Twice Fortnightly: What I’ve been up to this past week.

Inspired by the lovely Zee Southcombe and her “Week the Was” posts I’ve decided to do a weekly update every Monday, detailing what I’ve been up to (in terms of writing) during the past week. I used to do a weekly post on my old, non-writing blog and I quite enjoyed that, so I think I will enjoy this too. I find that having a “regular feature” is a good way to keep a blog current, especially when you’re still sort of new. Additionally, I have a feeling that reporting my progress on a weekly basis will have a positive effect on my productivity. It’s a sort of childishness, perhaps, but for me knowing that there are people out there who can see my progress (or, horror of horrors, lack thereof) is a powerful motivator. It’s part of, though far from all of, the reason why NaNoWriMo and such project are really useful for me. This regular installment will be called Twice Fourthnightly, partially because I couldn’t think of a good name, but mostly because I laughed for a solid 5 minutes when my boyfriend suggested it.

So what have I been up to this past week?

Well, I’ve mostly been prepping for Camp NaNoWriMo which, as you may know, begins tomorrow (or, technically, in about half an hour). I am something between a planner and a so called pantser; I don’t like to go into a month of drafting blind, but I generally I only have a vague idea of how things will unfold rather than a detailed outline. I feel relatively well-prepared this time around, but still very nervous since I’m trying my hand at paranormal romance which is not at all my usual genre.
I also try to do a little writing every morning and every evening, even if it’s just a few lines. Apart from two days in early June, I’ve done so every day this year. I keep this habit partially because I want writing to be a daily thing and not an occasional thing, and partially because writing a tad every day lets me write down my impressions (thoughts, feelings, dreams) while they’re still “fresh”, and turn them into a tiny scene that I can tuck away and use at some later point. So sometimes I write snippets from stories I’m working on, but sometimes I just write snippets. This week I’ve mostly been working on a piece of flash fiction, and what might be the beginning to a fantasy piece of unknown length.
Lastly, I’ve done the writing exercises for chapter 6 of One Year to a Writing Life. In fact, I did them earlier today, and I’ll be posting about the chapter later in the week.