Week 5: Progress and Things

Ugh, Week 5 was a bust. After running on full throttle for the past ten weeks trying to keep up with school, my body is actively failing me. I missed parties and events because I couldn't summon enough energy to go out. I don't know what it is and I currently don't have insurance that I know of, so I can't go to the doctor because I have no money. I hope it's nothing too serious. Maybe it's something I can just sleep off. Apparently it was something I could sleep off, because I went to sleep at 7:00 pm on Sunday and woke up at 9:30 am on Monday and I feel fantastic. Anyway, I spent most of Week 5 playing the Sims 3 instead of writing. I swear I was doing some character building with the sims, but that's not true. It's not like I was letting them live their lives, I was controlling them. All that time spent on the Sims, I could have spent writing, I know. It was a fun way to relax and recharge before/while my body went berserk.

At any rate, I need a new set of goals to work on, while keeping in mind the others that I had during the last block of the Creativity Workshop. I think the ones I want to work on are:
  
Beginnings(in general)- I think writing a non-IAR related beginnings will help me figure out how to write good beginnings that suck readers in and never lets them go. Since I'm retooling the beginning of IAR yet again, it might help to read beginnings of stories in the genre and stories that I love in general and use Merrilee's writing exercise to make stellar beginnings. I hate writing beginnings because it's so hard to determine how much backstory and  info a reader needs before they can jump into the heart of the story. Jump in too soon and readers are confused. Jump in too slow and readers are bored. I need to find the perfect balance so that readers are intrigued. I know this will take some practice and some editing, but I can't skip beginnings anymore because I'll end up with a fully written novel and no beginning.

Writing outside of my comfort zone- there are some uncomfortable subjects I want to tackle in my stories that need to be written with care and sensitivity. I feel that if I can tackle uncomfortable subjects, especially decisions that characters make that aren't in line with my own beliefs, I can write nearly anything that needs to be written and be willing to let the public read it.


Writing outside my genre- Most of my stories are contemporary. I have a disdain for romance of all kinds. I like stories that are well-defined, but also well-rounded. I like stories that have set genres but also have touches of romance or mystery. I'm not even sure I want to write in the genres that I originally set out in the first goals post. I'll probably go with Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, my least favorite. I figure if I can put my best effort into writing something I don't think I'll enjoy, I'll do much better with writing things that I do enjoy. That's a bit of my twisted logic for you.

So readers and fellow workshoppers, what are your goals for the this second block of the workshop? What are you doing to achieve them?