snippets - week two

Since this was my first Book-in-a-Week, I thought I would manage to write every day, but I still missed two right in the middle of the week. I think it's just about the need to take a notebook with me everywhere and make time to write.  But I did write 50 pages on Friday (my goal for the whole week), so that made up for it.

first book-in-a-week

Tomorrow I get to start my first challenge on Book-in-a-Week! If you haven't heard of it, it isn't necessarily writing a book in a week--though I'm sure you could if you wanted to and were really committed. Anyway, it happens one set week out of every month. To participate, you set yourself a page goal (minimum of 10) and then try to stick with it. Like NaNoWriMo, you have a community of writers all trying to do the same thing you are (or similar, depending on what each person's goal is) at the same time, so you can all rally together and support each other.

I'm very excited for it. I've been looking for a good way to find that writing push other times of the year than November, and this looks like it's just that. I set the goal of 50 pages, which takes me to 1750 words per day. I've already been trying for 1000 a day, so I hope it won't be too hard to get that extra three pages written.

Being me, I wanted to try for an insanely high goal, but then I remembered the part where I have school and a semi-job and will also be doing the Artist's Way challenge on that site at the same time, and grew some sanity. Still, one of these months I want to try for 200 pages or more, because I'm sure I could do it if I just pushed (and didn't have other obligations). Last NaNo, I managed 15,000 words one Sunday.

So anyway, expect updates on this, either sometime during the week, or next Sunday/Monday. I'm also planning on posting a bit about my photography at some point, so stay tuned for that as well! :)

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Listening to: Sleeping Sun by Nightwish. One of my first favourites by this band.

snippets - week one

A new 'feature' I'm trying out on my blog is posting little snippets of what I've written each day (since I'm once again trying for a daily writing goal). However, posting one every day would be a pain, so I'll be putting a group of them up once a week (probably on Sunday nights, since I say the week starts on Monday). This is probably the best way to see what I'm working on, and I'll try not to put up any major spoilers for my stories. :)

So here's this week's writing snippets! All writing is copyright (C) Danica West and not to be reused without permission. Though it's all first draft stuff, so why anyone would steal it is beyond me. :D

taking back my real name

About a year ago, this blog (and most of my online profiles) went through a big change. Namely, I stopped using my real name, and instead adopted the online persona of Gwendydd ar Adain.

I did this for several reasons; one small one was the blogs I was keeping at that point weren't very professional, and I didn't want them showing up on employer searches. Also, I was just a bit worried about how much of myself I was putting on the internet. I wanted to try out being me without the consequences of being me in real life (a big part of this is my being queer and living in Mormon Utah). So I switched over to Gwen.

However, lately I've been thinking about this more and more. I'm a writer, my name is going to be my brand, and an online presence is very important for writers in today's market. So why would I hide behind a pseudonym that I don't intend to put on my stories?

So from now on, I'll be using my real name. And I hope to one day post here that you can find stories under that name in a magazine or on a website, or that my novel will be in bookstores soon. Just look for Danica West.

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Listening to: Astronaut by Amanda Palmer. Writer that I am, I don't think words can express how much I love this song.

another check on the bucket list

Quite a bit has happened since that last very boring post. One thing: I've decided that blogging just to blog, especially when my blog has "rarely updated" in the title, is silly. If I can't take the time to make what I'm saying make sense, or at least make it amusing, why post at all?

My attempt at humor (click to make it bigger).

Anyway, I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet, but here it is: This July, I went to a writers' retreat for my writing group. I had a goal in mind, but I had no idea if I would be able to reach it. "Shoot for the stars and you at least won't shoot yourself in the foot" was firmly in my mind.