This exercise/tag gets you writing about what you know best - yourself - and writing quickly with the short answer format. It should be a perfect warm up and a great spark for your thoughts.
The “I� Question
I Said:
I Want:
I Wish:
I Hate:
I Miss:
I Hear:
I Wonder:
I Regret:
I Am Not:
I Dance:
I Sing:
I Cry:
I Am Not Always:
I Make With My Hands:
I Write:
I Confuse:
I Need:
I Should:
I Start:
I Finish:
Here’s the desk I spend most of my time on, because I’m a complete pc/internet addict like most of us 
It’s not always this clean and tidy (yes, this is tidy XD), usually there are papers and pens all over. As you can see, I’ve got a “Casino Royale” wallpaper, featuring Daniel Craig, the latest Bond (I’m a big 007 fan but I change it from time to time with other things I like) and pretty much what every person has on a pc desk ^^.
This is my regular desk, I’d like to spend more time on it but the pc steals a lot of time from me, even for writing. However, it’s where I keep some (not all) of my books, usually the ones I’m reading or about to read, some gifts I got and personal stuff (like perfumes, a Gandalf cup and that photo of my hubby :)). The long white thing is a rolled “Casino Royale” poster I got from a friend, I want to hang it in the back wall of the pc desk. This one is also not this tidy all the time, and I’m always moving thing from here to there. Yes, the books up there have fallen a few times XD. Oh, the light there is great for my night-reading cause the bed’s right next to it ^^.
This is where I have been doing most of my writing. I got rid of my traditional desk because I never sat at it. I really enjoy my comfortable orange chair, but it has zero back support, so that is why the pillows are there. This location in front of the television is perfect for watching The View because I do the recap as I watch the show.
Elisa was the very first to send me a picture of her space. Enjoy!
*ahem*
Bless this mess.
This is a picture of my desk in my office at home.
You might call my office my Fortress of Solitude, or call it My Lair, but let me tell you: it has a door that I can close. I pay extra rent for that privilege.
Anyway, you are lucky that you cannot see my floor in this image, as it is also a bit on the messy side. My cats knock things onto the floor, you see.
My dream desk would be the right height, and be a great deal larger, but this desk was given to me by my Nana. So, it remains in my office, and it does a great job of holding all of my stuff. It gives me a place to write in the one room of the house that is truly mine.
There isn’t an interview scheduled for today, but I’ve had three responses already to the call for pictures of your writing spaces, and I’m very excited to get posting them.
On a similar note, Elisa at The Book Stacks is calling for pictures of your favorite reading spots, which I plan to participate in.
If you’ve missed any of the author interviews, you can find them all here.
Wonder made a good point yesterday on the post about On My Desk in that I’d like to specialize in the spaces of writers/bloggers and the site focuses on other creative people.
So feel free to send me your spaces because I’d love to make this a regular facet of Fiction Scribe.
The next edition of the Scribes Blog Carnival is coming soon!
If you’d like to share your writing experiences and get in on a little link love, go here, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and submit your post! You have until the last Thursday of this month to submit, coincidentally the last day of the month altogether.
It’s a free out theme this month, so send in anything you like as long as it has to do with creative writing.
**All entries are reviewed by yours truly. I reserve the right to not include any material I deem inappropriate.
This is a reminder to let you know The Scribe, this site’s newsletter, is always open for your creative writing, your site advertising, and your subscription if you haven’t already done so.
Subscribe by clicking “contact me” under the About box to the right and sending me your email address. I’m happy to add you to the subscription list and send you back issues as well.
In starting my weight loss program, I have once again come to discover the importance of setting goals and rewarding yourself for those goals. I mentioned in a previous post about how to keep motivated:
3. This is so, so important: Acknowledge your triumphs. Athletes get medals, people get certificates… Why shouldn’t you give yourself something for achieving your word goal? If there are no rewards for you achieving your goal, then you’re probably soon going to be wondering what the point is. So take that bubble bath or go out to that movie. You set a goal and achieved it; reward yourself.
If you don’t acknowledge reaching your goals, then the point of setting them was…? Yes, to achieve them, but a lot of work with no reward(s) equals stress, lack of motivation, and feelings of uselessness.
Writers, like dieters, need to set goals which are hard enough to be considered challenges and get rewards that are equal to the work put in. When you’ve spent all night finishing your novel like my friend Sandi Kahn Shelton did, then reward yourself with a good cup of coffee, and extended sleep, and/or a day wandering around the house/flat/apartment with your pajamas on. You did the work, now take the relaxation.
A good idea is to set a list of goals, with a time frame if you so choose, and set rewards for those goals. Maybe a new pen for each chapter finished. A new candle when you get halfway through. Or perhaps you can hop on Ebay and buy that new action figure for your desk. (Paul can direct you to all the coolest toys.)
What I’m saying is that no one is going to be there to praise your every accomplishment except you. Reward yourself (without straying into overindulgence).
Finished your novel? Have a cupcake.
Then get editing.
If you’re anything like me, you love taking a peek at other creative people’s desks. I love looking to see what they have to inspire them and what they like to have in arm’s reach.
So when I found On My Desk, I was thrilled to peruse through the many entries they have there.
My husband just put together my new writing desk the night before last, and I finally have some personal touches on it. I’m planning on putting up a picture of it sometime, but I would love to do a post featuring the pictures of other writers and creative people.
Feel free to email me pictures (yes, more than one picture is fine!) of your creative space. Just put “Creative Spaces Pictures” in the subject line.
Yes, that’s right, Fiction Scribe is having its first-ever contest. In honor of getting married, Fiction Scribe will be holding the Spread the Love comment contest from May 16th to June 16th.
How it works:
*When you make a comment on Fiction Scribe, be sure to mention the name of one of your friends. Screen names are acceptable & encouraged. (Only one friend per comment.)
*Invite the friends you recommend to come post a comment on Fiction Scribe and make sure they mention being your friend (husband/wife/brother/sister/etc) somewhere in the comment.
There are three prizes available: three $15US Amazon.com gift certificates.
One will go to the person who recommends the most people who then leave a comment.
Of those recommended by the above winner, the person who comments the most will win a prize.
The 3rd certificate will be a random draw from all the comments made in the contest period.
Some important notes:
*You must be willing to give me your email address so I can send you the certificate.
*You cannot accept a certificate on your friend’s behalf.
*You cannot win more than one certificate.
*Any spam comments will be deleted.
You may not have missed me, but you certainly missed pet peeves…
Or not. Moving on.
I am so, so tired of wandering around looking at writing sites and finding a multitude of sites dedicated to answering the same publisher and/or agent guidelines over and over. I can understand if you want to clarify something like a technical term or the like with someone who knows, but my teeth truly grind when I see someone ask something like this:
“The guidelines say to submit three consecutive chapters, but can I submit chapters three, nine, and eleven?”
Yes, I’ve seen it.
First, it’s not “can I” it’s “may I”. Secondly? Open a Word document, type in “consecutive”, and press shift and F7. (I’m assuming if you have a question like this about the guidelines, you don’t have an actual hard copy of a dictionary or thesaurus.) In none of the alternatives does it even hint that “three consecutive” is anything other than three in a row or three chapters - one after another.
Again, I understand clarifying something important and not obvious with someone who knows what they are doing, but do you really need clarification beyond your dictionary for what the word “consecutive” means?
Your manuscript is not special. Your manuscript is not a best-seller. The day your manuscript is special and/or a best-seller is when you’ve:
*Been accepted by the publisher/agent.
*Had a agent and/or copy-editor(s) go through it.
*Have your book on the stores shelves.
*Had people actually pick up your book and want to buy it.
If you let the experts get back to their jobs and stop answering questions about exactly what consecutive chapters means and why you absolutely shouldn’t send your manuscript on colored paper, then they’ll get through their piles of manuscripts faster and just might see yours some day.
And now for 200 Words from someone who has been waiting very patiently.
The plates are so white they’re almost blue. Miranda pulls one after another until she counts eight. The chairs seem too far apart (her grandmother added the center leaf). It’s been an hour since she saw him see her. Against her will, her heart strains to beat loudly enough for him to hear. Closing her eyes as if to shut off the rhythmic hammering of her pulse, she feels for the cold tines of a fork and places it underneath a scalloped rim.
Her saliva turns metallic and she hates her own guts for desiring her father’s love. She pulls eight glasses out of the cupboard and places them on the center of the cloth-covered table. The last two glasses have a hint of dusty dullness. Detecting his gaze, she thinks he is looking. She refuses to look up. Her skin feels like it will slip off her bones and she remembers she is 34 years old. But he is looking.
For a few nights after his phone calls, she dreams vivid fantasies and nightmares. As time passes between their encounters, his calls become less frequent. She rarely returns the messages.
The present tense is not something I’m used to, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you can pull it off without stumbling, confusing the reader, or sounding awkward.
Another warning about this to be careful with your tense; even present tense stories can have past tense words in there. Your last paragraph sounds like it should be in past tense. Without having more to read, though, I can’t know if this is the case or if you’ve simply jumped from dinner to a few nights later.(Which I hope you haven’t because you’ve given the reader no warning at all.)
“Miranda pulls one after another until she counts eight.� – This is missing something like “out of the cupboard� or “off the shelf�. Without it, she’s simply pulling plates, which sounds like she could be out doing clay pigeons with someone.
The first four sentences read too choppy and cold to me. Vary your sentence length unless you’re aiming to make the reader uncomfortable. Even then, you risk losing your readers.
You are certainly hitting a “disturbing� note with this beginning. The reader doesn’t know exactly what kind of love the main character desires of her father and becomes hooked into finding out despite not wanting to. Try being a bit smoother with your sentences and expand more on the physical. Is she sweating under his gaze? Feeling cold? Blushing?
Would I keep reading? Revised, yes. I want to know what’s going on.
From the people who brought you NaNoWriMo now comes the June event: Script Frenzy.
From June 1st to the 30th, your goal will be to write a 20,000 word screenplay. What is a screenplay? Well, direct from Script Frenzy’s Intro to Playwriting:
So, you’re going to write a stage play. First, what is a play? Basically, it’s a blueprint for a stage production. It’s performed by actors and directed, designed, and perhaps choreographed by others. As a collaborative art, a script is the cornerstone of a production from which the actors, designers, and directors all take their cues.
Read the full article for directions of how to write a script, what to write and what not to write, and how to set up your scenes.
Now, I don’t usually write plays. I’ve written one play for my high school drama club and that was about four years ago.
However, were someone who is participating in this event or plans to participate to challenge me, I could hardly refuse, now could I?
Just to say…
Hello, hello! I’m back and settling back into Fiction Scribe with Mr. Scribe at my side as my husband. The event was a wonderful one that came and went all too quickly. Thank you all for your well wishes. They are much appreciated.
The challenges are just beginning, though, as I attempt to change my name from across the world, work with my husband on getting my spousal visa, and start my journey to lose weight. (I’m starting with a little fasting to detox, so forgive me if I get a bit cranky between now and Wednesday.)
I hope you all enjoyed the guest bloggers who did me the honour of posting on my blog. It was a pleasure to get to know all of you and read your thoughts on writing.
I’m am ready as ever to get back into the wordplay. My new desk is being assembled by my wonderful other half as we speak, and we’re putting it in the spare room, which gets all the best sun. (Those who write like me will understand the benefit of large amounts of sunshine.)
But enough about me, let’s get to it!
Is your spelling less than stupendous? Has getting published gone from possibility to problem? Are you alienating your readers with alliteration? Here at Fiction Scribe you can find what you need for prompts, publishing opportunities and advice, fun wordplay, and more. Use Fiction Scribe for the encouragement you love, the information you want, and pointing out the mistakes writers make that you need. Fiction Scribe: Your source for everything writing.
Fiction Scribe Author(s)
» JM
