Tag: writing exercises

I’m not the most skilled writer.

I’m challenging myself to become a better writer. I rely on the use of adverbs and adjectives in my storytelling. My primary weak points are grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. That is one of the reasons why it takes forever for me to get to a point.

“Adverbs are the tools of a lazy writer.” -Mark Twain

I’m not terrible at writing, but I still need to work. Am I better at writing now than I was in high school? Yes. Will I be a better writer in another seven years? Yes. Getting better at anything takes practice, time, and effort.

My partner got me a 100 prompt notebook after I told him I wanted to practice my writing skill. I love a supportive partner.

So welcome to our new Wednesday segment: Do You Comma Here Often?

Today’s prompt is to write a short scene without using adverbs or adjectives.

“The path to Hell is paved with adverbs.” -Stephen King

The scene:

The sun is beating down on the field as the high school football game is about to begin. A group of boys are looking for seats on the bleachers. One of the boys spots a familiar face in the sea of faces. The girl notices him at the same time. Waving her hands, she yells, “over here,” getting the group’s attention. The boys make their way to her. Sensing the group’s hesitation, she moves, smiling at the person closest to her.

“Why don’t you come over here by me?” She asked, batting her lashes. The boy’s face blushes as he sits beside her.

Before anyone can say anything else, the drum line starts on the field.

If that name sounds familiar, it is because she is the woman who rewrote the rules of romance. Even if you haven’t read her work, you have probably seen one of her books everywhere. She has written over 225 novels, and about 40 of her books are sold every minute. Maybe that should be my next reading challenge read every Nora Roberts book?

Aside from Stephen King, she is the most successful novelist I can think of. I look up to her a lot.

As someone who wants to be a published author and have that be my career, it is impressive to see someone like Nora Roberts do that and maintain it for many years. She writes in very distinct genres, mostly romance novels; she’s written paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and crime mysteries.

Remember how I said she’s written over 225 books over the decades? She writes four novels in a single calendar year with no ghostwriter. In an interview back in 2011, she said it only takes her 45 days to write a book, and she only writes three drafts of each story. There is some overlapping in projects because she’s said she writes while she waits for her editors to get back to her. This woman stays busy; I wish I had her work ethic.

She said credits her success to discipline, drive and desire. She writes daily, starting around 8 am and ending around 3 pm. And she doesn’t allow herself to be distracted by social media, tv, or the internet. She does allow herself to use the internet to look things up. And after she’s done writing for seven hours, she works out for 90 minutes. If only i had that energy.

So why did I write an entire post about a 72-year-old lady that doesn’t know I even exist? Well, I’m going to try to write like her. Write every day for 7ish hours without distractions. Jumping between projects if I need to and learning to push myself through the complex parts.

Following her three-draft method, maybe I, too, can finish a novel in forty-five days.

The first draft is the discovery draft. Creating the characters, the setting, the pacing, relationships, conflict, and dialogue. And just write everything you feel at the moment.

The second draft starts from the top. Going to page one and working more thoughtfully on the language and expanding or getting rid of things that don’t make sense. It’s the fix-up draft.

The final draft is to polish any rough edges and wrap up loose ends.

Wish me luck.

I recently got the idea to restart my book. I started working on this story a year ago. It was a sketchy concept; there wasn’t a story. And recently picked up the story and began to play with it, and some of it clicked.

I’m obsessed with this story right now. I haven’t been this obsessed with any of my writing projects in a while.

I originally wanted to wait for NaNoWriMo. But If I waited, I would overthink and outline it to death. I would kill this story before it even began.

In the past year, the only thing I have I have is a very rough outline. I’m trying to blend some things and make them into something more legible.

The story is still relatively underdeveloped. But I’m just going to jump right into this.

I would love to write in chronological order. But let’s be honest, that probably won’t happen.