I recently found this site, and have been using it for a couple weeks now. I love it for helping me write daily. It’s a very clean and simple site that provides a place for daily writing, counts your words, and gives you points for achieving 750 words a day. For those of you that like to have a way to track what you’re doing, and get reminders by email that make you feel guilty if you skip a day of writing, this might just be the place for you. There is also this interesting analysis of your writing, and while the site owner provides a little disclaimer about how the analysis is performed, I love this aspect of it, whether it’s entirely accurate or not. So, if you want a place to dump your thoughts daily, try this out. You can export everything you’ve written so you can use it in other formats, and I think the site’s brilliance is in its simplicity. My longest streak is 5 days, and often my writing is meaningless, but it is one form of writing I’m able to do easily without expectations for myself other than to crank out words. I have had a few good chunks come out of it that I’ve used in other places later, too. Hope you like it. I’ll be back from Spokane tomorrow, and should be back to posting regularly again after that.
Links
More posts from around the blogosphere
Just a few links this week. Enjoy!
Michael Haynes wrote a great post reminding us to use our everyday life experiences in our writing. Read his example here.
Christine Zilka’s U is for Urgency is a compelling short memoir piece that blends humor with the reality that we never know when our time will be up.
This short piece, a written observation of a small corner of nature on a college campus, left me feeling relaxed. Thanks, Hayley!
This beginning to a series about Amy Elizabeth’s observations of a homeless man is fascinating. It reminded me of an evening I once spent with a homeless man in San Francisco. Check it out!
Inspiration in odd places
I used to frequent a website for entertainment when I had a few minutes to spare at work, and needed a mental break. Odd News always gave me something to laugh or puzzle about, and I was truly shocked at the number of odd news stories that originated in or around my home town, like this story about a man urinating on a police officer. Wouldn’t you know, this guy was in my high school graduating class!
I saw this headline (Arrest in mass tire slashings) on the SF Chronicle home page yesterday, and it reminded me that these ridiculous news stories can be great inspiration for developing quirky characters, or exposing some hidden neurotic desires that a character might never share openly, but secretly wishes he or she could act upon.
What might possess someone to become a serial tire-slasher? Did you have any idea that a person could be charged with “felony discharging bodily fluids at a public safety worker?” Digging into these and other odd news stories could yield some really fascinating and hilarious character content.
Great posts from around the blogosphere
Below are links to some of the posts I most enjoyed reading in the past week. Check them out!
Charlie Hale has such a graceful style about his writing. This post, Friends and Lovers: In Passing Years, is particularly eloquent, though that can be said about everything he writes. Charlie has a way of reaching right into your soul with his words.
Julie Farrar wrote a post about road trips that will get you reflecting on your favorite car travel memories.
Check out this Star War’s fan’s well-written take on changes to a classic and who really “owns” art, anyway. I spent some time reading through other posts Graham has made, and his writing is insightful and thought-provoking. Don’t miss it!
I can’t resist another homage to the 80s, this one on favorite songs.
I’ve read a few of The Wandering Atavist’s posts about his horrible luck with women, and this one is hilarious, as are the others.
Enjoy!
Great posts from around the blogosphere
I noticed on Junebug’s blog that on Sundays, she features blog posts she’s enjoyed from around the blogosphere. It seems like a great idea, so I’m going to steal it (thanks, Junebug) – not necessarily for every Sunday, but we’ll see. For this morning, though, here are some of the posts/blogs I’ve enjoyed the most over the past month:
The Wuc – The Wuc’s blog is the funniest thing I’ve read in as long as I can remember. If you’re not already reading this, do not waste another minute of your life without the sarcasm, wit, and brilliance of this hilarious blog. I recommend reading ‘About the Wuc’ and the descriptions of all the characters she writes about under ‘who the wuc is…’ before you dive into the posts. BTW, this is one of those blogs where it is absolutely worth your time to dig into the older posts. You’ll be doubled over and addicted before you know it.
jonellert – The Taming of the Ground Squirrel – This four-part story will leave you in stitches as jon describes his personal battle with an adorable ground squirrel that is tearing up his prized yard. A must-read. I’ve linked to part 4 of the series, but just follow the links back to part 1.
Bottle Caps and Broken Bits – Check out this brief bit of worldly advice. Simple, but oh, so wise.
And, finally, a few posts about the 80s, which I happen to believe trumps all in music and ridiculous fashions. This post on great 80s films took me back, as did this post on the origins of MTV.
Happy reading. I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I did!
east.bay.writer 