When the month is over, you can revise what’s worth saving, and learn from what’s not. While the challenge is still running, just keep writing. Strike the word ‘fail’ from your vocabulary. So long as you are writing, you cannot fail. Pat yourself on the back. You wrote. You got complete stories out of your brain — where you didn’t even know they were lurking — and on the page. You are courageous and to be congratulated.
Can I Adjust My Rules?
Yes. Absolutely. This is your challenge. I’d rather you adjusted your rules than gave up. Just don’t be too easy on yourself. This is meant to be a, er, challenge!
In Conclusion
Set ambitious goals
Try to meet them. At the very least, put some kind of ending on each story.
Be hard on yourself every morning and kind to yourself at the end of every day.
Treat every day as a new challenge (don’t look back!)
Writing In The Fast Lane – Interview With AdorablyAlice
As writers we’re curious. About everything. About people, technology, history, our neighbours, everything.
I’m particularly curious about other writers and how they work, what keeps them going, why they do it.
So here’s the first in a series of interviews with writers, starting with writers who took part in the StoryADay challenge last May.
AdorablyAlice was one of our most active writers during the first challenge. In this interview she gives a lot of credit for her writing success to her secret weapon: her friend and mentor: Cid (also a StoryADay veteran). I’d love it if you’d leave a comment below, picking out one thing from this interview that stood out for you: something that sounded sooooo familiar it made you smile, or something you’d like to try in your own writing life.
Before you started StoryADay how would you have described your writing life?
I used to write a lot when I was younger. Sometime after high school, I stopped. It wasn’t until NaNoWriMo 2009 that I began writing again. So between NaNo and StADa, I was still trying to find a balance between work, school, life and writing.
What made you decide to do StoryADay?
Cid. I found out about StADa through her, and because short story is my weakest point, I thought it would be a good challenge. Plus, I thought it would help me get into the habit of writing daily.
What did you expect to achieve? What did you actually achieve? What did you learn during the challenge?
I wanted to write something every day, and I wanted to get stronger at writing short stories. I did write everyday, but I think I’m still weak in writing short stories. I learned about Twitter fiction, which intrigued me, and I actually wrote a few TwitFic pieces.
How do you make time for writing?
This is a good question. And when I have an answer that doesn’t involve neglecting chores/cooking, I’ll let you know.
Why do you write? What keeps you motivated?
I am most productive on #writersdatenight (yes, I have to include the Twitter hashtag). Once a week a group of five writers (including myself) meet at McAllister’s to eat, socialize a little and write. Because the other four ladies have been writing longer than I have, I feel motivated to write a lot when I’m around them. The sound every one typing is motivating. I’ve tried other writing groups, but they’ve been more socializing than writing, so I don’t enjoy them as much. Lately, Cid has been setting goals for me. Write 5K and get a book. Write 5K and have a Glee marathon. It works. She’s awesome.
What are your aspirations?
Well, I’d love to be published and that’ s definitely a long term goal, but more short term…I’d like to finish a story. Well, I’ve finished a few, but I don’t revise. So a good aspiration would be to go back and revise…lol
Do you have a project or website you’d like to tell people about?
Well, there’s Book-Addicts. There are four of us (Cid’s one of them) and we basically review books across all genres, interview authors, have guest blog spots and book giveaways. It’s a pretty awesome place for people who are as addicted to reading as we are. www.book-addicts.com – get your fix!
I also have my personal website, www.adorablyalice.com, I keep up with how I’m doing as a writer, offering the lessons I learn as I delve into the mysterious ways of The Writer.
Thanks, Alice! (And you can read more about Alice’s experiences with her writers’ groups and productivity in this blog post – which features a fun cartoon from my own writing friend and secret mentor, Debbie Ohi.)
[And one more thing: I’d love to interview you about your writing, no matter what stage you’re at or whether or not you’ve done one of these creative challenges, so leave me a comment below if you’d be willing to chat.]