It’s week five of the Summer 2017 Online Writing Group — how you guys feeling? I’m feeling all write! (yes punnnnnnns!)
I offered up a Patriot Pass this week — some people were traveling and knew they wouldn’t be doing much with the short holiday week — so whenever you see it, please imagine those writers doing this:
Actually, please imagine everyone doing this.
Here are our week five goals.
Week Five Goals:Anne:
My reading of the Gardner book has been transformative. I’m continuing it this week.
Bev:
I am done with my course revisions! During week five, I am going to write a letter, because I haven’t since January.
Cynthia:
Patriot Pass!
Laura:
I did a little work on my new story. It wasn’t as much as I’d wanted, but it counts! Next week I’m going to keep chipping away at it. I got a great idea for another new story during my class this week and I’m going to keep it on the back burner. It might be a nice distraction next week, or something I can do toward the end of the summer.
Lisa:
Patriot Pass!
Mike:
Week four progress: Once I started revising the story in question, I realized how badly it was being served by the third-person narration I’d used (i.e. boring as shit). I rewrote about six pages out of the current twelve to first person, and I’ve been really happy with the effect it’s had on the voice. I also moved a few passages around and hit at least two scenes that need to be scrapped or rewritten altogether (as the change in voice wasn’t quite enough to fix them).
Week five goal: Finish revising the remaining pages of the story in its new first-party voice. I missed the contest deadline, so I will be reading some past issues of a few other lit journals to make sure the finished story would be something of interest to them.
Rachel:
I figured out most of the tech and logistical stuff behind launching my blog (I used to have one when I was a teenager and in college, and MAN, blogging has really changed since then!). I’d like to get a critical mass of posts, maybe five or so, before actually publishing, so this week’s goal will be to either select one from stuff I’ve written before (like my essay from last winter writing group, for example), or to write something afresh.
Robert:
This week: zero words.
Next week: goal is 7,000 words
Sarah:
Week 5 goals: I have to edit a new article I wrote on postmodernism and start another article, this time a case study because I need to change things up a bit. I started a 5-week graduate class so I also have some discussion posts to do. Then read, read, read as I pull articles for my course in the fall.
Ted:
Coming soon…
Because of the weird holiday week, I’m going to give everyone a couple of writing exercises from the book What If? by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. It’s one of those staples of a creative writing workshop (from the ’90s…) and my copy is yellow with age. But it’s still a good resource for writers.
The exercise I’m going to give you guys for today can be used to supplement your current project — try just a background scene that develops one of your minor characters, something you don’t have to include if the style is too much of a contrast — or it can be a one-off if you need some space from your current project and want to just stretch your creative muscles for a couple of hours. Here it is:
THE EXERCISE
Write a short story using words of only one syllable.
THE OBJECTIVE
To make you conscious of word choice. (Bernays and Painter 194)
For my academic writers, you can try this, too. Work on a part of your research, lesson plan, syllabus and make everything one syllable. See how you can simplify wherever possible.
(Bernays and Painter 194)
Have a safe and creative week, and as always, write on!
Bernays, Anne and Pamela Painter. What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. HarperPerennial, 1991. Advertisements Share this:
