Nov 9, 2024
I decided to go for it on the Bradbury Reading challenge. At the bottom of this post I’ve added a section so you can see what I’ve read. It seemed appropriate to go with a Bradbury short story for day one.
Although I have an Enlish degree, I’ve never really gotten into poetry for pleasure. I’m not sure if that’s going to change during the course of this challenge or not, but I think I get something from reading it.
The way I was taught to read a poem is to read it at least five times. Once in your head, followed by three times out loud, then a final time in your head again.
This is not all the reading I will do in a day. I am also listening to the audiobooks of the Expanse series, and reading Unruly by David Mitchell. I don’t expect to read them any less because of this. This reading is extra, the time it takes will come from time I was otherwise spending online.
The writing is still going well. My current story is going to be the longest one so far, but that’s not a problem. On the editing side, I am just working on the product description fo Sisterhood, and will hopefully have that up for order next week.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 25
Production
Words written today: 1,056
Words written total: 44,332
Plus / Minus target: +3,332
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 208
Plus / Minus target: +28
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Reading
Short story: All Summer in a Day – Ray Bradbury
Essay: Dentists Without Borders – David Sedaris
Poem: Dirge in Woods – George Meredith
Nov 8, 2024
I’m getting into the groove of writing now, but there’s still one piece missing: reading. It’s an important part of the writing process. If you don’t read, you can’t write.
I am reading every day, of course, but not as much as I would like. So, with the ongoing success of this writing challenge, I am thinking of adding a reading challenge.
It could be as simple as setting a daily amount of time for reading, but that doesn’t feel like the way I want to go. What I am currently drawn towards is what I’ll call the Bradbury Challenge.
Every day read one short story, one poem and one essay.
That seems like exactly the kind of challenge that would fit in with my writing challenge. It has the added benefit of being something I can do on a computer or on my phone that would prevent me using the internet so much.
I tried the Bradbury challenge once before and really enjoyed it. It was while I wasn’t working though, so my concern is whether I can find the time to do it now that I have a job. I should be able to. I could certainly stand to take some more time away from Reddit and doomscrolling the news.
I will give it some thought over the next few days and decide whether or not to commit.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 24
Production
Words written today: 1,013
Words written total: 43,276
Plus / Minus target: +3,276
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 24
Minutes total: 186
Plus / Minus target: +26
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Nov 7, 2024
I finished formatting my first short story this evening so it’s getting closer to the finish line. Tomorrow I will be making the cover. Its been a while since I’ve done one, so I am probably a bit rusty, but looking forward to flexing that muscle again.
One of the things I am having to think about now is how I brand these short stories and whether I do that around the challenge itself, or something else. I wrote a short piece about the challenge to go in the back of the books, but do I want the covers to reflect the challenge as well?
I don’t know is the answer, but will try and figure it out tomorrow. The good thing with stuff like this is that I can always change my mind later. If the other books I’ve published are anything to go by, there will probably be multiple covers over the years and, of course, they will get added to collections as well.
The writing is going well. I haven’t hit the point of feeling like I want to quit yet, which either means the story is a lot longer than I think, or I am getting out of this one without it. That would be the ideal scenario, but I can’t rely on it happening. Even if it does happen this time, each story is its own thing so it will probably happen again.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 23
Production
Words written today: 1,048
Words written total: 42,263
Plus / Minus target: +3,263
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 162
Plus / Minus target: +22
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Nov 6, 2024
But none of them worth sharing right now. Like a lot of people I’m not sure how it happened again and am trying to remind myself I’m not American and had no control over this.
I am sure that Britain will roll out the red carpet, we’re already seeing it. What I wonder is where we draw the line? At what point do we say this has gone too far? I understand that there is politics involved, but presumably there is a line he could cross where our politicians will say ‘enough.’ Or maybe there isn’t and we will just go along with whatever he wants. Unfortunately that seems the more likely scenario.
The writing happened in between frantically checking the news. Let’s all hope the next four years aren’t as bad as we fear.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 22
Production
Words written today: 1,045
Words written total: 41,215
Plus / Minus target: +3,215
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 140
Plus / Minus target: +20
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Nov 5, 2024
Tuesdays are usually the busiest day of the week for me, but I have managed to get everything I wanted done, on top of all the other stuff, so I am pretty pleased about that. Hopefully that can continue for the other 51 Tuesdays I will be running this challenge.
I’m not actually feeling great this evening, I’ve got a headache and generally not well so this isn’t going to be a long post. Hopefully I will be feeling up to writing more tomorrow.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 21
Production
Words written today: 1,054
Words written total: 40,170
Plus / Minus target: +3,170
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 21
Minutes total: 118
Plus / Minus target: +18
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
