I am posting my Twitter #WIPchat hostings because I feel it is important that no writer feel left out.  There is always a writer facing what you do... Share your own answers in the comments. 

October 13, 2019

Question 1 : When you write, do you have a word count goal or just write as you much as you feel?

Answers:

I tend to stick to word counts. I need schedules. So, yeah, I need to know my word count goals

I write when I have time. If words are flowing well, I stop when it's time to go to bed so I can get up and do my day job without yawning!

A1. I write until it feels done. I must come to a logical stopping point. An end of a chapter or essay.

I write until I hit a natural stopping point, usually a scene or chapter break. I try to stop knowing what the next part/paragraph/event is going to be so I can dive back into it the next day. 

Question 2 : Have you ever done a word count goal challenge like which is 50K words in 30 Days, or the , 85,000 words in 90 days, or the 20/20 twenty prompts in twenty day?

Question 3 : Do you love them or hate them? Do you find organized writing goal events relaxing, inspiring, or stressful?

Answers : 

A3 I enjoy them but I am a very goal oriented person and I find them inspiring to share achievements with other writers.

A3: I just don't do them because they're not for me as they don't help me at all. Not sure I feel anything more than that about them.

Stressful. I challenge myself a bit too much, to the detriment of the rest of my life. The house starts crumbling, the kids and cats go feral, everyone lives off cold veggie dogs and cereal. November isn't pretty when I do NaNoWriMo. 

I did 10 years ago; finished a crime ms that took me to the UK Debut Dagger & the finals for Canada's Unhanged Arthur. The pace was unsustainable with overall health but it got my current series started

Question 4 : If you could suggest your own writing group event for anything: word count, theme, genre, anything - what would you encourage writers to try for a period of time?

Answers:

A4: I'd prefer to do something XXXX did once. 4 images were posted, and you had to write a 1k story about one of them. I might extend the word limit, but that allows writers to find something they feel they can do without the pressure of anything else

~~~~Image prompt write-a-thon sounds awesome.

Write outside your usual POV/tense comfort zone. Never written prese t tense? 1st person with an unreliable narrator? Try it. Challenging ourselves helps us grow as writers. 

~~~~So at TENSE tense Writing Event, that sounds interesting...

A4. One of my group mates suggested we take a week and write something outside of our typical genres. Might be fun to try.

~~~~SO genre bingo - fun!

Question 5 : Have you ever given up on a writing goal because you got blocked or fell behind?

Answers

A5 I once switched projects 5 days into because even though I had the planning and characters and world built, I couldn't make the story move forward. The second project just exploded out and I made the 50K count.

A5: Yes, because that's how I realized that the goal was becoming a problem. When I managed to get myself to stop trying to meet that goal, it got a lot easier.

I have one story/series I need to get back to. I started writing it in 1st person and decided I hated it. So, I need to rewrite it sometime in my usual 3rd person. Otherwise, I have no projects I haven't finished/worked on. They're all on writing when I have time or enough scenes to get started.

Yes. I don't really block, but life tends to get in the way. Health issues, kids, etc. have all made me push back self-imposed goals or give up on anthology sub deadlines. I couldn't write during the summer. Too many kid activities. They're all in school now for the first time and I'm making real progress without having to stay up half the night.

~~~~~I feel that. sometimes feels like a wall between my writing and me.

A5. Since I don't set goals, no. I have given up on novels and stories because they weren't working and I couldn't figure out how to make them work.

Oct 27 - Coming soon