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I have a question for the Word Count Buddies. On average, how long does it take you to write your daily 100 words? What’s the longest it’s taken you? The shortest?

I’ve come up with a writing plan. I’ve been feeling like a rudderless ship with my writing. I’ve never been very spontaneous with my creativity. I like to write lists and outlines. Filling in the gaps is where my creativity blossoms. I can’t seem to tell a story without knowing what the story is first. What’s the point of writing every day if yo...

Three days ago, I missed writing my 100 words. I have as of yet received no floggings from the Word Count Unioneers. To commemorate this flagrant oversight, I have decided to leave my gaping 0 word count listed in the side bar until you have corrected your gross omission. For those of you who neglected to flog me: You have been flogged!

Some of my readers are probably already reading the blog Writer Unboxed. Today there was an interview of Raymond Obstfield, a writing teacher who’s written 27 novels. His interview answers were refreshingly brief and to the point. I simply had to quote this one here on my own blog: “Q: Writers have lots of excuses not to write. But with 27 t...

How much outlining do you do when you write? I’m particularly interested in the answers of those of you who have actually written works of substantial length. For those who haven’t written lengthy works, do you feel you need an outline? How far ahead do you look? And, for everyone, do you feel that knowing where your story is headed takes away s...

Last night I began reading A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin, and I’m really enjoying it. The reason I picked it up makes me feel kind of . . . traitorous. A week or two ago, my wife and I watched The Jane Austen Book Club, a feel-good, predictable drama about five women and one man who read one Jane Austen book a month, then get together...

I had an idea today. Or, to phrase it like the Hot News on Apple’s site (see the announcement about Safari from March 18th), I today had an idea. It’s about where the word count challenge should eventually be headed. Part of what the word count challenge accomplishes is the incremental creation of a novel. After a year, you should have a substan...

I’m a little disappointed to have escaped a flogging! Although I’ve written my words every day, I neglected to post my report. I thought I’d be flogged for sure. It’s taken me two days to get my text widget installed in the sidebar. It took me at least an hour last night to update to the newest version of WordPress, so I could even have widgets...