Stopping places.

Where do you like to stop your writing for the day?

Something that I've noticed about my writing that could possibly help someone else out there. I think that I write better the next day if I stop in the middle of an interesting scene. What I mean is, is that if I'm writing for a character that I really love writing for, and I've reached my word count goal for the day, I'll stop while in the middle of a scene with that character. That way, for me, it's not so hard to pick back up the next day. Then, when you finish the scene you are enjoying, it shouldn't be too difficult to already be in that zone and keep going.

For instance, when I get home from work tonight I'll continue from this point:

“What the…” Christian said, curiosity warring with fear. He could see the slow and steady rise and fall of large wings, but aside from that the bird didn’t move. It wasn’t looking at him, but past him. Elizabeth hadn’t screamed again after her initial cry, but he knew she was staring back at the bird. He moved to his right, blocking the creature’s view. Slowly, ever so slowly, he could feel the gaze shifting upwards. It was as though he could see those prismatic, diamond eyes turning toward him. He stared back, anger suddenly conflicting with the other emotions waging war in his mind and body.
 
He rapped a fist on the window, right in front of the bird’s face. “Get on, go,” he said, rapping his knuckles on the glass a second time. The bird, he somehow knew that it was a raven, didn’t budge. He leaned forward, until his face was only inches from the window, with barely half a foot separating him from the animal. To his horror he saw that it hadn’t simply been a trick of the light, or his own imagination.
 The raven’s eyes were literally made of diamonds.
 In a sudden rush the bird threw its head against the window. Christian fell backwards in shock, landing on his bottom. Again the bird slammed its head against the glass. He heard the sound of it being scratched, and knew that the damn thing’s eyes were cutting into the glass. 

Please don't judge me, that's a rough first draft. But, reading that, and probably some before it, will get me back into the scene, and it's a scene that I really want to finish. By stopping here last night I've left myself a nice place to pick up from, and hopefully when I get this scene knocked out I'll be able to keep going on to the next one.


=)

The first word is always the longest.

I always stall when it comes to writing the first word in... well pretty much everything. I can sit either in front of a blank page, or in front of a page half-written, and still not know where to start. Once I do get a foot off the ground, however, I can usually make it at least a few feet into the air before something shiny catches my attention and I have to repeat the process all over again.

But, oh god when the words flow.

Take yesterday for instance. I wanted to write a piece for a flash fiction contest. The word prompts, at first, gave me NOTHING, like literally. I'd tried to start something the night before, but didn't even get down that all-important first word.

Finally I just started writing, thought of a cool way to start a scene, and leaped off the edge. Before long I had too many words, and wanted to go on for more. Luckily the scene involved a character from a mental WIP, so I may be able to use it at some point in the future.

My main point in this rambling mess, is that all you have to do is start. The first step in a thousand mile journey, or whatever. If you can get those first few words down and then just literally just let them go, you may surprise yourself. Hell, even if you have to throw away your first paragraph, your first page, or even your first chapter, the important thing is is that you kicked yourself in the ass and did it.

Besides, think about it like this. It takes around two years to get a book on the shelves after it's been bought by a publisher. I can only imagine that waiting two years to see your name in print is agonizing, a pain I long for. So, get to writing, Ray. Stop typing in a blog and put down some words that will push you towards your goal.


Ok!