Preliminary Preparations

“I am like a hunter

who crouches by his small fire amid the forest,

and hears stealthy feet padding in the darkness,

and almost sees the glimmer of burning eyes.

If I could but come to grips with something tangible,

that I could cleave with my sword!”

— King Conan of Aquilonia

(excerpt from The Phoenix on the Sword, by Robert E. Howard)

Since I came late to the current 80-day round, I figure I’d use this preliminary time to prepare for the next round in April.  During the month of March, I will add content to my new blog, organize my writing projects, and discuss my current goals.   Each week, I will set achievable word-counts for myself as I gradually ease my way back into the daily habit of writing again.  So far, I have easily surpassed my measly 250 words-per-day goal, and will likely increase that count next week.  

The last time I wrote on a consistent basis was during NaNoWriMo.  I used that time as a world-building exercise, creating several intriguing characters and story ideas that I may want to use in a future writing project.   I also wrote a lot of junk during that time, with “word sprints” and “stream of consciousness” exercises mixed in, just to get the daily word-count in on time.  Unfortunately, now I have to wade through piles of rubble to find those elusive story-gems.  Once I find them, I cut-and-paste them into my new project.  After that, it’s just a matter of organizing and re-working these ideas.  More on that later.

I’ve been trying to read more lately, both for knowledge and entertainment.  I believe that in order to improve as a storyteller, I need to study stories that are well-told, analyzing what it is that makes these stories great, and to emulate those aspects in my own work.  Towards that goal, I plan on reading a story a week, depending on the size of the story.   I will also be allotting “how-to-write” reading assignments for myself on a regular basis (tentatively one book per week) although, that may change depending on how much note-taking I may want to do on a particular subject (plotting, outlining, dialog, setting, characterization, etc.).   Hopefully, with all this reading, my storytelling will improve over time.   I just read The Phoenix on the Sword for the first time since my childhood.  Fantastic!  Robert E. Howard is a masterful storyteller!  I plan on reading more of his work later this week (possibly The Frost Giant’s Daughter next).  More on that in my next post…