All right, so I've been away for while and it's more than due time for another set of writing stats. This time for December, the month where I finally managed to finish of my NaNoWriMo novella, which means all of my writing time was spend on story writing instead of doing exercises. December was also … Continue reading December Stats
NaNoWriMo Stats
It's time for another stat update, this time for November, NaNoWriMo season. So the stats will be covering one month this time plus to additional days just to get coverage all the way back to the last update. Not surprisingly, I didn't get to spent all that much time on writing exercises during NaNoWriMo. Actually, … Continue reading NaNoWriMo Stats
Finishing NaNoWriMo – What I learned
So I won NaNoWriMo. I did my 50.000 words and a little extra in just 29 days. And you know what? It feels great. That being said, the feeling's a bit tainted. I set out planning on finishing the story I'd loosely plotted out within the the 30 days, which required me to go beyond … Continue reading Finishing NaNoWriMo – What I learned
NaNoWriMo Update
So NaNoWriMo started out great. I've been ahead of schedule since day one, and I still technically am -- with 80 words. The weekend has been rough on the writing process though. There's been a company dinner with a subsequent party one day and a football match (that's soccer for the Americans) with friends and … Continue reading NaNoWriMo Update
Stat Update
I've been so busy with NaNoWriMo lately that I haven't really been updating the blog. Well, it's time to fix that. Though, it'll be a short update. In my last stat update I'd reported on spending just above 33 hours on what I consider deliberate writing practice during a three week period. Now it's been … Continue reading Stat Update
NaNoWriMo – What have I gotten myself into?
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?
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
Toby Backman 