Howdy, all. Thanks for your patience while I took a little blogging break. It wasn’t a planned break; I just haven’t managed my time on Friday mornings as effectively as I’d have liked.
I have a new addition to my recommendation roundup from a couple of weeks ago. I found recording artist Lizzo thanks to her “Tiny-ass Desk Concert” on NPR. She’s the woman-positive, body-positive, sex-positive musician I didn’t realize I needed. Definitely check her work out.
I’ll also add the new country supergroup The Highwomen to my recommendations. Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires have crafted a fantastic album in their debut. It’s filled with songs that address life as a modern woman, and it follows the traditions that female country artists like Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and others blazed.
I hate to admit it, but I haven’t touched my WIP since I wrapped up that 11,000-word scene a couple of weeks ago. That’s partly my poor time management skills. And truthfully, what writer doesn’t wish for better time management abilities?
But it’s also been because I’m feeling directionless with that project. I might need to take a writing day to outline what I’ve accomplished so far and put together a plan for the next few chapters. While I’m not normally a planner, I think I have a good enough sense of my characters now that I can think about what role I want each to play in the rest of the story. I just need a chunk of time to dig deep and map out some options.
In other writing news, I sent a draft of a short story to my writing group this week. The ending of the story is giving me troubles, and I’d like their input and suggestions on what its biggest flaw is. I hope that will offer me some avenues to explore in revisions.
I also submitted a couple of short stories to some writing contests. I haven’t submitted anything since July. I hope I did my due diligence correctly and matched stories to the right potential markets.
I also joined a microfiction contest that starts tonight. I’ll get a writing prompt at midnight, and I have to submit my story by midnight on Saturday. The competition has several heats, and ten writers from each heat will move into the second round in November. Five writers from each group in November will move to the final round in January. Writers could be assigned any genre, action, and word at random, and our submitted story must include all three elements to be judged.
It should be a challenge. It’s about as close to writing improv as I think I’ve seen.
That’s the roundup from my little corner of the writing world. I’ll tip my cap to all of you wordsmiths and other creatives, and I’ll get back to work. Happy writing, all!
(Photo by Iz & Phil on Unsplash)
Ruth F. Simon 