I've learned so much from this forum, MJ's book, and the writer threads here, so first I want to thank all you helpful writers who answer questions and post helpful links. I've been a lurker for a while and I've realized it's time to take more action and get started on my own writing journey. I plan to use this journal to keep me on track.
My Progress So Far
At the beginning of the year, I was in credit card debt to the tune of over $10K. This debt was from living for a little over a year with low to no employment and not being good with money. Around April I moved in with my parents to get a handle on my debt. I also changed my habits during that time and started throwing a lot of money at my debt. On July 18th, I paid off the last of my debt. Yay! Now I am saving up for my emergency fund and a laptop for writing.
Over the weekend I took a free online course with YNAB (You Need a Budget software program) and I won their software! So I am now able to see my budget regularly, and keep track of expenditures, which will really help keep me accountable toward my savings goals.
Lenovo Laptop
I am going to buy a Lenovo laptop which I plan to use for my writing. I want to put Scrivener on it. I'm really excited about this because I envision carrying it around and getting a lot of writing in. I have a netbook but unfortunately it bit the dust and freezes regularly now. I've decided to go with the following for whichever laptop I get in the future:
Intel i7 Processor (so it will be very fast)
at least 8 GB RAM
750 GB - 1TB hard drive
Photoshop or Photoshop Elements on it (so I can at least attempt my own covers)
I also have a mini mac but occasionally it gets slow due to memory issues. I plan to get the Lenovo once I've saved up for it and researched exactly which one I want, so probably in a month or two.
My Plan
My plan is to use my mini mac and notebooks to organize my ideas and create an outline for my next novel, and once I have the Lenovo, start writing it. I wrote a novel in 2012 for Nanowrimo which I consider practice. I have been concentrating on trying to learn more about craft and I can see flaws in my first novel that I wasn't aware of when I wrote it. For instance, I come from more of a script-writing background and I tend to lose the narration/character insight when I write dialogue. Another thing I am still learning is POV. I took a good character creation class by one of my favorite authors and she opened my eyes to POV and head-hopping. So for my next novel, I want to watch that.
Another thing I am doing is trying to read more novels. I am generally picky and like either gripping stories or a certain genre that I plan to write in. Unfortunately in that genre there is a lot of boring, wordy, or otherwise bad writing. OK, maybe not a lot, because there's also a lot of good writing in that genre. Anyway, I think it spells opportunity.
I want my writing to be good. I know one thing that keeps me reading, that I have read about in my writing books also, is the idea that the writer keeps questions going in the reader's head, so the reader is always wondering what happens next. That is also something I want to work on, and I think that will come through if I am diligent in the outline stage of my novel.
This has gotten a bit long. I am going to buy a notebook today and use it to jot down ideas for characters, stories, names, etc. That is my first baby step toward getting more writing into my life. I will concentrate on idea-creation for the time being. Try to cut my inner critic out and let my muse free.
Happy writing everyone!
My Progress So Far
At the beginning of the year, I was in credit card debt to the tune of over $10K. This debt was from living for a little over a year with low to no employment and not being good with money. Around April I moved in with my parents to get a handle on my debt. I also changed my habits during that time and started throwing a lot of money at my debt. On July 18th, I paid off the last of my debt. Yay! Now I am saving up for my emergency fund and a laptop for writing.
Over the weekend I took a free online course with YNAB (You Need a Budget software program) and I won their software! So I am now able to see my budget regularly, and keep track of expenditures, which will really help keep me accountable toward my savings goals.
Lenovo Laptop
I am going to buy a Lenovo laptop which I plan to use for my writing. I want to put Scrivener on it. I'm really excited about this because I envision carrying it around and getting a lot of writing in. I have a netbook but unfortunately it bit the dust and freezes regularly now. I've decided to go with the following for whichever laptop I get in the future:
Intel i7 Processor (so it will be very fast)
at least 8 GB RAM
750 GB - 1TB hard drive
Photoshop or Photoshop Elements on it (so I can at least attempt my own covers)
I also have a mini mac but occasionally it gets slow due to memory issues. I plan to get the Lenovo once I've saved up for it and researched exactly which one I want, so probably in a month or two.
My Plan
My plan is to use my mini mac and notebooks to organize my ideas and create an outline for my next novel, and once I have the Lenovo, start writing it. I wrote a novel in 2012 for Nanowrimo which I consider practice. I have been concentrating on trying to learn more about craft and I can see flaws in my first novel that I wasn't aware of when I wrote it. For instance, I come from more of a script-writing background and I tend to lose the narration/character insight when I write dialogue. Another thing I am still learning is POV. I took a good character creation class by one of my favorite authors and she opened my eyes to POV and head-hopping. So for my next novel, I want to watch that.
Another thing I am doing is trying to read more novels. I am generally picky and like either gripping stories or a certain genre that I plan to write in. Unfortunately in that genre there is a lot of boring, wordy, or otherwise bad writing. OK, maybe not a lot, because there's also a lot of good writing in that genre. Anyway, I think it spells opportunity.
I want my writing to be good. I know one thing that keeps me reading, that I have read about in my writing books also, is the idea that the writer keeps questions going in the reader's head, so the reader is always wondering what happens next. That is also something I want to work on, and I think that will come through if I am diligent in the outline stage of my novel.This has gotten a bit long. I am going to buy a notebook today and use it to jot down ideas for characters, stories, names, etc. That is my first baby step toward getting more writing into my life. I will concentrate on idea-creation for the time being. Try to cut my inner critic out and let my muse free.
Happy writing everyone!
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