Writing Excuses: Course Complete

I completed my self-assigned Writing Excuses course today, and it depends on how you look at it whether or not I totally failed. My original rules said I had to post my notes to my blog (didn't do) and write one response each week to a writing prompt given (done halfway). I ended up writing about an alien gardener, a guy who died (that one wasn't my favorite, but oh well), a snake-infested ranch, a pregnant ghost who could be photographed, and a mute mother and her son. That means I wrote five out of eight. Oh, and did I mention it took more than the eight weeks I said it would take?

However, I have one thing to say for myself before you tsk at me for being a terrible student: This course helped me get started on my own project. Instead of responding to prompts, I spent my writing time each day actually working on something that isn't as transitory as a prompt response. With that result, I think I passed with flying colors. Anything that can give me some traction to get going is worth the time spent, and I also learned things along the way.

This is me.

One thing I learned and implemented just showed up in that paragraph: I have writing time now. I am doing my best to spend one hour per day writing. On top of my job and other projects (and my book addiction), one hour is something I can manage to fit in every day. So long as I write something, I am exercising that muscle and improving. So thank you, Writing Excuses people, for giving me a push to get me started. It's sad to say I needed it.

My stories are much better when I think them through before I begin to write. I used to think this meant I couldn't sit down every day and write. Instead, I would passively think and research for these stories. I now know that while I work this way, I still need to spend some time each day writing something—anything, even if it's just a blog post. If I don't write, I may never start writing. I would be stuck in a vortex of research and thought. Nice as that is, it isn't the end goal. The end goal is to get that research and thought in front of people in a way that is entertaining or at least insightful.

To catch up on the homework I am way behind on, I'll spend the next few posts going over my notes from the course. I'm not the sort of person who takes a lot of notes ... for some entire seasons, there is less than seven lines of type, with each line being a separate idea. That's because I only take note of the things that are new or that I particularly want to remember. So what you'll be getting is highlights. Hopefully you will learn something too, or else decide to give Writing Excuses a try.