Come On! Take the Challenge!
Why is it that when I sit down to write, I automatically write the word “so” first? Anyone else do that? Ugh...it's so terrible when you have so much you want to write about but you so don't know where to start.
I know I wasn't as active on my blog during the month of January. Part of the reason was a broken down computer. The other part was me keeping busy doing other things. I was most definitely not idle during January, which I will affectionately call the Month of Um...No. Our family is dealing with some super nasty life circumstances but I'm holding tight to this verse: "Adonai will do battle for you. Just calm yourselves down!" Exodus 14:14 (taken from the CJB...because it's written dynamically in this version. Other versions might say something like 'be still'... but this was Moses talking. The guy was pretty fiery. He'd definitely be more likely to cut some eyes and tell the Israelites "Hey. Chill out already!")
I participated in the #plotterlifechallenge hosted by Brittany Wang. It kept me writing and/or thinking about how my stories were set up, how the plot was flowing, and how the bits looked as pieces of a whole. I'm so glad I tackled the challenge, even though I started a week late. I was so encouraged that I -------->
Yes, that's right. During the month of February, I'll be tackling three writing challenges I found on Instagram. If you see one that interests you, why not join in?
As I was saying, with our extremely stretched internet, it's proving quite impossible for me to listen to any live broadcasts without hopping onto my 4G. This option presents a different kind of difficulty because of where we live. If we drew chalk circles in our house to represent the places where our phones actually receive 4G service, there might be five of them, each about three feet in diameter. It's frustrating to say the least but I'm not letting it hold me back. There's always YouTube to fall back on.
And If That Wasn't Enough Of A Challenge
I started a February Bible-reading challenge on the Youversion Bible app. I've gotten a lot of encouragement and inspiration from the devotional readings they offer through this app and discovered some more books to add to my wish list.
So What Have I Accomplished?
While doing the Plotter Life Challenge, I experimented with creating a plot board to help me keep track of the particular jumble of scenes which now comprise my current work in progress. I now have a better view of how the scenes need to follow each other in the story line. I got to connect with some pretty fun writers. And it really got my creative juices flowing to start planning for my next book which I'll work on during Camp Nano in April. And I learned the benefit of challenging myself to meet daily goals. I seem to work better this way, since it keeps me hyped up.
I created my first freebie to include in my monthly newsletter. If you haven't signed up yet, you can do that now and grab the link when the next newsletter goes out. All free items will always be available at the same link so that all my subscribers can enjoy them. It takes me a while to create free items so I'll be sure to let you know when they are coming out. As of right now, I don't intend to write any ebooks on the writing process. I hope to be able to do that in the future, though, after learning and growing some more as a writer.
P.S. None of the people or websites I linked to paid me to share their pages. I just did so because I wanted to...because I find them encouraging, helpful, insightful, and/or energizing. I hope you enjoy them, too! And don't forget to stop by Wattpad and read Ripples, my first book. One of my February goals is to finish revising and uploading the rest of the chapters, so those reading it can look forward to that. If you haven't started reading yet, you can get caught up by clicking the link below.
I know I wasn't as active on my blog during the month of January. Part of the reason was a broken down computer. The other part was me keeping busy doing other things. I was most definitely not idle during January, which I will affectionately call the Month of Um...No. Our family is dealing with some super nasty life circumstances but I'm holding tight to this verse: "Adonai will do battle for you. Just calm yourselves down!" Exodus 14:14 (taken from the CJB...because it's written dynamically in this version. Other versions might say something like 'be still'... but this was Moses talking. The guy was pretty fiery. He'd definitely be more likely to cut some eyes and tell the Israelites "Hey. Chill out already!")
I participated in the #plotterlifechallenge hosted by Brittany Wang. It kept me writing and/or thinking about how my stories were set up, how the plot was flowing, and how the bits looked as pieces of a whole. I'm so glad I tackled the challenge, even though I started a week late. I was so encouraged that I -------->
Took On Three More Challenges
Yes, that's right. During the month of February, I'll be tackling three writing challenges I found on Instagram. If you see one that interests you, why not join in?
- The Progress Not Perfection challenge (#pnpf2018) hosted by Michelle Vandepol (you can visit her blog here) is the last one I signed up for. I made the final decision to do it last night. Split second decisions are not something I make a habit of, but I decided to push myself a little more. This challenge is all about things to help you keep going.
- The My Characters Are Real Challenge (#mycharactersarereal) hosted by Ellery Mar Connor (you can visit her blog here) is designed to help you fill out your character and make them more real, as you could probably tell from the challenge title. This is my second favorite part of writing. I love adding in all the little details that fill in the mind-picture for each reader.
- The Share Your Line February Challenge (#shareyourlinefeb) hosted by Micah C. Orth is designed to prompt you to write every day. The goal is to keep going. Then you get to share your favorite line from the work you do. I think this one might be the hardest challenge for me, but I'm going to do my best.
As I was saying, with our extremely stretched internet, it's proving quite impossible for me to listen to any live broadcasts without hopping onto my 4G. This option presents a different kind of difficulty because of where we live. If we drew chalk circles in our house to represent the places where our phones actually receive 4G service, there might be five of them, each about three feet in diameter. It's frustrating to say the least but I'm not letting it hold me back. There's always YouTube to fall back on.
And If That Wasn't Enough Of A Challenge
I started a February Bible-reading challenge on the Youversion Bible app. I've gotten a lot of encouragement and inspiration from the devotional readings they offer through this app and discovered some more books to add to my wish list.
So What Have I Accomplished?
While doing the Plotter Life Challenge, I experimented with creating a plot board to help me keep track of the particular jumble of scenes which now comprise my current work in progress. I now have a better view of how the scenes need to follow each other in the story line. I got to connect with some pretty fun writers. And it really got my creative juices flowing to start planning for my next book which I'll work on during Camp Nano in April. And I learned the benefit of challenging myself to meet daily goals. I seem to work better this way, since it keeps me hyped up.
I created my first freebie to include in my monthly newsletter. If you haven't signed up yet, you can do that now and grab the link when the next newsletter goes out. All free items will always be available at the same link so that all my subscribers can enjoy them. It takes me a while to create free items so I'll be sure to let you know when they are coming out. As of right now, I don't intend to write any ebooks on the writing process. I hope to be able to do that in the future, though, after learning and growing some more as a writer.
P.S. None of the people or websites I linked to paid me to share their pages. I just did so because I wanted to...because I find them encouraging, helpful, insightful, and/or energizing. I hope you enjoy them, too! And don't forget to stop by Wattpad and read Ripples, my first book. One of my February goals is to finish revising and uploading the rest of the chapters, so those reading it can look forward to that. If you haven't started reading yet, you can get caught up by clicking the link below.
So do you have any February creativity or productivity goals? If so, please feel free to share in the comments.
Update (7/8/2020): Rather than transfer every day of the challenges as they were posted, I chose to share slideshows of my responses in single, focused posts for ease of viewing and sharing. Original posts were done daily, sometimes more than one post a day. I am just wondering what I was thinking! The growth is amazing...)
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