A Basket of Prompts

Pinterest is a wonderful, time-killing social media. And I adore it way more than I should. 

For those of you who already follow me on it, you know I have a board specifically for writing stuff. Shocking, I know. 

It is called The Write Life and if you follow that link, you can follow me on it. I post a lot of writing prompts and tips and all that jazz. Most of the time I even read the articles!

It was one of the first boards I created, so it also happens to be one of the larger boards as well. 

If you've been following me here, you are probably aware I plan to write a short story a month. I got this idea when I realized I will repin short story ideas and they just sit there. I do nothing with them.

That about to change. 

I'm creating a basket of writing prompts from the Pinterest board's prompts. 

How am I doing that, you ask? 

Well. I'm here to tell you. It was remarkably simple, although time consuming.

Step One: find a basket small enough to eventually hang (I want to attach it to a cork board and eventually hang both). 

I found this one at Target in the cheap stuff near the registers. It was $3 and the perfect size for what I wanted. 

Step Two: Find some old scrap paper that you've no idea what to with but don't want to toss or recycle. 

I found this old legal pad that had about eight pages left. Normally I use these to handwrite outlines, but this one doesn't have enough left for a full outline. I also have an abundance of mostly filled notebooks from back in my college days that I'll be employing for this project. (You can type everything up and then cut it down, but I like handwriting things so that's why I decided to do it this way).

Step Three: Write down prompts. 

I love handwriting things. Notes, outlines, letters (man, I would adore having a pen pal again XD), and basically anything. I kept switching between cursive and print but that's mainly because someone informed me recently that cursive is dying out and that made me sad.

Step Four: Tear the prompts into individual strips.

Technically you can cut them. I just didn't have scissors nearby. Plus sometimes I think I tear more precisely than I cut.

Step Five: Throw the prompts in the basket.

It's as simple as that. I've still got quite a few prompts to write down, but I have one more day to get everything together. My story a month starts in February. I think I'll start each month posting what the prompt is, and go from there.

How do you deal with all of the prompts/story ideas you've come up with or come across? 

Want to write along with me? 

Comment below!

Until Next Time,

Shelby

3 Tips for Writing

This morning I was reading a bunch of writing tips on Pinterest and Facebook. At twice a week I'll be remarkably active on one or both of those social media sites, so there aren't many new things to come across.

Today I found one.

The tips on it seemed a bit off though.
1) Stop reading.
2) Throw out your TV.
3) Edit as you go, it saves time in the end.

None of them rang true for me. It made me think about all of those tips I've been reading and realize how contradictory one article can be from another.

So I decided to put together my own short list of tips.

1) Figure out your writing style. The reason there are so many different tips is because everyone has a different writing style. Goodness, my own writing techniques differ depending on my mood.

Are you a morning writer? Night writer? Whenever you have time writer?

Do you need to wait for the muses to hit or does a strict schedule help you?

Do you prefer to have large writing goals a week that you aim for as much as you can or do you like small goals so if you hit them and surpass them you feel productive?

Do you even have specific writing goals?

Personally, I write when I can. It generally happens later in the day. My muses hide out until I've been attempting to write for around half an hour (sometimes more).

2.) Find out what inspires you. Different things inspire different people in different ways. If reading is what inspires you, read. If watching your favorite shows inspires you, watch them. If going for long walks in the freezing cold while drinking a smoothie inspires you, don't catch a cold or anything but do it. Does attempting to find ways to contact aliens help inspire you? Then go ahead and try contacting them (but if you do make contact, please be careful).

It doesn't matter what inspires you, just figure out what it is and do it. Inspiration can come from anywhere and anything. And inspiration helps stories become what they are.

Story ideas come from inspiration.

For me reading is helpful, as is watching TV (Hello, Merlin and Charmed and Stranger Things and Game of Thrones and the Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars). At work, inspiration hits more often when I'm talking with customers or coworkers.

3.) Write. This is probably the most important, easiest sounding of the rules. But to be honest, it can be the most difficult. There is no way you can be a writer (or author) if you don't write. It's the key ingredient.

So do whatever you have to do.

Even if it's just a sentence a day. Or it doesn't follow with anything you're working on. Just write. Keep building those writing muscles.

In the past, I've tried editing as I go. For me, that didn't work. I never made it beyond 10000 words and hated every single word I wrote. It took me really pushing myself out of my comfort zone to stop doing that, but it's been for the best. Projects are moving along.

So, if you're like me and read a lot of different articles about how to write, them main thing to remember is if it helps you, yay. If it doesn't, oh well. Just move on to the next tips.

What is your writing style/technique? What inspires you? And how do you make sure you keep writing? Feel free to tell me in the comments!

Until next time,
Shelby

A Writing Plan for 2018

Hello,

I can't believe I'm at my fourth post already this year. You could say I'm off to a good start this year, hopefully I stick with it. 

In case you weren't aware, IHOP is currently prepping for international pancake day by having unlimited pancakes for just $3.99. It's wonderful. Not necessarily for my diet, but... seriously delicious. 

I've been keeping up with the Bachelor (of course) and so far this season, I'm not terribly impressed. Although I'm glad to know that Krystal was sick and she doesn't normally sound like that.

At this precise moment, there is a Great Dane drooling on my face, but she's so cute I can't help but be like "ohhhh Bri you're adorable." Her and I will be getting some bonding time while my dad is out of town, because we cuddle when dad isn't here. 

If you haven't had the joy of being tackled by a dog that weighs a similar amount as you do, you're missing out. It's wonderful. Unless you are like Annalise (sp?) from the Bachelor who has had traumatizing events with dogs (and bumper cars... and I'm assuming more things that we will learn on Bachelor in Paradise).

Many of you probably clicked on this to learn about my 2018 writing plan, not to know about IHOP or puppy. 

Writing is hard, Man. Especially in a day and age where it feels like everyone is writing and publishing things (whether it's worthy of publishing or not). While as someone who wants to publish good, well-written works, seeing the relatively poor things published is a tad bit confidence boosting, it still doesn't alleviate the fact that writing a story is difficult.

And so I have a plan. 

My original idea for the year was to write two chapters a week, and so far I've been okay at keeping it (I've written six chapters since the beginning of the year). 

I've noticed my "The Write Life" board on Pinterest has been growing and growin, but I've done nothing with it since creating it. It was created in 2013. 

So over the next week or so, I'm going to put all the prompts from the board into a container and do a free write each month. Just to exercise my writing muscles. I think I had this idea at some point last year but didn't go through with it them. Most of this year is about following through with things, so it's going to happen. 

I would say a prompt a week, but that would be biting off more than I can chew. Hopefully this will grant me 11 short stories by the end of the year (hopefully my 10 days in Belize won't put me too off track).

Until next time,

Shelby

A New View

Sometimes it seems as though the world is passing me by and I'm just stuck in one place, one time, nothing changing, but everything changing. 

I know I've been working pretty diligently at growing and becoming the best me I can be, but it recently hit me. One of the simplest things I can do I've not. 

As a reader, books have really shaped who I am as a person. But I rarely step outside of my comfort zone of sci-fi/fantasy. Don't get me wrong, I do read other things every so often. But it is always fiction. 

The last nonfiction book I read was for college. I've been out of college for... Almost four years now. Wait. No. I read Stephen King's On Writing a couple years back. But didn't finish it. 

So each month this year, I plan to read a nonfiction book. Subject doesn't matter, although the first one is going to be a history book. On my Facebook, I recently asked people for their favorite choices and if I can get my hands on them, I'll likely read the options. 

I do want to read a couple self help books, but there are so many I've no idea where to start. But I've got an idea I want to pursue with that (but I'll talk about that if I do actually wind up doing it). 

It's such a simple way to break out of my shell and take a step out of my comfort zone, I've no idea why I haven't thought of it before. 

If you have any suggestions of your favorite nonfiction book, please feel free to comment on here! 

Until next time,

Shelby 

A Warm Welcome for 2018

Welcome everyone to this very frigid beginning to the New Year.

I would have posted something yesterday, but I was driving home from Fort Worth (and complaining about the cold). It is currently a whopping 30℉ outside and I as a warm-blooded Texas summer girl am not pleased. At all.

So the warm welcome to the year is going to have to come from ourselves, not the current weather.

By the end of last year, I was really struggling with a lot of things, both physical things and mental blocks. I needed a break.

Desperately.

So, thankfully, despite the freezing temperatures and threat of ice, I was able to travel to Fort Worth to celebrate New Year's Eve with some old college friends.

It was really nice and definitely needed.

Although I didn't get to see everyone, it reminded me of how much I miss the DFW.

The past few months I've really been slacking on healthy eating and working out, basically since I started attempting to, you know, have a life. And my writing definitely took a back seat to things.

So my main focus at the beginning of this year is to get back on track.

Technically I started last week, and it took my weight from 145.7 lbs back down to 137 lbs. Which is really nice.

No longer am I focused on actually losing weight, because I am right smack dab in the healthy range for my height, but instead, I want to focus on being healthy, building muscles, and becoming more lean.

Despite the fact that Lindsey's voice (from the IdealShape Up challenge) still bothers me, I am going to restart that challenge at least until I think of something else. And since it is a 12 week program of course I doubled up the workout today so I'm not on day two on January 3rd. That'd bother me so much.

Writing-wise, my goal in the past has been to write 2000 words a day.

That obviously didn't work out, so I am trying something new this year. I plan to write two chapters a week.

And I hope to update this blog more consistently than last year.

Something I started last year that I plan to continue is stepping out of my comfort zone.

I will participate in Make-up-less March again. In May I am going to Belize.

I am still working on other ways to step out of my comfort zone, so if you have any ideas, feel free to tell me in the comments!

Although it isn't part of stepping out of my comfort zone, though, if all goes according to plans, I should be done paying off a specific grouping of my student loans and I am pumped. No joke.

That's all for now, folks.
Until Next Time,
Shelby

P.S. I was going to have a quote picture, but the thing I usually use to make them seems to have vanished from my computer. I'll figure that out later.

P.P.S. The new season of the Bachelor is on and I'm pumped.