Monday, July 18, 2011

Time to Be Productive


It feels like I've been ignoring my blog lately, but I confess I haven't missed it much. I've spent the last couple months reading as much as I can and getting out and experiencing things. I've been journaling, but all on paper journals. It has been helpful in working things out in my head, and I know the difference between what's interesting for me to write and what's interesting for other people to read. I've decided that August is going to be a big writing month, well, really the 45 days between now and the end of August.

First off, there's Camp NaNoWriMo. I wanted to do it in July, but I had nothing planned, and I just wasn't prepared to jump off at the end of that spring board. I have an idea simmering in my head that really excites me, though, so I want to spend the next couple weeks writing outlines and planning my characters, so I will be ready to go on August 1.

The other thing I forgot about was the 2011 August Poetry Postcard Fest. I really enjoyed the year-long one a few years back, and I feel like it was really productive for producing some drafts. I'm a tiny bit worried that maybe it will be too tough to write 31 poems in 31 days. I tend to lose steam and need a break. But in this exercise, it's perfectly permissible to write a few early and start sending them out. Then when postcards start coming, hopefully it will be energizing and some new ideas will spark.

Anyone else have any big writing projects planned? How are you preparing for them?