Day: November 11, 2011

If you had your own restaurant, what would it be called?

/ inkspeare / 2 Comments
Hemingway posing for a dust jacket photo by Ll...

Image via Wikipedia

Usually, I don’t follow the WordPress prompts or topics to write about, but this one caught my eye and I decided to write a post about it.  Following the above question, I would name my restaurant “The Writer’s Cave.”  Immediately, that name came to mind and images of what the place would look like started to pour, giving me a sensory overload.  This is what the place looks like to me – The lighting is soft, giving it a cave and cozy feeling.  Since the place is set to cater to writers or wannabe writers, each table has comfy cushioned sitting with a small desk table that you can pull/slide from underneath the main eating table where you can place your laptop or notebook.  The main table has a lamp that you can flip open for reading or writing.  The atmosphere is light, the furniture and walls have an organic rock or paleolithic design.  A few ferns will be scattered around in vases that look like pencils or pens – a larger version of course.  Your napkins, plates and silverware will have engravings or printings of a 1940’s Royal typewriter and the walls will be adorned with the pictures of Hemingway and other famous writers of all times.  The main colors in the decor will be cream, browns, black, coffee and maize tones with silver motifs.  The fabrics will have books or best-sellers printed and the people who work there will have to dress as their favorite author.  Sorry, but if you don’t like writing, writers, books … you better not work there.  In fact, most likely you will not be hired.  Music will be played sporadically but it will be of songs featured in books or related to a story.  The ladies room will have a Red Ridinghood theme and the gentleman’s room theme will be Lord of the Rings (although “The Little Engine that Could” came to mind).   The menu will include foods that have been featured in some classics or best-sellers, or the favorite foods of best-selling authors.  The best part is the pricing, catering to starving artists and writers; although it would be hard to stay in business for long.

So, there you have it, if I had my restaurant that is what it would look and feel like.  However, I am no restaurateur or have dreams of becoming one; I will be happy to sit in it and mingle with other writers.  For any restaurateurs out there, feel free to create this place and don’t forget to send me a coupon for a free meal.

Microwrite Your Novel

/ inkspeare / 4 Comments

I have set a goal to finish my novel before the end of this year, so that means I have seven weeks before December 31st.  I started working on the first draft on July and took a break from it (see post Wrestling with Your Characters 1-2) for the entire month of October.  Now, I am up to 19,500 words and my goal is to pass the 50,000 words by the set date.  I decided to break things down in numbers to see how manageable that was for me.

Taking 50,000 words as my base number minus the 19,500 words I have in, that equals 30,500 left for me to write.  I divided that number between seven weeks, giving me a total of 4,357 give or take words per week, or an equivalent of 622 words per day.  That is not bad at all, and certainly very doable for me.  It looks that I will have my first draft before the new year begins, cause for celebration.  In an equation it would look like this:

50,000 – 19,500 = 30,500 ÷ 7 = 4,357 ÷ 7 = 622

Usually, I write and don’t worry about word count or numbers (the reason I will never do Nanowrimo) but in this case, I needed to figure out the numbers to see if I would be able to meet my goal in the set timeframe.  That will take care of the first draft, and then the hard part starts, revisions 2 and 3, for me.  I stop at the third revision.

If you are trying to write a novel, novella, or novelette, try this.  Give yourself an amount of time, and then break down the correspondent amount of words (an approximate) per week/day and that will make the task easier.  It will help you get an idea of how many words to put in (if you miss a writing day).  Or follow best-selling author Claire Cook’s advice of writing two pages a day.

So go ahead and microwrite that novel a few words at a time.