Promptly Questioned

Promptly Questioned
300 questions for the fiction writer to answer

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Just Shut Up and Do It


 

No, the title's not meant for you, it's meant for me. I'm having a huge procrastination situation. I'm in the process of trying to find a way to earn a little extra money online by writing, but I'm not having much luck. Partly because I refuse to write for pennies, and partly because I'm good at sabotaging myself.

I've joined up with Fiverr and Upwork. I've created a few gigs on Fiverr, but it's Upwork that I spend the most time at. I look through the job listings on a regular basis, but I'm not all that impressed. I'm shocked at the number of people who want to hire a ghostwriter for a 20K-40K book and only want to pay a half-cent to a penny per word. Um, yeah...no.

First of all, I'm a short story writer. I've tried to write novels, more than once. I've done NaNoWriMo on a couple of occasions and actually hit my target once. But I quickly realized that I didn't have the patience or attention span to do novels. I write short stories because they're, well, short.

I read a great article on Medium titled Why Fiction Writers NEED to Write Short Stories. Author Cameron Thomson goes into detail about how and why short stories are a must for anyone who writes fiction. It really hit me. Though most of it was stuff I already knew, it still resonated with me. Then I got an idea. 

Instead of writing a whole book for someone else, write one for me. And rather than doing a complete novel, do a short story collection. If I can write ten different stories of between 1,500 and 2,500 words each, I would have the equivalent of a novella. I did, however, look into the word count needed and found it's not as cut-and-dried as you'd think. One place says a novella should be a minimum of 10,000 words, while another says it's a minimum of 20,000 words. 

I guess I'll just go with the flow. Write the stories first, then worry about word count. I mean, without the stories, it's just a blank document. So, now I get to come up with ten ideas for stories. I'm not a planner, I usually just let the words flow, then go back and re-read it, hoping it makes sense.

The first thing I need to decide is whether it's going to be a book of fantasy stories, mysteries, or something more contemporary. From there, I'll come up with some interesting titles. Those will probably change as the stories come to life, but I have to start somewhere. 

I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me. But I'm doing it for me, not someone else. And rather than sit around and feel sorry for myself, I just need to shut up and do it. 

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Image by Pintera Studio from Pixabay 


Sunday, February 19, 2023

Sunday Free Write 2/19/23

 


I think it's time I did a free write here. I do a lot of free writing when I'm having issues getting inspired. I've had several weeks in a row that were less than fun and found it hard to be creative while in a funk. I'm working hard to get myself back to normal and back to writing on a regular basis.

If you look at the title of this piece, you'll see I'm calling it a SUNDAY free write. The reason for that is that I'm hoping to do this once a week. I know from experience that getting a lot of the junk out of my head helps in getting it all sorted out and into some form of semblance. 

I never know what I'm going to talk about in my free writing. It could be anything from the act of writing itself to a book I read (or tried to read). I might rant about something I read on Twitter or just jabber on and on, kind of like I'm doing now. It's not so much what I'm saying, just that I'm saying something.

When I first learned about free writing, there were rules. You were supposed to write constantly for a set number of minutes. Yea, I threw that rule out the window. I'd rather just write freely about the stuff in my head as it comes along. I feel like that dog in the movie Up. Squirrel!!!

If I do end up doing a free write every Sunday, I may have to come up with a list of topics to cover. Even after doing this for years, I have trouble focusing on a single topic. I'll have to see what I can come up with. Fair warning, I may come up with ideas that are so far off in left field, you'll think I've gone bonkers. It's okay, I have.

One of the things you'll never hear me discuss is politics. Nope, not my field of expertise. Not even something I feel comfortable discussing with friends and family. Some people get squeamish discussing bodily fluids or more intimate topics, but those don't normally bother me. Politics, however, makes my skin crawl.

A few of the things I may end up talking about are anything to do with ancient history, mythologies, unsolved mysteries, ways of releasing our creative sides, and/or reviews of various places and things. Hey, look at that, I already started a nice list. And that's why I free write. 

The best part of free writing is you not only get stuff out of your head, you dig a little deeper inside yourself. You may realize things about yourself you hadn't realized before. It's so good for the soul. 

Well, I think that's it for this week. I will try to do this each week, but I make no promises. As soon as I make a promise, I'll break it. However, I will try.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something out there that inspires you. 

Until next time,
Christine

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Image created by Christine Graves on NightCafe


Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Night Cafe' Digital Art Studio

 


Priestess of Words created on NightCafe'

So, I went and did a thing. This old broad decided to do something "new" and tried my hand at this Digital Art thing. And guess what. I'm addicted...already. It's only been a few days, but I can't stop. It's actually pretty fun.

I checked out a few sites I found through Google, but just wasn't finding anything that struck my fancy. Then, I ran across a site called Night Cafe Studios. Oh, my stars, this place is awesome. I'm still in the learning stages, but I'm having fun checking stuff out.

I had no idea what I was doing but jumped in anyway. After a few trial runs, I sort of started figuring it out. My first attempt wasn't too bad, but it wasn't stellar. I called it Horse Cart. Okay, the truth is that I just typed in the words horse cart and this is what came out.

Horse Cart created on NightCafe'

One thing I do need to say up front is that each digital image requires a certain amount of credits. Users can purchase credit packages--though will have to deal with ads on their pages. However, users can subscribe and get credits every month without ads. There are several different subscription levels, depending on the number of images the user needs to create.

BUT...here's the thing. There is a way to earn credits. Actually, several ways. The cool thing about this site is that they offer a ton of ways to earn credits and network with other artists. Creating an account, tweeting your artwork, following and/or commenting, and publishing images to your profile are just a few of the ways to earn more credits. And the really cool thing is that you get badges each time you cross a milestone. Dude, I love the badges.

NightCafe' holds daily challenges/contests. On day one, artists can submit one creation centered around whatever that day's theme may be. It might be vampires, candles, or 3D images. Once in a while, they have a "no theme" day. Anything goes. 

On the second day, submission voting begins. The voting goes on throughout the day and the artists can see stats on how well their creation is doing. I submitted one of my creations to the 3D Image challenge yesterday and have been watching it off and on all day. As of the time of this writing, my submission has a 2.94 out of 5-star rating. Not bad for my first challenge.


Laughing Pickle Face created on NightCafe'

On the third day, totals are tallied and prizes are handed out. 1st prize is 250 credits, 2nd prize is 150 credits, and 3rd prize is 50 credits. You can also win credits if your creation lands in the top 5%, 10%, or 20% of votes. I still have a couple of hours before I know how well I did. I've already created and submitted my piece for tomorrow's voting. This place could totally get me in trouble.

I want to mention that the beautiful girl at the top of the page is our priestess. While playing around, I simply typed in Priestess of Words and she appeared. I actually got a little giddy. The sad thing is I'm not exactly sure what I did to make her happen. I've started following a few of the more experienced artists and trying to learn their secrets. 

I really am having a blast doing this. I've always wanted to draw and/or paint, but I am NOT an artistic person. However, this is something I can do and, if I can do it, anyone can. If you're on NightCafe', look me up. You can probably teach me a thing or two...or ten.

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