Anyone writing a book??

BoM, we're just using the exercises from creative writing books to help us get going!

Still haven't managed to do the first one yet

Yeah what's the excercise, I'll have a go.
I think I might be like you pillowcase, I have to force myself to explain things more...have to remember that people reading it won't be mind readers or people who know me and just know what I mean....

Reading over some things I've written and I cringe

Is this like a lesson thread then??
Exercises????

I'll read it if you want. Haven't read the whole thread tho so no idea what you're talking about[clueless]

OK, I did the exercise about the window and found it a good way to get writing. The results are so unexciting i ain't posting it

but i'll self-analyse:

so easy to write 300 words.
I edited it and it was better, it could do with another thorough rewrite but i'm not really bothered.

I couldn't stick to one simple idea but wanted to bring in the person's past etc.

I have a problem slowing down when I write, i just want it to happen and can't be bothered with the descriptive stuff.

I once went to a creative writing course and the teacher commented that I'm one of the rare people whose writing needs a bit of padding, most people write reams and need to pare down!

OK gonna browse through a creative writing book and find another exercise. Anyone want me to post it?

Tell me about it.
Started one years ago and on chapter 7, but can't seem to get back to it as is too much to do to get back to the stage where I can just sit and write.

Have started a new project, but get so little time to do it. By evening I'm too tired and don't want to force it and write crap

I did some writing yesterday every chance I got all day. Produced two pages of a second draft. It seemed slow work and I'm impatient now, I just want to get on with it but too many children needing attention !

am bumping this

I read quite a bit of black lace and it is rather simple isn't it.Hopefully I will be able to get to my stories soon as at moment are in a box that I can't get at unless I sort other stuff.
Thanks for the offer might just do that.

Singingmum, I am a regular MNer who has namechanged for obvious reasons.
I wrote some once and sent it off to Black Lace and got a really favourable reaction (the editor phoned me up and said it was good and please would I write the rest of the novel) but I was starting a degree at that point, for which I got funding, so I didn't need to take it further financially and decided not to do it so as to focus on the degree.
This was in the early days of Black Lace and I get the feeling they have moved on a lot since then - the more recent BL stuff is a lot less pot-boilerish than it used to be. Hence I doubt I'd be good enough these days.

I am happy to read/comment on yours - CAT me if you would like me to (hopefully this name will still work to get CATs even if I change back to my usual name).

I found it hilarious to write and also so straightforward compared with 'literary' fiction because it is quite obvious what effect you are trying to have on your readers and you don't need to agonise over whether it is important or original, just have a laugh with it. And unlike romance fiction, which is very prescriptive, the Black Lace editors are a lot more open.

Have written a few pieces (just short ones) but hard to get opinions as is extremely rude stuff.My mother won't even touch the paper so to speak and she is normally my sounding board

You could always try it singingmum! One of the authors I went to see the other week said he'd started by writing stories for mags like Jackie & M&B type stuff!

I do have poems I don't think I will ever have published.Way too personal.
Has anyone ever tried to write black lace style stuff?(they are the ones you buy in A.Summers)I actually think for me that it is some of the easier stuff to come up with

I've written poems but I don't want anyone to see them

singingmum, I was afraid of that too and then it happened but it was ok,
criticism is painful but necessary and once I recovered (and once I get round to it) I can use what I had to learn.
That book I made was very personal and like a baby to me, friends and family found it delightful but it obviously wasn't commercial.

I've gone back and looked at my current book and after being afraid to touch it but stuck on it, I now am ready to tear it apart and do a better, more complete draft...as soon as I've done the dishes, changed that nappy, sorted that heap......

lol pillowcase, I keep putting it off too!

hey this thread is sending my mind into overdrive.

planning.

I'm thinking that I'll do some exercises from now until the end of the school hols, and then set to really writing in sept (first time all 3 kids will be gone to school, ds for mornings only)
... and obviously work on my ideas over the summer too ...

i really hope this thread keeps going. as i said before i'm going to do pudding's exercise, i'm going to.... as soon as I .....

I seem to have this unreasonable fear of being told it's no good and to just give up.I have shown work to people like friends and family who I know would tell me if it's shite but so far all I have is people telling me they like it.I really must try now though as I have wanted to since I could read.

I made a childrens book with my ds1 years ago. I sent it to 3 or 4 publishers and I got a couple of really nice rejections
Then I sent it to a friend of a friend of a friend 'in the know' to look at and she tore it to shreds. There were so many points that I may aswell start again with that one. I would still like to make it work somehow but need more experience I think, so I'll go back to that one when I've done more other stuff!
Getting rejections isn't too bad anyway.

I'll see what I can do.
The odd thing is I have had poetry printed but only by such people as poetry.com etc. and one or two others .I don't seem to mind sending that off.
Wish me luck.I'll let you know if I do it and when the rejection slip appears

OK Singingmum, we are going to get you to send something off to someone.

Your mission is to get a rejection slip, preferably several. You know that no-one can ever be a proper writer until they have had loads of rejection slips. Everyone knows about J.K.Rowling being turned down by loads of agents. Sylvia Plath used to get them for Ted Hughes (ie she was doing a lot of the work of sending off his poems).

You have got to get one.

It won't take you long - if you have some stories you have completed you just need to print a couple out and send them to a likely-looking publisher or agent (look in Writers Handbook). No cheating by sending something to someone completely inappropriate, of course - the rules of the game have to be that they do actually consider the type of work you are sending them.

The odds are that it will just be a pre-printed rejection slip, but you never know - it might just say something like 'although your manuscript showed some promise....'

Up for the challenge????

ps alternatively you could enter something in a competition - that would count instead.

need guts because of low confidence.I write quite a bit when I can although haven't had much chance lately.Been rather busy with everything else.
Anyway am going to try to make time for this.Might help to be able to get others opinion for all of us as might encourage each other to work at it

Can I join? I can't write when I'm happy but this year is providing me with some angst to suqeeze those creative juices? Dh and I have come up with a fab screenplay idea....we both need a serious prod though.

I keep writing short stories but I seem to lack the staying power (or commitment for anything longer.

What about creating an online writing group with something like yahoo or google groups? Or are people happy to keep it on MN?