Okay, something is afoot at the Circle K.
And here on this blog.
I’m just warning you.
So get ready.
Now it’s time for the writing challenge. We want you to look at a part of your manuscript (five pages or so) that’s giving you trouble.
#1. Think about this section. You have ten minutes to close your eyes and think. Think whatever it is you need to about this part of your WIP.
#2. Now, set a timer. You have 30-45 minutes to write–from scratch–this piece over again.
#3. Use every cliche, every adverb, every icky tag, you can. We WANT you to. Just write, straight, for the allotted time.
#4. Set the piece aside after your session is over.
#5. Tonight go back and look at your section and rewrite, clean things up, polish.
#6. Post how this helped the piece and the trouble you were having. Or maybe how it didn’t help.
Throwing Up Words 
OH MY. My comment is the first! That NEVER happens! Do I win anything? No? Oh, well. Here’s my question. I’m not liking my WIP. I want to start over with something COMPLETELY different, and SO I plan to accept your challenge and raise it by creating the seed of scene that’s in my head as you’ve ordered.
Acceptable?
Thanks from Renae
😉
I’m so glad you have decided to do something. I hope the steps help. 🙂
Now, Renae, I do have a question for you. Why are you no longer interested in your WIP?
Do you mind telling here?
Carolwhocan’thelpbutbeinterested
The one I’ve lost interest in is the one about a mother’s suicide. It’s a tough write. Not that I will forever abandon it. I just wonder if this is the book I should be writing right now. I discussed my reasons on my “writing” blog: thewritegroove.wordpress.com if you have time to read the “back-story”.
Cute KarenMKrueger shared a nice comment there that helped me think about this decision.
I also have the historical novel WIP I like AND should write as the 100th anniversary of that tragedy is fast approaching. (It’s the one you read with lots ‘o dialect interspersed.)
And then I have the “seed” of a paranormal story that involves – duh.Duh.DUH – the pre-existence. (OoooooOOOOoooooo.)
Sorry you asked? BUT thanks for that. I just love ya for it!
Okay–I know what it’s like to write a hard book. Just remember–every book gets to a really hard part, Renae. Anne Dee and I are both in hard parts of our novels. So–keep in mind that every novel can get really, really crummy.
This is the reason so many people have so many starts and so few finished books.
Just a heads up, Cutie! You know better than I do about your WIP.
This sounds so insecure, but sometimes I think I need someone to say: “R. You can do this! You have the smarts, the drive, and the talent. NOW! Go to it.”
Your excellent reply just might do that for me. Thanks again! (And it’s nice to know that at age 62, I’m still considered a cutie! :D)
Especially a Cutie!
So what will you do, Renae?
Move on or keep going?
Keep on “keeping on.” You convinced me that if I CAN get past this hard novel, I’ll be more likely to finish this one AND more. Otherwise, I may just turn into one o’ them UNfinishers! Yikes.
Thanks s’much, writing friend! rbs
Well, I’ll tell you one thing – since I did a version that was what NOT to do it was a lot easier to fix the real stuff. And writing badly made me figure out what was happening in the scene instead of worrying about actual prose. PLUS it made me feel better about what I’d already been writing (and struggling with) which, in comparison, really wasn’t that bad. 🙂
So thank you!
You are a fabulous writer, Melissa.
I’m glad not worrying helped you work through something.
Are you getting much fiction done?
Most definitely! I think I’m averaging 7k a week right now… I have found that a lot of my not-writing comes to do from that worrying, which is silly but I guess that’s the way that I work. So that is what I am fixing now!
I’m going to have to use this exercise for other scenes that I am having trouble with. It really did seem to help. (At first I was “meh” about it because of the extra work, but once I convinced myself that writing more was just more practice and therefore a GOOD thing – like sketching – it came easily.)