IWSG Day, ROW80 Goals, New Knitting, and Diana Gabaldon's Rules for Writing

ew projects!


Somehow there's always time to do something you really want to do.

In between the usual busy-ness, I found time to knit something!

I sorely missed knitting, and my daughter needed new mittens...

I love Marianna's Toddler Mittens pattern because it's not only easy to knit, it's also easy to resize as needed. It took a bit of experimenting (one mitten came out slightly wonky on top, and I haven't shown that in the photos!), but not much time overall.

It always feels good to finish a quick project.

Particularly relevant, as it's time to set our goals for the next round of ROW80.

Mine are to:

• keep up with (complete?!) The Antipodean Time for NaNoWriMo
• solve the plot hole in The Handful of Time
• keep up with school and everything else

(A corollary to this is that it's been about a year since I've actively commented on other blogs. I'm really hoping to remedy this and get back to regular visiting and commenting by next summer, once school is over.)

And maybe knit something else! I've collected a few "I wish I had..." ideas from friends, including leg warmers and a tuque.


Today is Insecure Writer's Support Group day!

Very intriguing question this month: "It's been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don't enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?"

I think the only people who write, but don't read, must be those types who live, the ones who are busy building cabins or sailing around the world, or helping isolated communities in far-flung parts of the globe, or... Their stories are always exciting to listen to, and they might have a natural ear for storytelling that helps them translate oral tales into written ones.

Otherwise, I just don't think it's possible to write without reading. For one thing, how can you not want to read? It's so enjoyable and interesting and exciting! For another, you need to read often and widely, to learn (either actively or passively) all the tools and methods that are available to you.

Diana Gabaldon puts it best:

"Frankly, there are only three “rules” to being a successful writer:

1. Read. Read everything. This is how you learn both what you like, and what you don’t like (and you sure shouldn’t waste time writing stuff you don’t like, no matter how popular you think it might be)–and how you begin to learn what writing techniques are, and how they work.

2. Write. You can read all the books about writing and take all the classes about writing that you want (and I’m not saying these are pointless; they’re great for some people, not so much for others)–but the Horrible Truth is that nothing will teach you to write, except the act of putting words on paper. I naturally can’t guarantee that you’ll be published, successful, or rich–but I do guarantee that the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it.

and the third rule is the most important:

3. Don’t Stop!!"

Have you completed any projects recently?