Well, its been over a month since I last posted, or visited. And here I am, multitasking, trying to upload work pictures on the tablet, place orders, and blog all at the same time. Yeah, not cuz I'm so good at balancing all that, but because the internet is soooooo slow. I'm impatient and just want it all to just get done. Like those idiot drivers on the road in slow traffic, darting in and out of lanes to get one more car ahead. Ack, like that helps you get any closer to your end destination!
I'm working really hard at getting everything done the last minute due to poor planning (yeah yeah, laziness). I remembered I was co-hosting IWSG this month, I just kept putting off writing the post. TIME is the villain here, lol.
August 2 Question: What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?
I guess my pet peeves are the same as peeves with drivers and tasks: impatience and laziness. Even in my own writing. Sometimes I get impatient to get to certain scenes or concepts in a story I'm writing and I narrate through action or relationships, or use those dreaded cliche's (rolling eyes, furrowed brows, clenched fists) to make the writing faster, easier. Or use a bunch of modern day swear words in an off-world fantasy cuz I'm too lazy to make up story-relevant verbiage. I hate that kind of writing in books I'm reading.
And if you've ever received a critique or editing from me of your work, you know I'm just as hard on m writing friends as I am on myself, or a published work. Anything that seems an author was too lazy, or too impatient to get through a story - either writing it or getting it published - to write a developed story line, is my pet peeve. I want to read - and write- something original.
Even if that author is myself.
The awesome co-hosts for the August 2 posting of the IWSG are Christine Rains, Dolarah @ Book Lover, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Yvonne Ventresca, and LG Keltner!
Categories:
- Mystery/Crime: Mystery and crime fiction focus on the dramatization of crimes, the detective work and procedures in solving said crimes, and the criminal motivations behind them.
- Horror: Horror fiction is a genre which intends, and/or has the capacity, to frighten, scare or startle readers. This genre may induce feelings of creepiness, horror and terror, and is generally unsettling for the audience. Horror can be supernatural or non-supernatural.
- Romance: Romance fiction can encompass and draw themes, ideas and premises from other genres and can vary widely in setting, dialogue, characters, etc. Generally, however, romance fiction should include a love story involving two individuals struggling to make their relationship work and an emotionally satisfying ending.
- Science Fiction/Fantasy: Science fiction and fantasy are genres that take place beyond the boundaries of “real life.” In the case of science fiction, this often involves futuristic settings, science and technology, as well as space travel, time travel, extraterrestrial life, and parallel universes. Fantasy fiction touches on similar elements such as world building, magic and magical creatures, and generally does not include the scientific themes.
- Thriller/Suspense: Suspense fiction uses the threat of personal jeopardy and tension to dramatically affect the reader. A thriller can provide surprise, anxiety, terror, anticipation, etc., in order to provide a rush of emotions and excitement that progress a story. It should generally be based around the strength of the villain and the protagonist, as well as their struggle against each other. This category might encompass several other genres, including horror, science fiction, and crime.
- Young Adult: Young Adult fiction is generally fiction meant for readers age 12-18.
Dead line to enter is October 16, 2017
Or perhaps you want something a little more (blog) local?
Check out Write..Edit..Publish August flash fiction blog hop. 1000 words or less, posting date August 16, story concept is REUNIONS. Click here for prompt details and to link your blog to the hop.
OK I'm outa here for now. My laptop battery is dying, my wine glass is empty, and I gotta hit the pillow to work tomorrow and have the energy to bop around and visit everyone.
Patience my Precious- I'm slow but steady in getting there.
63 comments:
It definitely takes a lot of patience to write well. There's definitely times when I've just wanted to rush through a scene to get it over with, but the end result is usually a disaster.
I used to be that impatient driver. Then I finally grew out of it.
Thanks for co-hosting today. You'll balance it all.
Hi Donna. It's a great pet peeve. You sound like you have a great eye to help others grow as writers. I get impatient when I'm reading and I can't find the character in the first chapter or two. I want to see them. Thank you for cohosting today! Have a great rest of your week.
Like Alex, I'm trying to learn not to be so impatient. For me, it's a general issue I need to work on. I'll have practice the rest of the week when I'm with my mom.
Patience!?
Nope, don't have that. Not a drop!
LOL I'm the most impatient person in the world.
Impulse, impulse, impulse!!! :)
That's how I fly!
Most of the time to a great big disaster too! It's why my writing journey has been so disastrous! In fact, maybe that's why life has been the same. Hmm...
So hard to slow down!
Even on the road - although now, I drive to keep up with traffic, that weaving in and out stopped after I got my first ticket, now I'm more cunning! ;)
I'm impatient. I'll confess. I'm also going to be multi-tasking today too, trying to balance IWSG and DLP duties.
Hi Donna
I'll have to check out that contest. Thanks for sharing.
Nancy
I've come to be less impatient, but it is still there at times. Always good to blast ones self as much as you blast others haha
And then there's the opposite. The hubby and I are reading the last Odd Thomas book, and while Koontz is a master of language (not a single sigh or eye roll--wow! He's magical), I'm finding that sometimes those descriptions that keep us away from a quick shrug or furrowed brow--even when beautifully described--can be annoying too. Annoyingly long. So I guess there's a happy medium depending on who your audience is.
I agree with Crystal. Good pet peeves. Thank you for co-hosting this month!!!
I agree with your pet peeves. I notice those things as well. As for patience, I might have too much. I need something to light a fire under my butt to get things done these days or else I'll just drift along, letting the time slip by. As a consequence, the past two weeks have been brutal. At least an upcoming vacation will free me from my computer and housework for a few days.
I'm trying to learn patience and not to be lazy. Some days it works, others not so much.
I read somewhere that we should go ahead and write the scenes we're really excited about then figure out how to connect them later. :)
I'm the most impatient with myself, but yeah, all those things throw me out of the story, too. @mirymom1 from
Balancing Act
I was that impatient driver too. Now I'm that person who isn't in such a hurry anymore.
I had to giggle as I read your paragraph being critiqued by you. Yep. You're tough, but fair. :)
Thanks for co-hosting.
Enjoy the rest of your week! I'm at my new blog:
Elsie
Thanks for being a co-host today. I like your pet peeve. I tend to do just what you describe. I get impatient to get to the pay off scene without doing the build up.
Impatience is definitely one of my problems. I want everything done NOW, and I want to write more, more, more! Sometimes you just have to remember to breathe...
Thanks for co-hosting this month. Time is everyone's villain. I can relate to your issues with impatient drivers and lazy writing. I might be a lazy writer, but at least I know it and am working on it. Thanks for sharing the writing contests.
I am so impatient! Occasionally that impatience is self-directed but more likely it's directed at people in the book business who take forever to get a task done and don't communicate well in the process.
I agree. Sometimes 'clenched fists' seems exactly right. But when I read it in a book, I'm bored. No wonder they require authors be creative.
I get impatient so easily. I've even skipped ahead to write those scenes that I really want to write. One, because I'm impatient. Two, because I'm excited. And three, because it bugs me so much that I have to write it so I can finally write the other parts afterward.
Heh. I always do things last minute. As my husband says, "we are the masters of procrastination."
Thanks for co-hosting!
Hi, Donna,
I enjoyed your post.... but...is there really anything wrong with a good EYE ROLL? lol
Missed you. Hope all is well.
I enjoy your breezy, iced tea on the porch approach ;-) Have to admit, I do get impatient with things that keep me from writing as much as I'd like, even as life rolls merrily on.
Hi, Donna! I so get what you say about idiot drivers! And it's a great analogy for taking your time and not being a lazy writer. Thanks for co-hosting today!
I work on not being impatient with others and myself. Sometimes I'm not.
Funny how writers can tell when someone rushed a scene. I've done it in first drafts, just so that I don't lose a thought. I use the second pass to fix those areas. Thanks for co-hosting.
Hi Donna! Thanks for the link to Popular Fiction Awards, and thanks for co-hosting! I'm impatient with my writing and reading as well. I'm totally guilty of rushing scenes, especially when writing mystery. I usually have to go back. And. Slow. It. Down. Great connecting.
Adrienne
We live near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and I'm constantly impressed with the skill these local drivers demonstrate. They are masters at making left turn from the wrong lane and jumping out just before the light turns green.
I sure uderstand being impatient with our own writing. Looks like several of us share that pet peeve. Thank you for co-hosting this month.
I can be impatient but then I can be the opposite and focus too much on the beginning or a scenes or whatever, so much I cannot get passed it. There must be balance which is often elusive. Keep trying. it's all we can do.
Thanks for co-hosting this month. I know what you mean about impatience in writing. The ideas keep accumulating and waiting for me to write, then making time to actually write. Hang in there.
That's a great and original, yet familiar, pet peeve in writing, reading and real life. It is hard not to be rushed in this fast-paced world with a writer mind going 100 miles an hour. Slowing down sure is better for that mind, and the body, and the other drivers. But, being lazy is even more up to oneself, but even harder to change. :-) When it comes to writing, only the best of your work should get out. Thanks for co-hosting this month.
Thanks for co-hosting this month, Dolorah!
Learning patience is so important for a writer, especially when waiting for an answer from a publisher or a magazine who keep your story month after month without a word. Urgh!
This is my first time here, Delorah. I love your blog. I'll follow it and connect with you on social media.
Thanks for co-hosting the IWSG question. Laziness is a problem for many of us. Then there are the ones who work and work and work and feel they get nowhere. I think writers are both types.
Thanks for the writing contest details and link. Now if I don't put it off, I should submit something...
Patience is definitely a pet peeve of mine too, great post!
Thanks for co-hosting. Good points.
Juneta @ Writer's Gambit
If you use that critique strength to your advantage, you will definitely make your writing projects the best they can be.
Good answer! Patience is a virtue I do not have, I'm afraid. Therefore, I'm horrible about world building and description; I just want to get to the action. I guess that's why we have editors to make us do those things we don't want to :-)
Hey, I understand the impatience part. Sometimes I want to get through a scene I'm writing as quickly as possible, and the results are always bad. Patience is hard to come by when I haven't even finished my first story yet.
Thanks for co-hosting this month's IWSG post.
Yes, I hear you on being impatient. I'm working on it for myself.
Patience is just as important as perseverance in writing, definitely. I'm hardest on myself, but I hope that leads to making me a better writer. Glad to be a co-host with you this month. :)
Hello, my Precious LOL! You impatient? Hard to believe! And you once asked for recommendations on plotting. Do you have Debra Dixon's GMC? The one with the pen on the cover. Costs a bomb for the hardcover, but I bought it on Kindle (I do like my craft books on paper, but not paying $44, sorry). IT'S AWESOME!
Hopefully see you at REUNIONS!
Happy to co-host with you today! Thanks for the contest info.
Hi Donna - life is challenging at the best of times, and writing alongside just adds another dimension. It just makes it easier if we can catch our tails ... I remember my mother (in her terminally ill bed) saying to me .. for goodness sake darling - just go and get on with things!!! I do remember her words ... and am slowly moving forward - good luck to you though - cheers Hilary
I hate swear words in my books period! I'm posh like that :)
I'm learning to be more patient and not get upset when something doesn't happen the minute I want it to. Sometimes, a delay works for the best.
Thanks for co-hosting this month. You've done a great job.
Great post...from one procrastinator to another. LOL!
Thank you everyone for showing up today. Rather than comment individually here I am working my way through commenting on everyone's posts. Thanks for your patience.
It seems that a majority of writers suffer from the impatience flu - I certainly do. It's always a struggle to fight the urge to want to "have done" rather than keep "doing." Some of this, I think, comes from the frantic pace at which we live our lives. And speaking of procrastination, thanks for co-hosting two days ago.
The good news is you need not try and be a multi-tasker. I read on the Internet, and we all know everything on the Internet is true, the human brain cannot handle two tasks at one time. The brain concentrates on one thing and that's it. So don't get frustrated and impatient anymore. You can only do so much at one time.
Wait, does this mean I should not be using furrowed brow and clenched fists anymore? Now what????
Loved your post. Thanks for sharing and for co-hosting!
JQ Rose
Patience is something I'm getting better at but continually learning. Thanks for co-hosting.
When it comes to trad pub books, especially the Big Five, my expectations are high and I’m annoyed by typos and grammar errors. Not fair, I suppose. But I always imagine that these books have big budgets in place, and top notch editors working on the manuscripts…am I right? Maybe this is a misconception.
Thanks for co-hosting the IWSG bloghop this month, Donna!
Slow internet can be very irritating indeed. Patience is everything as I'm learning each day. Warm greetings and best wishes.
I posted about a similar thing. But maybe I'm too patient about getting it right and get hung up on a plot point for days. I think with a first draft it's OK to rattle through, you can go back later and add that original content. As long as that first version isn't the one you're submitting/publishing.
I can get with you on the laziness with world-building and using language that wasn't yet common to a particular time.
Impatience is a problem for me too. I also have to admit to being lazy. I'd like to get everything right the first time, not have to write the same scene over and over again. Thanks for co-hosting. I'm way behind as you can see.
I'm definitely impatient when it comes to slow internet. I also tend to be a lazier writer in first drafts, but I try to fix most of it in later edits.
Hi Donna, time is the biggest villain for me too, my time management skills are pathetic. I use to be a lazy writer, but hopefully I've kicked that habit now.
You and I are of the same mind on those hurried folks in the traffic. It always gives me a sense of satisfaction when I pull back up next to them as they wait for the light to turn. They made it to the light first--big deal.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
I'm the same. Usually when I'm drafting, I'm simply concerned with noting everything down. Later, I'll go back and sort out all the weak writing.
Thanks for co-hosting!
You'll balance it all.
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