Writers Meeting and Other Stuff

I went to the Midwest Writers Meeting last night at Barnes and Noble Bookstore. It is very different from my writing group but this is a formal group of much larger size. They are more involved in the business end but I think there is lots of opportunity here to be involved with serious writers, workshops and conferences. And that appeals to me. So, I'll keeps going for a bit and see what happens. There is a writer's conference for next Sept/Oct and I'd really love to go to that. The meetings will also be on a Tuesday night beginning next month and that means my Wednesday will be freer to either go to the Y or church. If I can just stop being so tired in the evenings that would be nice.

Doug met me at the meeting and afterward we found a table and talked about what we were doing and his writing goals challenge. Doug has invited our group to set up some defined goals and keep tabs on one another and makes us all accountable for meeting the goals. So far. . . only Doug and Cassie and I have responded to his email but I don't think Cassie set any goals. I've set mine so we'll see. I don't know if our group is going to continue but Doug wants to try and salvage it if possible. I'm not so optimistic. At any rate, the buddy system is a good idea and both of us need that kind of pressure to do what we need to do.

My goal? I plan on devoting one hour to writing related work and try to write 300 words a day. It can't be blog writing. It has to be only on the fictional writing. I scheduled a reminder on Google calender and shared it with Doug. If any of the rest of the group wants to participate we can add them to the calendar list. It will send a reminder around 8 pm to ask if we've met the goal for the day. That's a nice touch. I may set the reminder a bit earlier so if anyone has forgotten, it will serve as a reminder and there will still be time to get the goal in.

Have I said I love Google? I love Google and all it's little features.

So, I've started with the St. John's Wort again. I went off for about two months. The last few weeks, with all the pain issues, has sent be back into a slump. I'll see how it goes. Last night was really good for me. I always feel better when I can get with people who share an interest. The writing goes better and ideas come easier.

Must tell you about my shower. LOL. After I came home last night I was in the shower, head lathered and thinking. Remember my challenge about the guy named Striker? Well, I kept thinking that his name was not Striker and that the story was part of something else. Someone suggested he might have a connection to Simon. I didn't think so. I was rinsing my hair when a thought popped into my head. I'm not telling you the whole thing... I'd like to write it. But it was that "Striker is ______" I stopped mid-suds and said, "Oh my God!" I heard it again and said, "Oh my God!" But louder this time. Then I was saying it over and over and running around in the shower (metaphorically speaking) Mentally I wanted to jump out and grab my laptop. LOL, I didn't. But I did hurry and get done and dressed.

So, now I'm wanting to get back into Simon's story. Oh, anyone want a title? "The Dream Stealer" How's that?

In other news, anyone use the program yWriter? I encourage you to check it out if you are a writer. I downloaded it about three years ago but as you all know, things sort of headed south back then and I never really got to do more than give it a cursory look. Played with it a bit and forgot it.

Well, Doug emailed and asked me if I'd heard of it. Told him the above but then decided I should go back and take a closer look. What was wrong with me? This program is what I need to use to structure and organize my writing! There are all kinds of bells and whistles: a synopsis creator that would act as a formal outline, a word counter, a goal timer, and that's just a few of what I've found. It allows you to create chapters and scenes and add characters with bios, descriptions, and photos. You can add locations and items. You have scene descriptions that are used to formulate the synopsis and well, it is really a program designed for writers. . . by a writer. There is a link on Dixie's Writing Challenge Blog but I'll put it in my links as well. And here: yWriter - Free novel writing software

I think that will just about do it for me. It is lunch time and I've been working on this off and on since 8 a.m.!