Friday, July 25, 2014

Friday Five for July 25, 2014


1. I managed to get some writing done this past week. I've also been critiquing stories. I have my local writers group meeting tomorrow. I dug out an old fantasy short story for them. I'd like to write something new, but I only have so much time.

2. I thought I'd create a few short stories from old novels that I wrote. My paranormal short, "Immaculate" in Mortis Operandi was originally a novel. Reading my old manuscripts, I cringed. The writing! Oh, the horror. And not in a good horror sort of way. It's amazing to see how far I've come with my writing. Do you sometimes go back and compare how your writing has changed over the years?

3. Yet I did find one of my NaNoWriMo novels full of possibilities. If I could rewrite it with more humor, it would be like a Terry Pratchett style take on fairytale tropes. But that's way down on my list of things to possibly do.

4. It's been a busy week. I helped clean up my son's preschool playground, getting it ready for when school starts again. Then we got the news that the church the preschool is in will be closing. We don't know the timeline yet, but it's already been a scramble to find a new location. I'm on the board and emergency meetings have been called. I hope we can keep our lease until the end of the school year. That will give us more time to find a new place. It's stressful and a bit crazy right now.

5. Reminder: Don't forget there's still six days to enter the awesome Untethered Realms 100 followers giveaway for a chance to win a grand prize pack of wonderful reads. In that same post, there's the links for all the books we have on sale this month at Smashwords. The 13th Floor Complete Collection is 50% off!

Have a great weekend!

17 comments:

  1. I do sometimes go back and dig out old stuff I've written to see if any can be repurposed.

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  2. You made me laugh with #2 - I've done that recently by pulling out and looking back on a few stories - WOWZA - I've come pretty far in the last couple of years.
    So that's good and bad, and I still might be able to save the stories. :)

    Have a great weekend and good luck with the SW sale. :)

    shahwharton.com

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  3. Sounds like a productive week all the way around! I love looking back through old manuscripts for possibilities, but usually I feel the way you felt about it.

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  4. I was horrified when I read the first version of CassaStar. Of course, that was thirty years ago I wrote it, so if I hadn't improved that would really suck.

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  5. I looked at the very first draft of the very first conception of my fantasy series this week...it was truly terrible. Like, hysterically bad. I may have to shred it now, just to make sure no one ever sees it.

    Good luck with the preschool scramble. My mother used to run a preschool in a church. She never had to find a new location, though, but I can just imagine how stressful that could be.

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  6. Great idea to take old stuff and rework it. My motto, "I'll use it one day!" Happy Friday. Have a great weekend.

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  7. It pays to look over old writing. Sometimes the writing is bad but the story plot is cool. Hope your preschool finds a good spot.

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  8. I always go back over old stuff to rewrite. I never throw anything away.

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  9. Last time I looked at old stuff it was very cringeworthy, but it's usually because it's not like we remember it! I think you need to see past the quality (or lack of) and see the ideas that might still have potential.

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  10. Thanks, everyone! I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about my old stuff. Have a good weekend. :)

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  11. Yes to reading older stuff and cringing. I just hope in five years I'm not doing the same thing, lol! Though I of course would like to grow in my writing. Also, I didn't know you were from IN! So am I, about fifteen minutes from Columbus.

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  12. You sound like you've been having a wonderfully productive writing time. Awesome. :O)

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  13. I love digging up my old stories and finding new ideas... and yep, seeing how much my writing has improved:) Hehe

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  14. You are a busy lady! I hope the pre-school thing works out ok. And I have looked back over the years and cringe is a nice word for how I feel about my old writing. :)

    Have a great day!

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  15. Christine, sending lots of good thoughts that things work out with your son's preschool. Sounds like you have your hands full with things.

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  16. yeah, i'm afraid to look at my old writing... it scares me like when something falls behind the fridge - i'm just gonna write it off as a loss... ha ha!

    hope you find a spot for your preschool! what a bummer!

    like the critting and writing ventures =)
    hoping to hear some good news soon!

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  17. Your writing options sound promising. Good luck with the preschool situation!

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