Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Write Your @ss Off Weekend

Moonrat over at Editorial Ass writes an amazing blog. Every author and aspiring author out there should be reading it! She's got great information on all parts of the publishing process. And a rally monkey. Really. I heard about Write Your @ss Off Weekend through her great site.

JES over at Running After My Hat apparently sorta/kinda/maybe started the idea last year, and Moonrat suggested it for this past weekend. There's even a map at JES's site showing where all the crazy people enthusiastic writers live. Anyway, the aim was to write for 8 hours of one day this weekend.

Because I'm a crazy person enthusiastic writer, I signed myself up. And had a ball! It's fun knowing other people are squeezing the craziness and enthusiasm of NaNo into a weekend.

I succeeded in completing my 8 hours of writing, but it took me 2 days to do it. Not sure if it still counts, but I'm counting it anyway. I wrote 3 new chapters of my wip, revised the first 20 pages of the same wip, worked on the query, created an outline & wrote 2 blog posts! Fun stuff!

Did anyone else out there participate? If you did, did any of your 8 hours come in longer snatches than 30 minutes? If so, I'm very jealous!


On another note, I received a few more blog awards. I'll spread them out over the next few posts! Today, my thanks go to the wonderful Mason Canyon over at her great blog Thoughts in Progress. Mason has a great line up of guest bloggers, and she's always got something fun & interesting to say! Mason awarded me Lesa's Bald Faced Liar "Creative Writer" Award. :) For this one I'm to tell you 5 outrageous lies and 1 outrageous truth about myself. Hmmm....

1. I once spray painted myself completely blue in order to be a Smurf.
2. I snuck candles to eat as a child - apparently a vitamin deficiency.
3. I bought my entire wedding outfit for under $150.
4. I once wrote a fan letter to Donny Osmond & have a signed photo to prove it.
5. I have never owned a pet.
6. I have never visited the United States.

Any guesses? Is it too easy? This was HARD!! So, in the spirit of sharing pain, I'd like to pass this along to:

Simon over at Constant Revision
Nisa over at Swordplay! Wordplay!: The Magic of Writing
Mari Juniper at Mari's Randomities

I'm probably supposed to pass it along to more people, but I have 3 more awards to give, so I'm limiting myself :) Have fun!!

62 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my heavens, you want me to do what? lol! I guess you don't know how bad of a liar I am. You'll soon find out. Thanks for the award! You are so sweet!

Now the question is when are you going to point out the truth from the lies? ;) I'm going to narrow it down by saying it's not 1,2 or 4... but I've always been bad at pop quizzes too. *grin* Eh, 3 or 6. Final answer. What? There are two there? Okay, I give up.

Jemi Fraser said...

Hey Nisa - I had to share the pain! I'm the world's worst liar - never did do it well.

I'll let you know if you're right or not on the next post - can't give it away yet :)

Anonymous said...

I'm a terrible liar, Jemi. I also have a congenital heart defect that prevents me from telling untruths. Tiny fibs are fine, though.

I'll try to get through the requirements of this award while telling only tiny fibs, then. You wouldn't want my demise on your conscience, now would you? No. I thought not. Good.

I may have told some tiny fibs just then...

Lorel Clayton said...

Hmmm...Is the candle thing true?
Please oh please don't tell me it's the Donny Osmond bit :)

Sara {Rhapsody and Chaos} said...

Congrats on the award :-)
Ooooo I bet the candle thing is the truth... That's so unique!

And FUN with the write your ass off weekend!!

Courtney Reese said...

Oh wow! Hmm... I'm going to say eating candles is the truth--because I just can't believe the Osmond bit. Now I feel really, really stupid. Haha! When do we get to find out the truth?

VR Barkowski said...

You do yourself a disservice, Jemi. These are very good lies because anyone of them could be true! I'm going to guess the candles because I'm not sure how you would have come up with it otherwise.

Jemi Fraser said...

Simon - I certainly wouldn't want your demise on my conscience! I'm sure you've never told more than a tiny white fib, so I know how hard this will be on you. Try to tread gently so as not to endanger yourself :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Lorel - LOL :)

We'll see on the next post. You never know!

Jemi Fraser said...

Sara - yup - writing my @ss off was a lot of fun. :)

The candle is getting lots of votes!

Jemi Fraser said...

Courtney - you can't feel any sillier than I did writing the list!

I'll let you know in my next blog post - which I never schedule but it should be in a couple of days :)

Jemi Fraser said...

VR - I like your logic :) And thanks... I think!

Mari said...

Hi Jemi! Thanks for the award; I'm honored! :D

I can't say I'll be modest about this one, though. I'm a natural liar; I love it so much that I tell lies to myself as frequently as I can -- even in the bathroom! -- to hon the craft, as they say, heh.

Seriously now, I've seen Moonrat's challenge and it itched me to participate. But thank god I didn't, as I could barely write a paragraph this weekend!

So, many congrats on your progress! You've done a lot, yes? Also, congrats on your numerous blog awards! Aren't you tired of getting them? lol

p.s.: She's too cool, isn't she? (re: Moonrat)

Mason Canyon said...

Congratulations on your award and thanks for the kind words. You outdid yourself. I can't pick, you're too convincing. Can't wait to find out which is true. :)

Jemi Fraser said...

You're most welcome Mari!

I love that you're a good liar! I wish. There are some weekends where it is totally impossible to get anything productive done - Im glad this wasn't one of those for me!

Moonrat is awesome! And no, I never get tired of them :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Mason - Thanks! Glad my lies seem to be at least a bit convincing. It was not easy to do!!

Stephanie Thornton said...

I don't know if my brain could handle 8 straight hours of writing. I tend to go in little spurts instead. But this weekend I'm doing a full edit in one swoop. It's going to be painful!

The romantic query letter and the happy-ever-after said...

Felicitations Sweetie.
I work on the weekends so I'm not able to do much writing.
I liked your list a lot.
Warm regards,
Simone

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I do love Moonrat!

No, weekends are tough for me, although I could do a challenge like that during the week maybe.

Congrats on your progress!!
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

JournoMich said...

You're crazy! Weekends are tough for me, too. I know they should be easier, since I have the kids all on my own during the week, but I pretty much reserve them for family time since we see so little of my husband during the week. So when do I write, you ask? Yeah, I pretty much don't, or I squeeze it in at 5 in the morning before (hopefully) they wake up!

Want to write? Writing Prompt Wednesdays today on my blog!
Michele

Jemi Fraser said...

Stephanie - I can't imagine 8 straight hours of writing either - my brain is way too bouncy for that! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Simone - thanks! I pretty much only have the weekends to write because my job consumes so many hours during the week! Thankfully we can write to our own schedules :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Elizabeth - Moonrat is awesome :)

That's the best thing about writing - you can work it in when your own schedule permits!

Jemi Fraser said...

Michele - yup, crazy pretty much covers it! My kids are older, but we still make sure to fit in lots of family time - nothing's more important!!

I'll check out your post after work tonight - sounds fun :)

Yvonne Osborne said...

I didn't read the others so as not to color my opinion. I'd say 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 are big fat lies. (It was a toss-up between 3 and 4 but I really couldn't believe the Donnie Osmond thing.) I'll check out Moonrat.

Joanne said...

Congrats on your Awards, much deserved here! And kudos on your 8 hours of writing. What sounds great about that weekend is that it encouraged writers to get into that "zone" and really produce material!

Anne Riley said...

Hey hon! I left you a prize on my blog!

Jemi Fraser said...

Yvonne - no one seems to believe the Donny Osmond thing :) I'll let you know next post!

Enjoy Moonrat's site - it's great:)

Jemi Fraser said...

Joanne - Thanks! You're so right - getting in the zone was great - even when I wasn't writing, it was filtering around in my brain :)

Thanks for dropping by!

Jemi Fraser said...

Anne - thanks so much! I'll pop on over :)

Helen Ginger said...

You are a good liar. It's so difficult to choose. I'm going with the eating candles as the lie. I could see trying once, but bleh on the taste.

Helen
Straight From Hel

Elana Johnson said...

Good luck this weekend! I'm sure you're going to blow it out of the park!

And congrats on the award. It's so cute!

And I'm going to go with #2 as the lie. I mean, candles? Really? If that's true, I have to hear that story!

Jemi Fraser said...

Helen - Thank you! I think... :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Elana - Thanks :)

I love this award too - it's very cute!

Candles are definitely the popular choice!

Anonymous said...

I'll bite for the signed Donny OSmond picture. Most celebs actually do sign pictures at one stage or another of their career. Even Ringo Starr signed a picture for Marge Simpson and sent it back to her.

Stephen Tremp

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

I hadn't heard ot his, but this is pretty much how I wrote both of my most recent manuscripts--like an absolute maniac. I think I'm too impatient to sit on an unfinished first draft for too long. I have to see it to its finish as quickly as humanly possible. I think the progress you made is wonderful, though, no matter how you did it!

Congrats on your award, by the way. This one is a fun one.

Unknown said...

I'd like to think you painted yourself entirely blue in order to become a Smurf. Now, that's a story I'd really love to read... just saying.... !!!

Good luck for the weekend. I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Stephen - Yay - I was feeling kind of bad for Donny - glad he's got a vote :)

I'll let you know next post!

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks Carol - I was pretty happy with all the progress I made - and it was fun :) Couldn't do it every weekend though!

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks Wendy :)

I'll let you know which one is true in the next post!

lisa and laura said...

8 hours? I can barely write for a couple hours straight!

I used to play 2 truths and a lie at the beginning of every school year with my students. They absolutely loved it. I'm going with the candle one. If it's not true, it was a fabulous decoy!

Jennifer Shirk said...

Oh, my gosh, this is fun!
TRUTH: #4

Good luck writing this weekend!

Jemi Fraser said...

Lisa & Laura - I definitely didn't write for 8 hours in a row - I'd NEVER make it. I rarely can get more than 30 or 45 minutes in a row :)

I've done that with my students too - it is a lot of fun!

Jemi Fraser said...

Jennifer - it is fun! Another vote for #4! Thanks :)

Alix said...

It definitely counts! Wow I am so impressed/amazed that you wrote that much in one weekend!

jmartinlibrary said...

Wow, Jemi. I know how busy you are, and I'm totally impressed you find the time to write at all! And keep up with the pulse of all things internet! Kudos...

Anne Spollen said...

I'm thinking the Donny thing is true...

But I'm way more impressed with 8 hours of writing. That's amazing.

Belle said...

Wow, it sounds like you had a blast, Jemi! I don't know if I could find the time or stamina to write for 8 solid hours over two days. Very impressive!

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks Alexa - I want it to count too :) I was pretty much wiped out at the end, but it was fun!

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks Jenny - yup - it's always chaos around here - but it's also always fun :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks Anne - another vote for Donny it is. Thanks - I was pretty amazed I squeezed it in as well :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks Belle - I was pretty surprised I was able to do it - it's always a little nutty around here :)

Mari said...

I forgot to comment on this, but maybe your truth is the smurf thing? That'd be cool! heh

You'll tell us which one is it, right? The revelation is a fun and important part of the award! (I'm making up this rule... gah! Just sold myself away. Dork. lol) ;p

Jemi Fraser said...

Mari - I will tell you which one - probably tomorrow - just too much going on today to get a post done! And I like your new rule :)

Lua said...

Congratulations on your award! :) I know #5 is a lie, it has to be right?
Well- even if it is true, it'll be one defect that will be fun to fix!

Anonymous said...

I missed moonrat's challenge, but it sounds like it was a lot of fun!

As for your "lies", I will guess that you've never been to the United States. (?)

Unknown said...

Funny answers, Jemi!! ...hmmm...is number four the wild truth??

Jemi Fraser said...

Lua - I'll let you know in a bit!

Jemi Fraser said...

Layinda - it was a lot of fun - and a lot of people did it - check out her site!!

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks Nicole! It looks like it's time to get that new blog post up :)

Sage Ravenwood said...

I saw the challenge over at Moonrat's, but I'm doing a bit of research right now for my newest writing project and didn't think that was cohesive to getting much writing done. Sounds like you managed to get quite a bit done yourself though. I'm proud of you. Congratulations on the newest award. (Hugs)Indigo

Jemi Fraser said...

Indigo - Thanks!

Actually I think some of the people were doing research as part of their hours - it's all part of the writing process :)