★★★★★ WRITE 500 words a day in 2014 challenge ★★★★★

[B]The Challenge: Write 500 words a day in 2014[/B]

[B]Why?[/B]

Clear writing is reflective of clear thinking. Superior writing skills directly translate into tangible benefits in nearly every career field and industry.

A man who cannot clearly articulate his thoughts in writing will also find it difficult to articulate his thoughts in conversations.

[quote]He(Jerry Seinfield) said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself—even when you don't feel like it.

[url]http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret[/url][/quote]

[url]http://lifehacker.com/5886128/how-seinfelds-productivity-secret-fixed-my-procrastination-problem[/url]

[B]The Goal:[/B]

Consciously spend time writing at least 500 words every single day with the intention to continually improve and refine our writing style.

[B]The Rules:[/B]

Write at least 500 words per day. Either in this thread, in your journal, or your blog, or anywhere else that you would like to write. But write 500 words per day. Never miss a single day.

[B]Resources:[/B]

On Writing Well - [url]http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0060891548[/url]
The Elements of Style - [url]http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Style-Fourth-Edition/dp/020530902X/ref=pd_sim_b_1[/url]
On Writing - [url]http://www.amazon.com/On-Writing-Anniversary-Edition-Memoir/dp/1439156816/ref=pd_sim_b_6[/url]

[B]Tips:[/B]

Be concise. Never use two words where one will suffice.
Remove useless frivolities.
Be clear and direct.

A man like no other; for he was a genius. The winds bowed down to his will, men jealous of his certainty, and children forever lamenting their lack of daimon.

Born to a long lineage of seafarers, he had lived on the sea for as long as he could remember. The sailors, the ship and the locations had changed throughout, but the feeling he felt when on board remained still: the slow swaying of the vessel as it left the barbarous waves conjured by the eternal forces of the sea, the bustle of workmen straining against the approaching storm. These feelings echoed those he had felt when reading. O’, how it brought happiness to relive these outside his imagination.

Headstrong and sure, he never drew back. Everyone knew of his talent; so natural and unprovoked. From the tales of Odysseys, who fought so bravely against the avarice of his men, to Heracles: abandoned in his search for his lover, he had learnt all he knew. Sculpted by these stories, he knew no other life than the one of glory, courage and the fight towards immortality.


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Not 500 words, but something I've been working on. In for thoughts.

lol I struggle writing 500 words for school, like I'm gonna do this for fun.....go for it tho brah good luck haha

Interesting.. I may couple this with the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge for 2014.

In on this, thank you op.

in on this

Good idea OP. Between this and the reading challenge, this will be one hell of a year improving what I'm worst at (reading and writing). Probably won't be every day for me though, maybe once a week and write based on what I've read (summarize) or reflect on thoughts that occurred during the week.

Hmm. Will consider. I think it would be a good talent to have; good writing skillz that is.

Do you guys have any writing stacks or rituals?

I find words flow the best...

When I've taken between 25-50mg caffeine(anymore makes my thoughts race too much).
Then workout
Then take 1g piracetam with some Choline

With that stack I can usually pump out a nice 1,000-2,000 word article.

I think the "flow" zone of writing is so interesting. Sometimes writing feels like beating your head against a brick wall while other times it's almost as if you're channeling information from "the other side."

[QUOTE=AntiGlobalist;1179262153]Do you guys have any writing stacks or rituals?
[/QUOTE]

I sit down, and think about the main subject I'm writing about. The words come naturally.

As long as I plan, I'm fine. I can spend a lot of time re-writing though.

edit:

anyone want to critique the passage I posted?

Did this with anime episode reviews. Reviewed like 5 episodes a day that were like 800 words each. I probably did more than 1500 episodes. Maybe it was the style of writing - being as it was more narrative, but I burned myself out. I can definitely agree that it made conversation much smoother and improved my vocabulary, word usage, etc.

[QUOTE=tikeshe;1179265873]I sit down, and think about the main subject I'm writing about. The words come naturally.

As long as I plan, I'm fine. I can spend a lot of time re-writing though.

edit:

anyone want to critique the passage I posted?[/QUOTE]
A lot of commas. I'd see how to write more short sentences rather than using a comma to break up long sentences. Sometimes lots of commas work but my honest opinion is that it screws with the flow of your work.

Is that part of a story you're writing?

And I got my 500 words in. Finished up an article on bulking. Still need to go through and edit but got the words in!

bump for more people to GTFI
I'll either write comedy bits and test them out on you guys before I do them or write really dark shtt

I found that whenever I have an idea it's best to write it all out then and there. Once you lose that moment , that newness and that flash of creativity it's gone. All you can do from there on is add to it , but it's never exactly the same as that first moment of inspiration.

I just found tumblr. I don't use it much yet but it could be a cool place to unload some of these stories. Just a nice little writing blog.
I'll follow anyone that lets me know. I use that and twitter to kill off old bits sometimes. It would be fun to start putting lil short stories on there though.
[url]http://nickohlessa.tumblr.com/[/url]

[QUOTE=NickA44;1179487043]I found that whenever I have an idea it's best to write it all out then and there. Once you lose that moment , that newness and that flash of creativity it's gone. All you can do from there on is add to it , but it's never exactly the same as that first moment of inspiration.
[/QUOTE]

This right here is the key for me to start writing. When that initial thought comes it always comes so fluently but trying to remember it days or even hours later makes it completely different. I find this is especially true for dreams, just woke up this morning with a dark dream (almost a nightmare but wasn't scared) and immediately pulled out the Evernote app on my phone and wrote down every detail I remembered. Will try to turn it into a short story throughout this week.

For brahs that want to write down ideas, install Evernote on your phone to jot down ideas when they come. These notes will be on your account from any pc you log into. Very good app to pick up from where you left off.

[QUOTE=AntiGlobalist;1179307143]A lot of commas. I'd see how to write more short sentences rather than using a comma to break up long sentences. Sometimes lots of commas work but my honest opinion is that it screws with the flow of your work.

Is that part of a story you're writing?
[/QUOTE]

Thanks. Will change, and see how I like it. I like using commas, but I definitely see where you're coming from. Too many passages have independent clauses.

It's for a small story (100 pages / 25k words). Will finish it sometime lul. Writing isn't a massive focus of mine this year, so I won't be doing this every day. Will try and do 500 a week minimum.

I've been thinking real hard about making a dream journal. Maybe I'll combine that with this challenge....

[QUOTE=coynemoney;1179644353]I've been thinking real hard about making a dream journal. Maybe I'll combine that with this challenge....[/QUOTE]
Dream journals are a great practice imo. I've been keeping one regularly and now I regularly have dreams that are literally more vivid than real life. It's mind-blowing.

Another practice I need to take up is just journaling at the end of the day. Over the last year I've read several biographies of great men and to a one they all kept a journal and examined their lives on a daily basis. Cutting away what was not for their highest good both with activities and with people.

"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates

In4 later today

subbed

[QUOTE=AntiGlobalist;1179647793]Dream journals are a great practice imo. I've been keeping one regularly and now I regularly have dreams that are literally more vivid than real life. It's mind-blowing.

Another practice I need to take up is just journaling at the end of the day. Over the last year I've read several biographies of great men and to a one they all kept a journal and examined their lives on a daily basis. Cutting away what was not for their highest good both with activities and with people.

"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates[/QUOTE]

you ever thought of doing a commonplace book? I've been doing one for a while - mainly with quotes though.

I write 5000+ words a day anyway on assignments/studying

In. I saw this thread yesterday and it inspired me to write in my personal journal again. It's a fantastic way of collecting your thoughts from the day.

[QUOTE=tikeshe;1179648943]you ever thought of doing a commonplace book? I've been doing one for a while - mainly with quotes though.[/QUOTE]
Not aware of commonplace books. What is that?

In. Going to start keeping a diary or something to start writing more. Also going to try and do the book challenge.

this seems complimentary to the 52 books per year challenge which has already helped me tremendously

in, subbed, and sigged

In. Hopefully I can commit to doing it everyday.

[QUOTE=AntiGlobalist;1179651173]Not aware of commonplace books. What is that?[/QUOTE]

Commonplace books (or commonplaces) were a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. Such books were essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas.

Commonplace books, it must be stressed, are not journals, which are chronological and introspective."

example:

[img]http://yardworks.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/ms327_merchants_commonplace_bookvenice_1312-resized.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=tikeshe;1179653183]Commonplace books (or commonplaces) were a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. Such books were essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas.

Commonplace books, it must be stressed, are not journals, which are chronological and introspective."

example:

[img]http://yardworks.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/ms327_merchants_commonplace_bookvenice_1312-resized.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
Fascinating, I should do that with self-development ideas. Probably come across 6 things I want to implement with each new book I read but only end up doing one.

[QUOTE=AntiGlobalist;1179653663]Fascinating, I should do that with self-development ideas. Probably come across 6 things I want to implement with each new book I read but only end up doing one.[/QUOTE]

Yeah man. They're awesome. I'm currently doing it on the PC, but I'll write it when my calligraphic skills become better.

[QUOTE=tikeshe;1179654713]Yeah man. They're awesome. I'm currently doing it on the PC, but I'll write it when my calligraphic skills become better.[/QUOTE]
I feel like PC has the big advantage of being able to search the document. That's the problem I have with paper books, when I try to look up something in reference that I KNOW I read sometimes it's impossible to find.

In will try my best. My writing skills have severely weakened since i left university