Writing Practice

I sit down at my computer everyday and look at the link to this blog. Everyday, I think of clicking the button on my tool bar and adding a new entry. Looking at the date of the last post, obviously that has been a less than successful strategy.

I've been reading Heather Sellers' Page after Page about how to get off your ass and actually write, not just talk about it. She talks about creating a writing life where the rhythm of writing, of putting words on a page is something that becomes ingrained in your daily habit. This struck home with me. I do feel like I'm out of practice. I also feel like I have nothing to say, but I realize that I need to write for myself, not for anyone else who may be reading this blog.

With that in mind, I'm going to try to use this space as a place where I can do my writing practice. I've always written a lot of ideas down - I have notebooks and notebooks full of them. I want to do more than just talk about writing. Heather's point of view about rejection (think of it as a contest. 100 rejections gets you int he writer's club, essentially) and carving out personal time for yourself to write (be selfish, say no) immediately spoke to me.

I commit to at least four blog posts a week. I will not only discuss my writing, but I will post ideas and things I want to write about and have written. To whit, here is my current list of story ideas.

1. Oberon's Heir - multi-novel story, with maybe a couple of framing short stories
2. Fifth Force - I have an idea for a short story that I want to use to start this series
3. Something with Violet - not sure what to do with her. Maybe I will just explore with some vignettes or short stories.
4. Beckett and the ghost - short story, cozy series?
5. article about employee knowledge - maybe for Government Executive magazine or something similar.
6. employee vignette piece - crazy stories
7. something based on the Days of the Dead - even though this was a joint creation, I feel like there is something excellent here.
8. The Great Tooth Fairy War
9. Iris short story
10. Who is Bleu Fontaine? - I don't know.

Those are the ideas floating around my head right now. I know there are more ready to pop up. I am going to keep a log here whenever I get new ones, but I am heartened by the fact that I was able to roll off a long list of story ideas. Maybe I can do this after all.