Tag: Daily Writing Tips

The 1,000 Words a Day Project – The 1000/2000 Pledge

martin crosbie writing machineOne hundred and eleven days ago I undertook a personal challenge. I made a pledge to write one thousand new words a day. Every day. No matter what. I described how I was going to try to accomplish this in an article for Indies Unlimited right here. I’m pleased to tell you that as of today I have over one hundred and eleven thousand new words written. Since it’s gone so well I decided to expand on the challenge, which I have now renamed the 1000/2000 pledge.

In the past one hundred and eleven days I’ve written twenty blogs. Because of this accumulation of articles I’ve been able to blog for the BC Editor’s Association, Whistler Writers group (soon to be published), Book Reader’s Medallion (twice) and several others. I’ve offered my opinions on pricing, social networking, paying it forward (my favorite topic), the glut of eBooks on the market, and I put together a list of places where authors can access hundreds of thousands of images and photos for free. I referenced Rob Ford, the ex (I hope) mayor of Toronto. I wrote about how it felt to turn fifty last month. And, I even wrote a blog when the manager of my favorite football team, Manchester United, was fired. It’s been fun and it’s given me a break from the other stories I’ve been working on. Continue reading “The 1,000 Words a Day Project – The 1000/2000 Pledge”

The 1,000 Words A Day Project

typing smileyLast year I wrote and published three new books. I also taught a self-publishing workshop, spoke at numerous writers groups and festivals, gave a couple of talks at libraries, and I did a couple of book signings too. I thought I’d had a fairly productive year until I read Russell Blake’s recent blog. Russell has published twenty-five books in the past thirty months. I read one of his books last year; it was a good book.

My output is pretty good. I’ve had days where I’ve produced five thousand words but I’ve also had days where I’ve dogged it and produced zero words. When it’s “Go Time” and I need to complete a project I work day and night, so I know I can get the job done. But, I’m inconsistent. I have two new books and a revision of an existing book that I’m hoping to release in 2014. Those are commitments that I’ve made to readers and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to fulfill them. Granted, the muse isn’t always smiling, and that could potentially be a problem and hold me back, but I can usually find a way around that. My old writing teacher Ed Griffin used to tell me there is no such thing as writer’s block. Ed says that writing is a job and you just need to sit and get it done. I tend to agree with him. No matter how uninspired I’ve felt, when I really need to I can usually produce some fairly acceptable content. So, as I was planning my 2014 schedule I made a decision – I’m going to write a minimum of 1,000 words a day. Every day. No matter what. Continue reading “The 1,000 Words A Day Project”

A Treasure Trove of Miscellany

Here at Indies Unlimited, we scour the globe to bring you news of all kinds of doings, happenings, events and stuff like that. Here are a few interesting tidbits from around the old net.

First there is a period, then there is no period, then there is. It seems like the correct style for writing abbreviations is in flux. Daily Writing Tips answers questions about abbreviations.

My Bologna has a first name…If you haven’t heard of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair before, it’s kind of a big deal.

The MIT Technology Review discovered that Amazon has the data that all advertisers want—what millions of people are shopping for—and now it plans to use it. Probably for evil. Maybe not.

Pity for the Penguin? Publisher’s Lunch says maybe thing don’t look quite as rosy for Pearson as they are letting on.

The Business of Books has an interesting article on good reasons writers should consider submitting to lit mags.

Above the Foxhole

It’s good to poke your head up above the foxhole every once in a while and take a look at what else is going on in the world.

As always, the goings-on run the gamut from the wonderful to the weird.

First up, our own Martin Crosbie gets a nice hat tip in this article on Kindlegate over at Digital Journal.

Are you familiar with the term “back-formation?” According to Mark Nichol, of Daily Writing Tips,  “A back-formation is a new word produced by excising an affix, such as producing the verb secrete from the noun secretion.”

Mark says that while many back-formations eventually take their place in the lexicon, there are some newer ones that writers would be wise to avoid, at least in formal writing.

Book-to-movie is the new hotness. Well, maybe not that new. So, what’s coming down the pike? Publisher’s Weekly gives us a list of the 10 most anticipated book adaptations of 2013.

Are words more than characters used to convey meaning? Here’s a piece on the meaning of writing from the National Writing Project.

Last but not least, it looks like the jello is still squishing out from between the fingers of Amazon’s iron grip when it comes to policing reviews. The New York Times sees “swarm”  reviews used as a strategic weapon to attack books.