While writing this post, I realized that I need to make a class central page for this series. That way I can deposit the category explanations there instead of repeating them in every post (or omitting them altogether and confusing anyone who jumps in mid-class). I should have that done by the next installment, but for now, enjoy another wordy Eclectic Writing Class.

I love Jenna Moreci’s videos. Her spunky sarcastic humor and fake-mean swearing never fail to make me laugh, and her explanations of writing-related things are practical and to-the-point. Last month she posted a video on her Top 5 Tips for Staying Motivated While Writing Your Book. The video is ten minutes long, but the topical part spans from 1:20 to 7:20 (6 minutes). The rest pertains to personal stuff and promoting her new book, The Savior's Champion.

I was using K.M. Weiland’s books Outlining Your Novel and the Outlining Your Novel Workbook to start creating a solid outline of my work-in-progress—until I got caught up in the blogging whirlwind of doom. When I can return to outlining, I plan to use them to finish the darn thing. For those who don’t have the books, her Helping Writers Become Authors blog also has a series of posts on the same topic, complete with helpful infographics. Each post in the series also includes a short podcast/audio version for those of us who like to multi-task.

Write a scene including  the phrase “she opened her eyes” 

I recommend setting a timer for 20 or 25 minutes and writing whatever pops into your head. If you need to tweak something in the phrase to make it work for your story, like changing a pronoun or swapping an object out for a different one, go for it. There are no rules here.  Just write.

You can read my basically unedited attempt at this prompt on Wattpad. Placeholder words are in [square brackets] and notes to myself for later are in {curly brackets}.

You'll see in my notes that I went a little over my Pomodoro this time, and I think that's fine. The whole point of prompts is to get you writing, and it certainly did that for me.

I will continue posting these in “An Eclectic Writing Class - Prompt Writing.” I recommend adding the work to your Wattpad library so that new additions pop up in your newsfeed. With the mobile app, you can even get notifications on your phone.

If you would like me to see your attempt, send me a link, or post a link on Twitter with the hashtag:

#eclecticwritingclass

You can also follow me on Wattpad to see any new projects.  I’m not looking for feedback on the prompt writing since I'm basically discovery writing/brainstorming the story right now, just to flesh out the idea a little bit. If I ever expand it into a real book (or finish rewriting my current work-in-progress), it would be great to get a critique group going. Contact me if that’s something you're interested in.

When choosing vocabulary words, I like to pick ones I might actually use. The easiest way to do that is to take them from my reading. Anytime I see a word I'm not absolutely certain I know how to use, I write it down for later. You're welcome to use my words or find your own. I've been reading LOTR, so there are a lot of nature words this month, and all of them are nouns.

I’ve made a Memrise course for this class, but use whatever works for you.

My words for this lesson are:

As per the usual, everything is taking way longer than I thought it would. I'm planning/hoping to get the blog up to standard by the beginning of June so that I can get back to outlining my work-in-progress. I think I was too impatient to start posting reviews and should have gotten all of the static pages, bios, etc. fixed first. Now I'm trying to get all of that stuff updated while also keeping up with regular posts. Yikes! Just wait until I add novel-writing goals while trying to keep up with regular posts...

I finally took some decent photos of myself and have been slowly posting them on social media. Yesterday I finished updating all of my profile bios, etc. I am super proud of my new About page, but I still have a bunch of other static pages to create and/or update.

That’s it! I’m trying to write a post in this series once every four weeks, so if you want to join me, you should have plenty of time to do the homework. You can find any other posts in this series at An Eclectic Writing Class.