As promised, it’s time for another group writing project at Confident Writing.
It’s on experimenting (of course) and the invitation is to tell us about:
The Results of My Writing Experiment
That might include:
- Looking back on something you tried, and what you learned from it
- Writing about something you want to experiment with and what you hope will come from it
- Sharing the results of a writing experiment you tried – or are prompted to try by this project!
Feel free to interpret it as you see fit… we’re talking experiments here after all!
To give you plenty of time to take part the project will stay open until midnight, 30th November.
All you need to do is link to this post and leave me a comment in the comment box, just in case the pinging doesn’t work.
Good luck and I look forward to reading your contributions.
Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count
Photo Credit: Ocean Tender Love Cocktail by s1m0ne on flickr
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Hey, I didn’t know this was gonna turn into a writing project! I’m working on my experimental post(s) now… (sounds of mad scientist’s laboratory)
Robert Hruzeks last blog post..All Entries: What I Learned From Government
I love to experiment with new ideas -I’m hatching one right now and will give it a try. Let you know the outcome.
It’s a big departure from my typical, and so I was wobbling on this idea. Maybe I should give it a go, maybe I should forget about it. You’ve given me the encouragement to push myself off the cliff and find those wings I’ve had hidden all along.
Bos last blog post..Heading South for the Winter
Robert, neither did I! That’s what experimenting does for you!
I know you’re planning something special with the guest post, so please don’t feel the need to write something for the GWP too. Hope the chiseling went well today
Bo, participants are of course free to talk about the experiments they’re thinking of, or thought about, and decided against… there’s no obligation to jump off the cliff… unless you know you’re ready to fly, of course
You already gave me a wonderful answer to this question when you talked about what you’d learned with your blogging experiment so far. I think it reflected the experience that many of us have had, in different ways, and why we enjoy this medium so much.
Joanna,
my first experiment was publishing a poem on my blog. Now I am thinking of including fiction in it. I’ve got some ideas, but I am still trying to sort them out. I hope that I’ll get it done till the end of November.
Ulla Hennigs last blog post..What you See is not Always what you Get
Ulla, I think it’s great that you keep on pushing and testing the boundaries of your blog. If you don’t get the fiction written you could always write something about what’s prompting you to experiment, how it feels when you do, what’s good, what’s challenging, what kind of feedback you get.
It’s all of interest to me!
I’m back to fulltime writing after two decades of too busy with life to write. My writing muscles have been flabby. I am working with a prison ministry developing a newsletter for all inmates in the entire state.
After a great weekend in a large maximum women’s facility a friend encouraged me to write a poem. I’ve never tried poetry, but I loved the experience. I’m hooked. This was quite a surprise to me.
Here is the first poem … ever from my heart.
Freed On The Inside
Church on the inside
Doors slam shut, you’re locked inside
Praise & Preaching coming to the inside,
But freedom came to me on the Inside.
Inmates dressed in beige with a number
Fill the room slowly with gloom.
Shamed and stripped of hope
They show up ’cause they’ve heard there’s a sound.
Our team’s been here before
They’ve heard we’re more than preachin’
Others say we bring a “sound’
The band plays, the singers praise
The dancers leap with joy
All with a sound.
Then the former inmate preacher
Brings Jesus’ Word
The inmates come forward and kneel.
Then I hear a sound.
Hundreds of inmates sing a song:
Holy Holy Holy
Their voices bring a sound,
Heaven flows a sound.
A mighty sound comes forth
And I’m free on the inside.
Holy Holy Holy
A sound like a mighty wind.
Chains of shame broken,
Bars and Walls come down.
In God’s Presence
All are free on the Inside.
On the inside….I got free
On the inside of prison
I got free.
Inmates entered in gloom,
They leave dancing from the room.
They throw kisses,
Their eyes dance with joy.
They are free on the inside.
On the joy of being on the inside,
On getting free on the inside,
On seeing inmates
Free On The Inside.
Written by Kay Andrews Martin 2008
Kay Martins last blog post..Thrive in Crisis
Kay, thank you so much for sharing that experience, but most of all for sharing your poem. Wow. I loved it. Thank you.
Joanna
Great idea.
Here’s my entry.
Kate, thank you, I loved your entry – what a simple but effective idea. I’ve often had that brain tingling sensation myself when learning a language but never thought to apply it to other tasks or creative projects – until now!
Joanna
I blog because I want to connect with other education activists and also to increase interest in support of public schools. My challenge is that those blogs that have social media/2.0 titles attract more readers…but I still don’t think I’ve been able to be read by those I most would want to connect to
Aurelio Montemayors last blog post..Blog Bouncing Boon – Choiring to my preaching
Hi Aurelio and thanks for stopping by
Although some blog topics are more ‘popular’ than others there are so many readers out there I’m sure there’s enough to go round… Plus what you really want to do is connect with those who are most interested in your work because that’s where the best feedback, support and encouragement will come from.
Are there things that you could experiment with that would help you find those readers? Maybe off the blog – offline, or using other social media?
How do Ideas come into practice?
I am still thinking about how to integrate a fiction post. I’ve seen blogs with such posts, so it can be done. But how long can they be? And will I be able to write such a post? (I wrote a few short stories in German, though). I think I need some encouraging kick in the butt…
Ulla Hennigs last blog post..Winter in Berlin
Ulla, off the top of my head I’d say there were two ways you could do this
1. Write the short story however you’d normally write it, then work out how best to publish it on your blog. The publishing part is a different process to the writing part – you’d need to think about how much to include – you might not want the whole thing in one post, but you could include an excerpt, and link to the whole thing for example?
2. Set the intention to write something short enough to fit into a blog post – say 800 words maximum, then ask your creative mind or muse, or whatever you ask for words… to dream up the story
In either case I might ask you – what’s the positive intention? What is it that gave you this feeling, this desire to write some fiction on your blog?
Ulla, another thought – you could also write about why you wanted to write fiction, but that the words wouldn’t flow… that might also make an interesting entry for a group writing project. It might also help you to get through the stuckness.
Joanna,thanks for answering immediately! You asked why. Well, I got a certain photo in my mind – the old “Weinhaus Huth” on the Potsdamer Platz, framed by modern glass buildings. I got the crazy ideal to tell its story – how it was standing all one on the vacant place with no other houses around, and then times changed, a lot of building activity, and there were those strange glass buildings. What to expect from them? In the end, the Weinhaus made the experience that it could go along well with its news friends.
Crazy idea, isn’t it? But somehow I like to write that story…
Ulla Hennigs last blog post..Winter in Berlin
Ulla, if you’ve got the creative itch to do it a) it doesn’t sound crazy b) I look forward to reading the story…
Joanna,
I did it. The story is now online. I took the leap.
I will add the link to your article here, but I’ve got only time to do that tomorrow.
Feel free to speak your mind!
Ulla Hennigs last blog post..Old and New – A Story from Berlin
Good for you Ulla! I got the link from commentluv – no need to add it again. It was a lovely story.
Joanna,
My post is up at http://lillieammann.com/2008/11/29/the-results-of-my-writing-experiment/
I don’t know why Comment Luv is picking up the post—I thought I got over here too fast so I left and came back an hour later and it’s still not showing in Comment Luv … but it is on my blog!
Lillie Ammanns last blog post..Books We Love Golden Treasures
Joanna,
Apologies if this is a duplicate comment, but the first one seems to have disappeared. I seem to be jinxed tonight. Comment Luv isn’t showing my latest post; I tried to register at Comment Luv and got locked in a loop that I need an authorization code to complete the process but the message didn’t come through; and now my comment disappeared.
Anyway, my post is up at http://lillieammann.com/2008/11/29/the-results-of-my-writing-experiment/ even if Comment Luv isn’t showing it as the latest post.
Lillie Ammanns last blog post..Books We Love Golden Treasures
Lillie, hi and sorry for the glitches. I was having one of those technically jinxed days the other day myself. Your 1st comment got eaten by akismet, who knows why… As for why comment luv doesn’t pick up your post – well, I’m not 100% sure of how comment luv works, and whether the delay is caused by feedburner, or the plug in, and if glitches crop up at the blogger’s site, or the commenting site… that being said, I still think it’s great and have read a lot of posts from it that I wouldn’t otherwise have got to
Thanks for taking part in the project – much appreciated.
Joanna,
Akismet probably didn’t like the link in my comment. I don’t mind getting caught occasionally as Akismet catches so many real spams. Where would we be without it.
I like Comment Luv also and it usually works great.
There are always some mysterious technical glitches. I still can’t get gravatars to show in comments on my blog though they are there in the admin panel—I’m sure it’s a conflict with the many comment plugins I have.
And I who always complain when other people use partial feeds can’t get a full feed though I’ve been working on it off and on since I updated my blog.
Talk about experimentation—I’ve done a lot of that with themes, plugins, etc.
Lillie, I know, I sometimes go through spells like that too. I suppose that’s the price we pay for the freedom to customize our blogs.