Writer's Paradise discussion

A challenge to actually finish some of the stories I've started.

Right, this is what I think I can apply myself to: 250 words per day. It's somewhere in between for now, and as I'll be starting a new job on Monday I'd better not overestimate my stamina.

What I usually write is either fun stories with dubious content, horror stories or themed stories for loved ones. I finish about 3 % of all the projects I start, so I'm most likely the laziest person in all the land, but I will try to do better. This is a good start!

Welcome Teresa! =)

Thank you, Elaine! I really enjoyed reading your short-story No matter!

(294 words this evening. So far so good!)

You one of my stories? Thanks you so much! Great job on the word count as well! I really need to go write!

Welcome to the group, Teresa! We're glad to have you here.

Welcome! =D
Heh, I usually don't finish my projects either so you are not alone!
Nice word count!

Thank you, Kenzie and Jess! There's so much interesting stuff here and so many talented writers, that I hardly know where to start!

Nice to know I'm not the only one who finds it hard to finish things, Jess! I would happily trade beginnings for endings if I could find anyone of the opposite inclination! :)

(560 today as I had company yesterday and didn't get anything done!)

OOOh, a treehouse! What fun! I always had treehouses growing up- they are a staple part of growing up. I'm too big for them now (so I just build my kids one instead).

Welcome to the group teresa- don't be afraid to pop into people's cubi's around here. We're friendly enough :)

Thanks, Wendy! I will certainly pop by your cubicle and see what you're up to! Everyone seems very friendly and encouraging here, so if I don't do wonders now I never will.

Words today: unknown quantity as they were all written as notes at a lecture and at frantic speed. Not sure that counts though.

Sure that counts- and on days when you can't write a thing because you have puppies/kids/carpool/work whatever taking up all your time- then thinking about your story counts too.

Sometimes when we're busy with other things, great ideas for stories come to mind- the trick is top write them down before you forget your bright idea!

I think I would get more stuff done in a treehouse for sure!

I agree with Wendy, sometimes to write you really just need to think. That can always be fun too, like a very good daydream.

Hope all is going well :)

Great, then I'm still doing ok I think! This intensive training I'm doing at the moment is a very good source for interesting characters too, if only I had more time to daydream and didn't have to be focused on the lecturer. ;)

There is this one random guy, who always wants to make a comment, and whose comments never seem to fit in with whatever it is the lecturer is talking about.

So what is your training about?

I train to work on a train station for commuter trains serving in and around the capital. There are far too many tickets, price reductions, and seasonal solutions for this to be anywhere near as simple as I thought before I started but it's a challenge!

(Current word cound since thursday: nil! Down with some sort of evil flu of a very ordinary kind.)

May you have a speedy recovery!

Thank you, Wendy! Your good wishes were very effective! :)

Words today: 135

Finally some progress! :) Intensive training over, flu gone and the sun is shining!

Words today: 388.

Words today: 528. Finding the best time for writing is surpricingly difficult all of a sudden. Some dicipline would be in good for me I think!

Hey Teresa, I just noticed that you were from Sweden.

I went there in 1996 (18yrs old) to meet my mom's cousin. I visited Kristinehamm, Orebro,and Linnebach- where I taught Lucinda's English class how to country western line-dance. Yeee Haw!

I discovered that even though I ride horses here- I can't do it there. I ran my poor horse right through a bush because I coudn't steer it your way. And this is my whole swedish vocabulary... drum roll please...

Hey (hi)
Heydo (bye)
Ya (yes)
nay (no)
foster (aunt)
Mormor (grandma)
Morfar (grandpa)

Tada! Thats it. Everyone I met spoke great English, and I got to see a traditional canoe race with vikings and other costumes. It was great. What surprised me most was how much Sweden looked like ORegon to me. (except with more lakes)

Wow, you've got a very impressive vocabulary of Swedish words there, complete with pronounciation hints! Well done from only one visit here!

Yes, there are a lot of lakes here, one of the great comforts of this country is that you are never far away from a river, lake or the sea.

I didn't know that horses speak different languages that way, how interesting! So if I went horse riding in Oregon, I would have the poor beast utterly confused as well? :)

Here when you ride a horse, you hold both reins in one hand and move your hand in the direction you want to go. (basic Western riding) But the farms there did the English riding where you held one in each hand and pulled only on the side that you wanted to go, letting the other say loose. (like handlebars on a bike)

The horse thought I was crazy and so did the farm hands. I've ridden horses here forever, but there I looked like a Dork. I think everyone was happy when I gave up after going through the bush- you know, before I could hurt the horse, or myself, or any innocent bystanders.

And the hints were because I don't know how to spell anything there, just how it sounded to me. :)

That's interesting, Wendy, and it might come in handy too! If I want to let someone used only to Western riding try to get away quickly on horseback in Sweden, something might happen. Thanks for the tip! :)

To spell things the way they sound would be very helpfull for foreign students. When I have taught Swedish as a foreign language, my groups have groaned in chorus over the difference between how they think a word must sound and how I claim it should be pronounced.

Word count yesterday: 690.

Words today: 297. All very reluctant and painful.

Five days since I wrote something other than numbers last! Working certainly takes its toll.
Words today: 293. Better than nothing but I have some serious catching up to do.

Words today: 348.

Words today: 715. Getting back to normal again! :-)

Wendy wrote: "Here when you ride a horse, you hold both reins in one hand and move your hand in the direction you want to go. (basic Western riding) But the farms there did the English riding where you held on..."

Um... HINT from a horse woman?

When you're riding English, don't use the reigns. They're held loosely and only only used in rare occasions... like an emergency brake.

You use your knees, your body, light verbal commands and the occasional snap of the riding crop for everything else.

Ride a horse trained for hunt-seat the way you do for western and you're more likely to wind up in the thicket or the ditch every time.

aweosme Teresa!! Keep going!!

Gwen- yes I know now that there are different styles of riding, but then I was so ignorant that I didn't know enough to imagine that all horses might not work the same way. It was like a bike to me; you get on, go through the motions, and it works!

Except it didn't work and I became familiar with local plant life.

So now I can say with confidence that I officiall have no idea how to ride English style. See- I'm getting smarter all the time.

Thanks for the hint, Gwendolyn! I have not spent enough time on horseback to realise that there was so much difference in riding styles; I assumed it all depended on the personality of the horse and the relationship between horse and trainer (if that's what they're called). I will definitely remember this discrepancy and use it later! :-)

Thanks for stopping by and encouraging me, Annie Mae!
I've had an awsome week, with some if not much writing.

Words since last time I was here: about 1300.

That's awesome! And you're welcome Teresa! I hope you keep writing!

Thanks, Annie Mae! I think I will, it's hard to stop, daydreaming has become that much more interesting. ;-)

Words today: 260

yeah, I seem to be doing that a lot. :D

A worthy pastime, Annie Mae! (By the way, I think I must update my reading list as my current diet affects my vocabulary.)

Additional words today: 1123, making this day's grand total 1383 words if my calculator fails me not.

ha ha! aweosme word count btw!

Boredom is dangerous. Words today: all in half rhymes and divided into stanzas of equal footing. Subject: the price of local train fares.

Boredom is dangerous. :D

Aye, this is very true, Annie Mae! Some of those lesser poets from times gone by must have been bored out of their socks, judging by their works!

Words today: 713.

:D

Words today: 980. It's too hot to think, write or smile.

no kidding, I sat in the hot sun for an hour at a funeral. Not much fun. I thought my cousin's were going to die in their hot suits . . . :D

My condolences in more ways than one, Annie Mae! Though funerals can't be fun no matter where they take place I kind of liked the idea of a sunlit ceremony if it hadn't been for the heat. And the guests tend to be rather old and frail too, at least at the funerals I have been to. :-/

No words written since 30th. Have been frolicking instead.

Words yesterday: 327

Congrats! Awesome!

Words today: 1891. I'm on a roll! :-)

Thank you for cheering me on, Annie Mae! I hope your week had just a good start as mine had!

It did! :D

Glad to hear it! May it continue the same way! :-)

Words today: 525. A mighty deed, as I'm visiting my beloved parents who talk incessantly.

Words Sunday: 1634, all written by hand on sheets of paper stolen from work.

Words today: 673. Working long hours is very bad for self dicipline in other areas. :-/