Writing Report Card V

It’s been more than 6 months since my last post about my writing aspirations for the year.

Unfortunately, I’ve not written a word since then until recently when I went back to tweeting Very Short Stories responding to the #vss365 hashtag.

It was slow-going at first because with each prompt, I truly could not come up with anything to write about. And that was just for a tweet-long story! After a couple of days though, I think I finally got back into the groove and now make a point to tweet a #vss365 story daily, if I can, so at least I’m writing everyday. Writing as in NOT emails or reports for work.

Also, I submitted a story for 50 Word Stories, cross your fingers and toes for me.

Writing in the New Year

2020 was not a good year for me in terms of writing. I fell off the habit of submitting monthly to the 50-Word Stories site and didn’t finish the annual blogging A to Z challenge. I had other writing plans as well but barely made a move on any of them.

This year, I’d like to get back to submitting monthly to the 50-word Stories site, and perhaps other flash fiction sites.

This year, I’d like to finish one writing project that I’ve left on the backburner for far too long.

Simply, this year, I’d like to get back to writing.

Writing Report Card IV

“Read lots. Write lots.” – Ian Rankin

It’s 2020! More specifically, it’s FEBRUARY 2020! 11 more months left to this year, a scary thought indeed, where did the time go??? Since my last Writing Report Card, there’s not been much to report regarding my writing activities, I’ve been reading lots, but unfortunately, not writing lots. I’m blaming the hectic holiday season in December that bled into a semi-busy January. It’s time for me to get off my butt though and set some writing goals. But first…

1. 50-word-stories – To my surprise, I had two (2) back-to-back acceptances in October and November. The first line of the story was from a romance novel I was reading at the time which I thought was a compelling line, so I knew I had to use it somehow in a story. The final iteration of the microfiction turned out to be a little funny. Full disclosure, I didn’t submit any stories in December and January. I felt a little guilty initially, but I’m over the guilt now and am working on my February submission.

Upcoming writing plans:

1. Continue submitting to 50-word-stories monthly. In 2019, I submitted 11 out of 12 months, and got published 5 times which translates to a 45.5% success rate. As submission statistics go, that’s pretty good!
2. Look for another site to submit stories to monthly, perhaps one that will accept stories less than 1000 words.
3. Revive blogging on my other non-writing blog – Stories from Sonobe – which has been dormant since 2016, sad to say. New posts will be linked to this blog.

Writing Report Card III

“…we make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones…” – Stephen King

Since I’ll be travelling at the end of the month, I reminded myself not to procrastinate for this month’s Writing Report Card, and to get it written and posted. So, here we go!

1. VSS365 Anthology – It’s currently available on Amazon as an e-book and in paperback. I’ve got the e-book version myself and can’t stop admiring it *insert slightly satisfied smile here* The minute it was published, I shared the exciting news via social media. Though I have to admit that I was a little shy at first to tell folks that I had the stories selected and published because after all, the stories are just tweet-length, not novel-length, so in my mind, I was making a big thing out of a little thing. Then, of course, I berated myself because no matter the length of the story, it is still an accomplishment which should be celebrated. Sometimes, it’s true what they say – the hardest critic is your own darn self.
2. 50-word-stories – So, I submitted my September story a few days before the monthly deadline and just heard back a couple of days ago that it was not selected to be published. Now, I’ve got to polish my October submission, which is an extended version of one of my #vss365 tweets, and send it off soon!

Upcoming writing plans:

1. Call for submissions – There’s a call for submission for an online travelogue site. The theme of the submission is ‘overcoming fears’ and should be within 1000 – 1500 words. I have a few ideas swirling but the deadline is the 15th of October, so I’m excited to submit something but worried about making the deadline. I’m a MAJOR procrastinator.
2. A new blog post series – Since I’ll be traveling with my mum soon, I thought of blogging about it since traveling with her has never been boring, rather too exciting sometimes. I intended to set up another blog but received sound advice to set up a series within this blog instead. So, I’ll be organising that soon (I hope). I’m also still thinking about a title for the series. Ideas welcomed!

Writing Report Card II

“Write. No amount of self-inflicted misery, altered states, black pullovers or being publicly obnoxious will ever add up to your being a writer. Writers write. On you go.” – Al Kennedy

Yes, it’s the end of August September, and I’m only posting this now but you know what they (whoever they are) say, Better late than never! After I wrote my first Writing Report Card post, I received several encouraging writing news. I also continued to write, reminding myself to continue to write, albeit not daily. Rather my writing efforts have come in spurts and gasps.

I feel a more than slight twinge of guilt for not writing everyday, but then I came across an essay in the The Writing Cooperative, aptly titled “Stop Feeling Guilty for Not Writing Everyday”, and I read this “Write when you can. Be bold. …don’t shrink back no matter how loud your guilty heart screams at you“. Definitely a note to myself – Stop Feeling Guilty for Not Writing Everyday!

1. VSS365 Anthology – As mentioned in my previous post, two (TWO! I still can’t believe it) of my Very Short Stories were accepted for publication in the VSS365 Anthology, and according to the publisher/ VSS originator, the latest update is that there’s a tentative release date – September 23, 2019! Can’t wait to have this little gem in my Kindle.
2. #vss365 – I’ve continued tweeting very short stories almost every day which has been good for my creative soul. To my pleasant surprise, most of the daily prompts has a way of extracting strange tales from my brain.
3. 50-word-stories – The other good writing news was that my July submission to the site was accepted and published, which makes it my 3rd accepted 50-Word-Story this year. I sent in my August story early August, and just got an email that it wasn’t accepted to be published. I’ve yet to send in my September story, which I should do soon since the monthly deadline is on the 15th. Wish me luck!

Writing Report Card I

“Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.” – Margaret Atwood

It’s July. Yes, the SEVENTH month of the year! SEVENTH!

Anyway, I did not post in June at all. Not one post! Despite the fact that I intended to post at least twice a month. I don’t have any excuse for not posting, but I know I have to do better and while I do that, I need to remind myself not to be so hard on myself.

I was trying to come up with ideas for how I could keep this promise to myself of posting more regularly, when it hit me that since this blog is about my writing endeavours, I should be posting about what I’ve done with regard to that. So, every month (I hope), I’ll share what I’ve done with regard to putting my writing out there in the world. Okay, let’s get to it –

1. VSS365a – Which stands for Very Short Stories 365 (days a year) Anthology. Since the 1st of June, I’ve been tweeting, based on a given prompt, very short stories AKA vss, for possible inclusion in an anthology of Very Short Stories. In the beginning, I wrote my stories related to a WIP I was working on, but after a while, the well dried up so I just wrote. The closing date for inclusion for the anthology has now passed, but I still continue to write because, well, it’s fun.
2. 50-word-stories – As I’ve mentioned before, I have every intention of submitting a story every month to this site. My last published flash fiction was in April. I submitted a story in May and June, both rejected, and just sent in one for July. So, we’ll see how that goes. Once, I get an acceptance, I’ll post the acceptance and the rejections here.
3. WIP – I’ve got several going on at once, but my most recent, is a collection of posts about my experience as Maid of Honour at my sister’s wedding. It’s still sitting in Scrivener, waiting to be edited, for a cover page, and everything else.

And that’s it, hope there’s an update next time (crossing my fingers and toes)!