Wednesday Wondering

Today's thoughts? All about critiques.

I had an epiphany yesterday. It stemmed from a critique I received.

Now, many people will say that close friends (and family) will not usually give you full-out honest feedback. Uh-uh. Not J. She is very good with the red pen. In addition to that, she usually gives me thorough and thoughtful suggestions overall. So now she has me going in for round umpteenth of revisions on my current wip (henceforth known as JM). Thanks for the feedback, J!

So this leads into the other thing I've been thinking about: Well, I feel a bit new to this whole 'net writer's universe and when I initially started blogging (June 2008), I wasn't very good at it. I would forget. I got too wrapped up in my writing and I guess that's a good thing, but I didn't realize the universe that was out there. Now that I've succumbed to this alternate universe, though I still find it completely overwhelming with information, I have found some great advice from other writers, published and not, agents and publishers.

My wondering, you ask? Critique groups are a close knit bunch and finding one to participate in can be tough. From some of my reaching out, I've found that most groups have been together for a while and are pretty swamped with their own projects as well as the critiques of others already in the group. Being a newbie, I understand their hesitancy at taking on one more person in the group, especially with not much knowledge of said writer's abilities, etc.

So now I ask you, what kind of writing groups do you participate in? What are the best ways to find crit groups? Any suggestions for a newbie are welcome!

Wednesday Wondering

Right now I’m lying across the bed in my hotel room in San Juan, Puerto Rico listening to the sounds of the distant highway traffic mingle with the Atlantic Ocean as it slaps up against the rocky shore below my balcony. Current temperature outside? 78 degrees F. Current temperature inside? 78 degrees F. Just the way I like it.

Moving on . . . I started thinking about my wondering for this week days ago. Just fleeting thoughts. I should have written them down. The moment I sat down in front of the computer I was at a loss. What was I wondering?

I closed my eyes and the first thing that came to mind? Frogs. The tiny little poisonous dart kind that leap around in the jungle? Yeah, those ones. What the . . . I don’t know where that thought came from either. What was this followed by? The weather (as always), books (keep an eye out for more Recent Reads), the fam (missing S & the kiddies), and then, when I closed my eyes again to try to come up with something else, there was a lull in the traffic noise filled by the sound of waves crashing below and I had an epiphanous (is that a word?) moment.

Inspiration is a fickle thing, coming when it wants, leaving when it feels like it. I always wonder how I can catch a little ray of it and keep it in my back pocket for day when the only thing that comes to me are thoughts of poisonous dart frogs.

When I started writing again I still remember the moment. The raw emotion I felt that I had to get something down on paper. Within a few days, I had more than hundred pages typed out. A few weeks after that, another hundred pages. In 6 months I had written more than I had in the previous 10 years.

All it took was one moment. Hearing the right thing. The right time. Feeling it. Knowing it.

A few things that inspire me?
1) The fam
2) Music—a little bit of every genre
3) The ocean
4) That singular moment of a quiet deep breath when no one else is around
5) A perfect tall half-caf mocha latte with a shot of vanilla and whip cream (mmmmm . . .)
Oh, yeah . . .

6) And poisonous dart frogs. Especially the red ones.

What about you?

Wednesday Wondering: Chronological or Out of Order?

Firstly, I've decided to start a new "thing" on the blog: Wednesday Wonderings. It could be related to writing, reading, life, thoughts on the universe or maybe even the bizarre way that chocolate and cayenne pepper really compliments each other. It'll be a surprise every week! But it'll always start in my mind with the "I wonder . . . " And I'd love it if I can get some thoughts from others out there. So here goes . . .

Wednesday's Wondering - Chronological or Out of Order?

Recently I've read some Tweets and blog comments on the number of words a person has written in a day. It appears some people have a certain number of word goal each day and there's a happy celebration *dancing* when they reach their goal. This got me thinking.

Mind you, I have not committed myself to a certain number of words each day. For me, it stifles my creativity a bit and makes it feel more like a classroom assignment to meet a quota. Just a personal feeling there. Anyway, sidetracked, here was the thought that came to me: are these people working on their projects in chronological order?

For me, stories flow in a more memory-esque way. Things come to me out of order and I have to figure out where they go. So what about you? Do you write chronologically or do you have to take some time to move things around because the story came to you in out of order sections?