author – Page 3 – Polilla Writes

Friday, Day 26 of NaNoWriMo was a poor writing day for me. To start things off I got maybe four hours of sleep last night which would have been longer except for the fact that I was up early this morning to go to town with my sister. I had errands (banking, shopping) to do and she did some shopping, and it took longer than we had anticipated so I didn’t get back home until middle of the afternoon. I was SO tired and my writing didn’t amount to much tonight, but in looking back over my daily totals I discovered that it wasn’t my worst day. I haven’t let myself not write something each day because I didn’t want to get out of the habit of writing and into the habit of skipping days. As it is I am going to be doing major catch-up soon.

I have the NaNo challenge 71% completed, having added 768 words today which brings my written total to 35002 words. I had to get it over 35000 before leaving this for a longer sleep tonight. (It’s time to quit when I keep nodding off with pen in hand!)

When we were in town today we drove past the car lot which had been one of the sets used in a Jason Priestly movie last year. We were commenting on the look of it today, they had some strange goings-on there, and I joked about it – then realized that from what I said .. oh wow! A picture book idea for PiBoIdMo!

It’s amazing to me how so much around me can be converted into picture book ideas. (Thanks Tara and friends!) You can check out what I am talking about all the time by looking here: http://taralazar.wordpress.com

And before I quit I just want to say that I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning as I will be going to the Farmers Market in Wolfville to meet Jan Coates, author of A Hare in the Elephant’s Trunk. She is going to be signing copies of her book there and I’ll be in line.

Have you met any authors and did you get a signed copy of that author’s book?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Today I am still stunned by something l learned last night in writers chat. Our guest author revealed to us that he has over 700 – yes, read that as OVER SEVEN HUNDRED, completed manuscripts waiting for a home! Each of those has been submitted at least once. He also already has 500 published short stories and poems! And he is only in his 40’s!

I sat here marvelling, first at his achievement of 500 in publication, but when he said he has over 700 yet to be published — well, I don’t know if I have recovered yet from that announcement! I hardly can grasp the image of that. Imagine it! … Can you?

From that I realized I am not capturing my thoughts and ideas nearly the way I should be doing. Some writers carry a notebook and pen everywhere they go, others take a little tape recorder to talk into when something triggers their imaginations, some keep paper and pen by the bed at night (I do this) in case they get story ideas as they are falling asleep or are wakened by them, or maybe even dream them.

The point is … write, write, WRITE! Don’t lose ideas by not capturing them, thinking you will remember and then losing them! Ever have that happen? Never trust your memory, especially since – as a writer – you have so much creative thought happening. For sure some of it will get lost.

Do you have a stockpile of manuscripts? Or maybe you have tips to offer regarding capturing ideas ? I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂