In my neck of the woods, today is a Big Deal. Pioneer Day is an official holiday for the state of Utah, and some of the regions in surrounding states originally settled by Mormon pioneers have celebrations, too. The holiday commemorates the arrival of Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers into Utah’s Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Between Pioneer Day and Independence Day, we pretty much party all month. There are parades, concerts, barbecues, pancake breakfasts, reenactment treks, retail sales, and rodeos. And fireworks. Oooooh, yeah. Once upon a time folks would just set off their fireworks whenever they pleased during the month. Local ordinances have changed. Now we are only jolted awake in the middle of the night for the three days before and after the holidays and 11 a.m. to midnight on the actual days. See? We get to sleep in so we’re well rested for the Event-with-a-capital-E.
The 4th of July is like a warm-up for the 24th. Yeehaa!
Naturally, this gives me more ideas for fictional holidays (they’ve appeared here and here before.) And that makes me want to take the rest of today to play in the world-building pool. But… as fun as that is, I really need to focus on my current Work In Progress. The Fantasy Sci-Fi Network group has been running a challenge for its authors. 100 words per day, 7 days per week. Easy peasy, right? It is! Better yet, it got me back into the habit of writing every single day. Soon my word count was at 500 per day. Now it’s closer to 2,000.
Woot! I like that! I’m in high gear, racing toward a finish line I can actually see in my handy-dandy Scrivener doc. It is the first draft, yes, and there’s still a lot of work to do after, but it’s a stage that is nearly finished. Another week or two (I’m feeling that optimistic), and then I am going to celebrate with something dangerous like Pomegranate Häagen-Dazs (Soooo yummeh…)
First of all I want to say terrific blog! I
had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you do not mind.
I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear
your mind before writing. I’ve had trouble clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out.
I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted
just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or
tips? Appreciate it!
Great question! Sometimes I have a hard time getting started with my writing, too. Some authors advice spending a few minutes (5–10) free-writing. I have found that setting a timer for myself helps with whatever I’m writing. And turning off the internet helps, too. No mail, no Facebook or Twitter, just me and my book.
Happy writing!