Comments on: Finding the Button

By: 70 Days of Sweat » Blog Archive » A Need to Know Basis

70 Days of Sweat » Blog Archive » A Need to Know Basis — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:03:02 +0000

[…] Friday’s Finding the Button post, Shiloh said: So what I did…I made myself focus. (…) I cut my blog-hopping in half […]

By: Karen Erickson

Karen Erickson — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:31:05 +0000

Wonderful post Shiloh - just reading about how much you accomplished during the last sweaty bout of Sven makes me want to write even MORE! I was feeling pretty good about this past week’s writing - now I wanna top it. Immediately.

Thanks for the inspiration!

By: Shiloh

Shiloh — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 03:02:23 +0000

“quantity vs. quality” debate

I’ve heard this mention of the quality vs quantity thing and I think too many people don’t get the idea of this kind of challange.

It’s not necessarily not about writing XXX amount of words within a certain amount of time and screw the art of storytelling.

It’s the training yourself to to write the words. Because if you don’t write the words, you’re not telling a story and if you don’t tell the story, it doesn’t much matter if you develop or refine the art of storytelling.

These sort of challenges teach discipline. For a pubbed writer, like moi, I need the not so subtle reminder to stop procrastinating and get to work cuz I got like six deadlines to meet over the next 14 months.

For the unpubbed writer, it can do the same thing, get the discipline down right. Because if the unpubbed writer is ever going to get pubbed, that discipline is key.

For the new writer who’s always wanted to tell a story… it can be the kick they need to tell it.

Writing a good story isn’t something everybody can do. If it was, then it wouldn’t really be all the special. Nobody is saying that participating in these kind of challenges is saying that you’ll craft a wonderful piece of written art. But participating in these challenges gets the words written.

And getting the words written is the one thing that every great writer has in common… they wrote the words.

By: Sierra

Sierra — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:34:09 +0000

Great post, Shiloh! I wanted to react to Jess’s mention of the “quantity vs. quality” debate — ya know what? That’s all and nice in theory, and I thought that way for years myself. But I’ve learned something from being under deadline, and that’s that however much I agonize, however much I polish and rewrite and change, I pretty much write how I write and ironically enough, it’s often those books that I’ve turned out at speed which have fared the best with both readers and reviewers alike. Totally weird, huh?

At least until I stop to consider that maybe, mayyybe, what’s really going on with my endless quests for the perfect word and polishing every sentence till it shines like pure silver is simply me getting in my own way. Being afraid of my own voice. Trying to write to some ideal I am never in a million years gonna reach. And maybe what I turn out without second-guessing every comma and contraction is actually fresher, more vibrant, and more alive.

Maybe. LOL!

— Sierra, now back on the ball and with a shiny Sven icon on her website, yay!!!

By: Inspiration « Great Scotts! Blatherings of Marissa and Kate

Inspiration « Great Scotts! Blatherings of Marissa and Kate — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:09:33 +0000

[…] Oct 27th, 2007 by Marissa Shiloh Walker has a GREAT post up on the 70 Days of Sweat site. Check it out. […]

By: Marissa

Marissa — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:07:47 +0000

This was a very good post, Shiloh. I’m soooooo very good at procrastinating. I’m tired, I don’t feel well, I need to do this, I need to do that, and keep putting off my writing. Then when I do sit down, I have the TV on (PFFT, so not good), and check my email, check blogs. Well, I’m going to have to follow your example and use discipline… the same discipline I use for my day job as I’m a home-based medical transcriptionist. I need to start looking at writing as a career rather than just a hobby, because if I don’t, it’ll take me too long to finish a book and I just might miss out on my chance.

Thanks for the inspiration!

By: Mechele Armstrong

Mechele Armstrong — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:37:16 +0000

Just knowing that I have to check in here and I’ve announced I’m doing this is a great motivator.

And I am competing with myself. I’m not fast writer so I really cannot compete with someone who can crank out more in a day than I can a week. But if I say “Okay today we are going to write more than we did yesterday” it does help.

I need to get rid of the distractions. Lately I’ve had the attention span of a flea so I need to work on not letting myself get distracted.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 21:23:36 +0000

I am the same way. I have to be challenged and this has helped a lot. I just got edits back for a second book, been working on edits for another, and before Sven, I would have panicked. But now I just know to keep my head down and push.
And, I think it depends on the writer for the quality vs quantity. Some people have to edit as they go, that is how they function. For me, it slows me down and the edits I do suck. I need to get the whole thing down, take some time away from it then go back. I made the mistake of doing the editing while writing and it really has hurt my output AND quality.
You just have to do what works for you and stay with that:) JMHO

By: Jess

Jess — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:46:33 +0000

I’m with Caro - I want Sven regularly, but not every day or it sort of makes him a moot point, negates the purpose, for now anyway.

Speaking or rocketing wordcounts, I made a post a day or two ago about some disparaging comments about challenges like this: the quality v. quantity debate.

By: Caro Kinkead

Caro Kinkead — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:24:17 +0000

I love challenges for the same reason you do — it brings out my competitive nature. Even if I’m not pushing against someone else, I’m pushing against myself, trying to get more stuff done. Over time, my word output has increased — and noticeably decreases when I’m not being poked to check in.

Would I want Sven 365 days a year? No, and not even because of the burn out factor. If there was no break between challenges, there’d be no push — and the push is what I need.