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[klainspiration]

Challenges - Sunday July 29!

(I'm not actually here. I am either (a) standing in a bookstore cooling my heels and hating everything because I have to wait and not cool; or (b) sleeping, because I have my priorities in order. I live in hope that the queue won't break.)

Four challenges again today, very reminiscent of Wednesday's! Next week I'll start mixing it up again, but for now we're going to keep doing what worked last week. Do one, do them all, just do something. Let us know in a reply to this post if you’re in and what you’re aiming for, because accountability helps.

CHALLENGE 1 - FEATURED WORDS - for inspiration

Use one (or more!) of these words in your writing for today. You will not be required to share the writing you do today (so don’t worry if you’re writing for a challenge that keeps you from publishing or sharing sections), but we’ll believe you if you tell us what you used!

curtains

verdant

balcony

promise

plaintive

CHALLENGE 2 - BLITZ WRITING - for a boost

800 words in one hour! Easy, right? So easy you could even do it twice!

Same reminder as last time: don’t edit as you go, write through your doubt, and see what happens.

CHALLENGE 3 - DO YOUR RESEARCH! - for structure

Want to make sure your story has a sense of place? Trying to breathe some life into an AU? Research is the key to both of these things. It doesn't have to be exactly right; verisimilitude is your goal, because as long as it feels true you'll do your job.

Spend an hour (maybe two - it's the weekend!) doing some research. Check out your location on Google Maps and go all the way down to street level so you can see pretty pictures! Find blogs that talk about the professions you're using. Double check the wikis to make sure your memories of episodes are fresh and detailed. Put all this stuff you find into a document, and then treasure it with your life.

CHALLENGE 4 - WRITE TO THE MARGINS - for the desperate

Max out your word count. That’s it - nothing fancy, nothing complicated. The writer with the biggest word count by the time we get to the check-in post tonight gets bragging rights until Wednesday. Maybe I will even remember to come back and name you supreme (temporary) emperor of the comm! Hope springs eternal.

[klainspiration]

Check-in - Wednesday, July 25

Okay, time's up, and you even got an extra half hour because I was out drinking!

So how'd we do?

[klainspiration]

Challenges - Wednesday July 25!

Four challenges today! Do one, do them all, just do something. Let us know in a reply to this post if you're in and what you're aiming for, because accountability helps.

CHALLENGE 1 - FEATURED WORDS - for inspiration

Use one (or more!) of these words in your writing for today. You will not be required to share the writing you do today (so don't worry if you're writing for a challenge that keeps you from publishing or sharing sections), but we'll believe you if you tell us what you used!

feather

waist

regret

thick

renew

CHALLENGE 2 - BLITZ WRITING - for a boost

1500 words in two hours! Let us know when you're writing, and take a look at the replies - you may find a writing buddy who can give you a push!

Don't get freaked out here. This may seem like a reach but I promise you that 1500 words is absolutely doable in 2 hours. Keep writing. Think of NaNoWriMo:

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. This approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Don't edit as you go, write through your doubt, and see what happens.

CHALLENGE 3 - OUTLINE IT! - for structure

Getting started on something new? Stuck smack in the middle of a story without direction, or wading through pools of aimless prose?

Spend an hour (preferably two) putting together a complete, fleshed-out outline. Sketch out your plot, then start building it. A sentence here, a paragraph there, a quick writeup of an image you want to use. 

Anything you have, any little scraps of ideas or links for research, put it in the document. By the end of the day, you will have a working document that you can expand into your story, or a clearer vision for what you need to add or change.

CHALLENGE 4 - WRITE TO THE MARGINS - for the desperate

Max out your word count. That's it - nothing fancy, nothing complicated. The writer with the biggest word count by the time we get to the check-in post tonight gets bragging rights until Sunday. And come on, this is tumblr, where bragging rights are pretty much all we get.

[klainspiration]

OK, so Wednesdays!

Or at least tomorrow. :-P

So here is what we're going to do, and this is a work in progress, and we'll just figure it out as we go.

Tomorrow, though, we begin.

Tomorrow at 8 am eastern I am going to make a post. That post is going to contain a number of challenges of different types. You can use them all, or you can ignore them all and just push for maximum word count.

And then tomorrow night at 10 pm eastern (or maybe later - I have a busy day tomorrow, because I am a genius with the timing) I'll make another post where people can check in and report their progress. 

I'd like to add people as members so people can post on their own and don't need my posts to hang off of, so if you want to send me email addresses, that'd be awesome.

OK. What else am I missing? 

[klainspiration]

aelora answered your question: Do we want to pick a time?

Do we plan to continue this on through the season? If so, Thursday won’t be good. :) I’d prefer Mon or Wed but will go with majority.

Oh, good point - I keep forgetting about the shifts in nights. Wednesdays? Maybe Wednesdays and Sundays? So that people could play along if one night/day was bad for them?

[klainspiration]

Do we want to pick a time?

Time zones are a thing. Maybe a "Thursday night, 6-8 your time, go!" kind of thing? Days of the week? Thoughts?