Julie Duffy's Blog, page 89
September 6, 2019
2019 Day 7 – Flash!
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
Write A FLASH FICTION STORY
Chances are, most of the stories you’ve written so far would qualify as Flash Fiction if all we meant was “under 1200 words”.
But Flash is more than that. It is deliberately taut, vivid, and short. It should contain one or two vivid moments or images that stay with the reader long after they’ve gone.
Write your story of 1000 words today, and work on making it flash.
FLASH FICTION FURTHER READING
Steve Almond, Stop
Erin Morgenstern, The Cat and The Fiddle
Ariel Berry, Useless Things
Naomi Kritzer, Paradox
Josh McColough, Meteor
Jennifer Wortman, Theories of the Point of View Shift in AC/DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’
Rachel Engelman, Joan of Arc Sits Naked In Her Dorm Room
Julie Duffy, The Girl Who Circumnavigated The Earth In An Act of Her Own Making
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 7 – Flash! appeared first on StoryADay.
September 5, 2019
2019 Day 6 – A Fresh Genre
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
WRITE IN A GENRE YOU DON’T USUALLY USE
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut.
Writing in a different genre (or mashing two genres together) can be a wonderful way to freshen things up.
So what are you going to write today? A romance? A mystery? A Sci-Fi-Punk-Rock-Thriller?
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 6 – A Fresh Genre appeared first on StoryADay.
September 4, 2019
2019 Day 5 – 100 Words
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
WRITE A STORY in 100 words
What can you do in 100 words? A surprising amount.
Just don’t be surprised if today’s story takes just as long as yesterday’s. Short and sweet isn’t necessarily quick!
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 5 – 100 Words appeared first on StoryADay.
September 3, 2019
2019 Day 4 – Two Characters
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
WRITE A STORY WITH NO MORE THAN TWO CHARACTERS
Short stories are short. One of the ways to stop them from creeping out of control is to limit the number of characters.
Stick to two characters today (yes, your characters can refer to other people, but nobody else appears in the story.)
If you usually write in third person, try first.
If you usually write adult women, try a boy, or an alien, or a grown man.
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 4 – Two Characters appeared first on StoryADay.
September 2, 2019
2019 Day 3 – Change Your POV
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
The Prompt
CHANGE YOUR POINT OF VIEW
We often get stuck writing in the same point of view or from the same perspective. Make an effort to write a story, today, that is different.
If you usually write in third person, try first.
If you usually write adult women, try a boy, or an alien, or a grown man.
Go!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The post 2019 Day 3 – Change Your POV appeared first on StoryADay.
September 1, 2019
2019 Day 2 – Set A Timer
How did you get on yesterday? Did you write a story?
Remember, set your own rules, and stick to them. If you miss a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep moving forward!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The Prompt
Set A TIMER FOR 40 MINUTES
Don’t spend too much time on your opening.
Brainstorm for five minutes, spend the next five on an opening and then give yourself 20-25 to dig your characters into a hole and let them start to climb out of it.
Try to start wrapping it up when you have about five minutes left on your timer. Even if you have to write some brief notes [“this is where they make their great escape”], put an ending on the story.
This will make it so much easier when you come back to revise it later.
Go!
The post 2019 Day 2 – Set A Timer appeared first on StoryADay.
August 31, 2019
SWAGr for September 2019
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
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Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Write a story a day in May – everyone!Revise at least 10 short stories – IraideWrite two short stories. – JamiAttend one writers’ conference – JulieWrite fable for WordFactory competition – SonyaRe-read the backstory pieces I wrote in May and see if I can use them within my novel – MoniqueResearch the market – JamiFocus on my serial – Maureen
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
The post SWAGr for September 2019 appeared first on StoryADay.
2019 Day 1 – Labor Day
You’re here! We’re here! And StoryADay September is definitely here!
Check back every day for more prompts, and don’t forget to come back and leave a comment to celebrate your writing successes, every day!
The Prompt
Write a Story featuring workers for labor day
The StoryADay Superstars are seeing enhanced versions of these prompts all month, plus a year of monthly meetings and support.
You can still sign up for Superstars until midnight tonight!
Sign Up for Superstars
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139 – Your Hero’s Journey, as a writer
It’s tough to cross the threshold from the ordinary world to the magical world where you are a writer. I know. And i have some ideas…
LINKS
StoryADay Superstars: https://members.storyaday.org/join
It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast
The post 139 – Your Hero’s Journey, as a writer appeared first on StoryADay.
August 30, 2019
Your Hero’s Journey, as a writer
Hey, writers, it’s a beautiful day here in Pennsylvania, as you can probably see, and I’m sitting out here on my deck, getting ready for StoryADay September.
Join us As A Superstar. More details…
Are you ready?
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling some resistance. Definitely feeling some resistance.
And it’s kind of crazy because we want to write, right, we want to be doing this thing, which is going to make us more fully ourselves is going to make us happier and easier to live with.
It’s going to create a legacy for us all the stories that we’re going to leave behind, all these moments where our loved ones are going to see us doing something that’s important to us, where they start to respect it, where we start to respect it.
It’s going to make us happier.
And yet we resist because it’s not easy. And I was thinking about this.
The Hero’s Journey
And I was thinking about the hero’s journey, you know, that circle, Joseph Campbell laid out with the stages of the hero’s journey on it? And I was thinking that the stage that I’m at right now, maybe you’re there, too, is this moment, right before you step over the threshold from the normal world, the ordinary world, the everyday world, into the magical world, magical world where you’re a writer, and you’ve made that choice, and you’ve made that step and you’ve declared,
“I’m going on this journey.”
And that’s scary.
And it’s not a coincidence that even in the most heroic of stories, the hero doesn’t do it alone. That’s the point right before they step over the threshold. That’s the point where the hero hesitates, refuses the call, decides they’ll maybe do it next year.
And they wait there, until something comes along, until someone comes along—that mentor—and says to them, come on, you’ve got this, let’s do it together. And accepting help from that mentor doesn’t mean that they’re going to be with you forever, they’re not going to do it for you. It just means that you’re human, that maybe you’re a hero, if you need someone to help you take that step.
The Heroic Hesitation
I’ve done it in my own life.
I have always struggled with my weight. I used to use food to stuff down my feelings. Some of them were my feelings about writing: I wanted to be writing but it’s hard and resistance kicks in. And it’s much easier to get into the kitchen and find a bag of chips and start shoveling them in.
And then eventually, you know, I wanted to be in control.
It was when I found a mentor who spoke to me in the way I could hear that I was able to drop 25 pounds and give up those binges.
Instead spend that time and that brainpower on things I really wanted to be doing like writing and hanging out with my writing friends.
And the same thing happened with my writing. I was sporadic. And I would start to write and fall away from it. And it wasn’t until about a decade ago when I started going out to writers groups.
I had to kiss a bunch of frogs to find the group and the people that work for me. But eventually, I found that group which served as the mentor, which extend the hand and said to me, come over, come over with us into the magical world, we’re writing is part of your life. But I’ve never looked back.
I don’t know that I could have done it when I was when I was younger, because I was young and British and we don’t ask for help for stuff. But after I’d been living in America for a while, and I got a little older, it became a lot easier to ask for help.
And to realize that this was this was my moment.
Finding Your Mentor
Asking for help was freeing, you know. And I found my mentors. And they helped me step from the ordinary world into the magical world. And it IS magical. I get to hang out with people who make up stories all the time,
I get to hang out withpeople who understand what I say, what I mean. When I say I’m writing, even though I’m staring at the wall.
I talked to somebody recently told me that she had to fight her brother for the laptop because he thinks she’s not writing, when she’s staring into space. So he steals the laptop and and starts playing games. And I get it, I know exactly what she means.
I also know what it means to be standing on that threshold. And to be thinking, “yes I want to write but I’ve got all these other things I need to do.” You know, Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, he had all kinds of other things he had to do. He had to help his uncle with the ‘Vaporators and the harvest was coming in.
It’s not until he meets Obi Wan Kenobi that he sees a path. And when he takes that step, he has his mentor for a while to help him.
So, long story short….
If you’re thinking about writing this September, there’s a place where you can get help to help you step over that threshold.
I’m part of that.
And my Superstars group is part of that.
We will be your companions, we will be your mentor, to help you make take the step from living in the ordinary world, to living in the magical world where you get tell stories, and tell them often, and be the person that you want to be.
Sure, you can cobble this together yourself. I certainly did that.
It took me probably seven years to figure it out, to get to the point where I had my crew in place, and I had my mentors, and I had my routine, and I was comfortable on that journey.
The internet’s a big place. There are lots of writers out there. There are lots of teachers out there. There are lots of places and communities where you can go and look for what you need.
I would invite you to consider joining us in the StoryADay Superstars group.
I promise you is one of the most supportive, generous, fun communities of writers that I’ve ever come across. There’s no snark (well, only good snark). There’s no competition. Everybody is there to support everyone else. Some of the people will be further along the journey than you. And some of the people will highlight the fact that you know a little bit more about these things than they do.
Trying to become a writer by yourself can, absolutely, be done. Of course, it can.
But it’s tough. And there are many bumps.
There are many days when you will question whether it’s worth it, whether you have the talent, whether this is even a valid thing to want. I spent a lot of time out there in the ordinary world, wondering if this was right for me.
It’s so valuable, having people around you who are on the journey, having someone like me as a mentor, who can reassure you and show you the beginnings of the path, so that you can forge your own way forward your own journey, walk on the path you’re meant to be on.
It gets you there so much faster.
You don’t have to kiss any more frogs.
You found us.
We’re here waiting for you.
Taking That Step Into The Magical World
StoryADay September starts in a couple of days.
The Superstars group runs all the way to April.
But signups close on September 1, I really hope you’ll consider joining us to get where you need to go to take that scary step over the threshold to admit that you want to be a writer with everything that that entails, including the possibility of failure, the possibility of stumbling.
It’s so much better when you have people around you to pick you up and help you and lift you up or obstacles and show you paths that you didn’t even know existed yet.
I will be honest, it’s hard for me to make this video.
It’s hard for me to keep reaching out. And putting this out there and saying to people “come with us, be with us”.
I know how great it is to be in this group. And it would be very easy for me to sit here and say, “You know what? They don’t want to come, they won’t come..it’s fine.”
But if you’re watching me, I just know, (because I’ve been where you are): You want to write and you keep putting it off or maybe you start and you stop or you may you get to a certain point.and it’s frustrating and you haven’t found your people yet.
I think we might be your people.
Join us this September. Give us a shot.
Come on this journey with us.
Join us.
Join us As A Superstar. More details…
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