Writers Bureau Progress

I just sent off assignment F9 for Writers Bureau, a short story assignment. While updating my spreadsheet, I checked over the dates of all the assignments and here is the productivity measure: Assignments/Submission Date 1/ March 1 2/ March 14 3/ March 26 4/ March 30 5/ April 10 6/ April 13 7/ April 14 8/ July 5 9/ September 26 March and April were clearly the most productive, because at the time my main focus was on these assignments. Then the next three months were focused on my books, so the assignment pace slowed. But even so, I am quite satisfied with my speed. As far as I am aware, I think the next assignment will the last fiction assignment. I know that will take me ages, because I have got to write a partial script, and since I have never attempted a script, no idea where to start, and haven't yet thought of a story. But it should be a good experience. Though this course isn't a miraculous cure for publishing, because of it, I have tried many different forms of writing, which I would probably never had tried on my own initiative. It has increased my general knowledge about different forms of writing, and of course now I know from experience what I like or don't like. So the script thing should be an interesting experience too. What have you learned from trying different forms of writing?

Writing Plan for 2009

I love making plans, and I love making lists. I make so many lists and spreadsheets that it is a subject of amusement for my husband. My usual announcement would be something like this, "I made a new spreadsheet today about such and such." My husband smiles, and shakes his head.

So today, I made a preliminary writing plan for remaining 8 months this year. My April goal setting worked out really well, so I am hoping it may help with the rest of the year.

Over all, including short stories, assignments and novel I estimate writing over 150K words in the next 8 months. Not a lot in itself, but hell of a lot when I only have evenings and weekends, and some of them will have to be spent editing, revising, and some of them will be completely unproductive when life interfers.

Some things on the list are "hopefully complete" because I call 2009 "Year of Learning" - that is the year to learn how to be a published writer. Pick up skills from Writers Bureau course, and through that try new avenues of writing I have never considered before, like non-fiction. So a lot of this year is going to be an experimental year. But 2010 - forget olympics - the far more significant matter is the start of my "Year of Hard Work" to be a published writer.

So to make my goals a little more realistic and achievable, now I will divide my preliminary plan into monthly plans. God!! I am obsessive.

But you know what ...when you have a list of goals and at the end of the month you can cross everything off, it is very satisfactory.

So go on...try making your own plans.

Writers Bureau

I believe in intuition. I believe in the power of instinct. I believe in signs.

Flipping through a year old magazine, during one of my irregular recycling sprees, I found an ad for Writers Bureau creative writing course. It looked appealing so I cut it out and place it...somewhere. The following day, while reading a newspaper online, I came across the same ad. That was the sign. Twice in two days, and instinct dictated I look into it.

So I looked up the details, searched through mazes of forums to find reviews. It's not a cheap course, so I wasn't willing to fork out the money without checking things out properly. I found mix reviews, but one thing was certain - most of the people who complained about the course, complained so because they lacked the discipline for self study. Those who kept at it, had mostly positive experiences.

My mind was made up. I signed up. I didn't expect to learn anything miraculously new from the material, because I believe most of the things they include in the modules could also be found on the Internet. But the value of the money lies in a tutor support. It is invaluable to have someone mark 20 assignments over time, correcting errors and pointing out weaknesses.

Also for someone like me, who prefers more structured approach, modules are handy. Even though information is not new, just the fact that they are structured in a particular order, gives me something particular to focus on, rather than reading things all over the place, jumping from one topic to another, which is almost easy to do in the jungle of Internet.

I received my materials on February 19th. So far I have completed first three assignments and had them marked and returned. Already working on assignment fourth. This is a home study course without deadlines or expiry dates, so I have read about people working on it for over seven years. There are others of course who finish it within a year or two. My goal is 10 months or less. I want to complete it before end of 2009.

Since I work full time and also have other writing interests, 10 months is going to be challenge but if it wasn't, it wouldn't be much fun.

So thus continues a writer's journey...