As the title might suggest, I'm one of the thousands and thousands of people around the world who are going to be participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November. And I'm more than a bit nervous to be honest. I'm nervous because I've only tried to write something longer than a 4-6K word … Continue reading NaNoWriMo – What have I gotten myself into?
Month: October 2017
My Stats
So I've been talking a lot about deliberate practice lately, and I wanted this blog to focus, at least partly, on the way I use deliberate practice to improve my fiction writing. That of course requires that I actually sits down and does some writing. So how much time do I actually manage to practice? … Continue reading My Stats
Perfect Practice
Keeping in line with my earlier post about Deliberate Practice, I found this cool little TEDx talk (see below) about how a high level pianist practices. It illustrates nicely how it's not just the amount of time you spend practicing that counts but also how you practice. Worst case, you could be practicing bad habits, … Continue reading Perfect Practice
Dennis Danver’s Penelope Waits
I just read a great short story over at Apex magazines site. Dennis Danver's Penelope Waits is perhaps a bit slow and on the long-winded side of where I like my short fiction, but man does it have voice. The narrative voice is excellent, and I was completely pulled in by all Cindy's trivial problems. … Continue reading Dennis Danver’s Penelope Waits
Deliberate Practice In Detail
I've been rambling a bit about deliberate practice and how I try to apply to my writing. So I think it's time I go into a little more detail about what exactly deliberate practice is. Unlike play, deliberate practice isn't inherently enjoyable. There's no instant gratification. So you got to have the discipline to sit … Continue reading Deliberate Practice In Detail
Deliberate Practice and the Dan Plan – part 2
Last time I promised a look at how apply deliberate practice to writing fiction, and bit more details about why the Dan Plan failed. So here goes. The often repeated writing advice out there is probably Write a lot. But if you listen to pro writers such as Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, or Dean … Continue reading Deliberate Practice and the Dan Plan – part 2
Deliberate Practice and the Dan Plan – part 1
I've mentioned briefly in previous blog posts how important I think it is to practice the right way if you want to excel at your craft. And that was actually my primary reason for starting this blog. I wanted to use it as a way of documenting my own progress and set-backs and to show … Continue reading Deliberate Practice and the Dan Plan – part 1
Toby Backman 