alexandermichaelcrow - Tumblr blog

alexandermichaelcrow · 5 years

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Goodbye Tumblr, Hello Everyone - Where to Find Me.

This is just a short note to say I no longer check or post on this tumblr. I had been using a sub-tumblr to post “Dear Diary” pieces, mostly with daily wordcounts and the like but, with the advent of Tumblr’s decision to implement their sweeping algorithm (and the whole farce of “female presenting nipples” over nazi-crushing), I decided enough was enough.

Instead, I have exported all my posts and I am currently in the process of importing them into my own site, here:

Not A Travel Writer

I can also be found on Twitter, Instagram, and (for now, but I don’t really like or use it other than for work) on Facebook. I am also looking at Medium and Steemit, but I have yet to decide how best to use these. Watch the space above. Not this one. There’ll be nothing more from me here.

If we’ve spoken in the past, and we are not connected elsewhere, please do say hello at one of the previous places! I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks to everyone who has ever shared my posts, commented, sent me messages or even just liked things.

Bye Tumblr, you were great, once upon a time. All things must change though.

Alex

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alexandermichaelcrow · 5 years

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As above!

Goodbye Tumblr, Hello Everyone - Where to Find Me.

This is just a short note to say I no longer check or post on this tumblr. I had been using a sub-tumblr to post “Dear Diary” pieces, mostly with daily wordcounts and the like but, with the advent of Tumblr’s decision to implement their sweeping algorithm (and the whole farce of “female presenting nipples” over nazi-crushing), I decided enough was enough.

Instead, I have exported all my posts and I am currently in the process of importing them into my own site, here:

Not A Travel Writer

I can also be found on Twitter, Instagram, and (for now, but I don’t really like or use it other than for work) on Facebook. I am also looking at Medium and Steemit, but I have yet to decide how best to use these. Watch the space above. Not this one. There’ll be nothing more from me here.

If we’ve spoken in the past, and we are not connected elsewhere, please do say hello at one of the previous places! I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks to everyone who has ever shared my posts, commented, sent me messages or even just liked things.

Bye Tumblr, you were great, once upon a time. All things must change though.

Alex

#tumblr is dead #tumblr is over #tumblr is over party #bye tumblr #find me #find me please #where to find me #nottravelwriter #notatravelwriter.com

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alexandermichaelcrow · 5 years

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A New Home on Alexander Michael Crow

A New Home on Alexander Michael Crow http://alexandermichaelcrow.com/a-new-home/

#digital nomad #fiction #join me there too #koh mak #new website #nomadic #notatravelwriter #places #Thailand #travel #writer #writing #Personal #Places #Travel #Truthful Tuesday #Writing

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alexandermichaelcrow · 5 years

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On Drafting

How I draft, an instruction-introduction.

I am aware this might have actually proven more useful at the start of November, for the NANOWRIMO crowd. Sorry!

Today, you need worry about nothing but 30 minutes. That’s it. Just 30.

Set everything up beforehand: cup of tea or a cafetière of coffee sitting beside you within easy reaching range; have a bottle of water on hand — always, always have water. Then open up whatever digital draft software you find best/have been persuaded to part with cash for, or a notebook and pen (have a spare pen on hand too — and do also consider pencil, it writes faster in some circumstances…).

All these things happen first. Then you set the timer.

30 minutes.

Did I mention it will only be for 30 minutes?

Of course, by the time you sit there (or stand - standing can be much better for your body) you already have an idea of what you wish to write, even if it is a very basic one. This is not the time for planning, that comes before and is a whole other subject (yes, one day I’ll write about my process too, if you’d like?).

30 minutes on the timer.

Go.

Now you write. Simple, yes? Well, no.

For a start, this is the hardest bit for those unaccustomed to writing drafts — they panic. Hopefully, in order to help, here is what I do — those little tricks that enable me to write swiftly and even, at times, furiously.

I type.

I use Scrivener.

I switch to distraction-free mode, with the size of the screen and the opacity of the background already dialled in.

I write.

However, I make mistakes. Perhaps I miss a leter, or aspace. Perhaps i don’t capitalise or I spell someting incorectly.

Doesn’t matter. Just LEAVE it. Do NOT pause and add the letter, space, capital, or spell it right. That’s REDRAFTING and, later, EDITING, not drafting. We’re drafting, remember?

I plough on (or plow — have no fear about your version of English at this stage either, write in the words and spelling you feel most comfortable with).

I write.

There will come a point where I will realise I’ve missed something out earlier, or I change a name, or I create a name in the first place.

Side note — names, whether people, places, things. They will change. Start with a TK, for example, tkname for the main character, or tkbestfriend for her best friend. You get the idea. At this stage you are drawing out the story, later, things-magical occur and you invariably reach a point in your draft or, sometimes, redraft, where these tks resolve themselves as your subconscious continues to work on the problem of nomenclature.

Back to the missed-out bit, or the mistake.

Don’t fix it! Don’t you dare move that cursor or the pencil!

Leave it where it is.

Do not worry.

Hit the caps lock. Add in TKIDEA, then record that thought.

Get back to the draft.

It’s a mess.

Good.

Have you ever dug clay to make pottery in the wilderness? Or have you ever needed a new spoon carved in order to eat your dinner? No, just me then, ok, sorry, personal example, but still. The clay is a mess. It has roots in it. Soil. Leaves. Small rocks. You need to know how to edit it. The branch of the tree has bark, maybe moss, the spoon wrapped within wooden fibres, hidden from view.

Same with writing.

This is a draft.

Not a polished edit, or even a redraft.

A draft.

Write.

30 minutes.

See how many words you can do. If you already have a good idea of how many — on the worst of days, not the best — use that as your minimum.

On days where words are like hen’s teeth or unicorn horns, I can write as few as 500. So that is my minimum target.

BUT it’s a target. When you are learning to fire an arrow or hit something with a sling, you DO NOT always hit the target. That’s life. That’s where practice comes in.

Keep practising.

30 minutes at a time.

Then, invariably, the timer goes off.

You stop writing NOW.

No, you STOP. You DO NOT finish the word, let alone the sentence or paragraph, no no no.

This way, you see, you are left with a loose thread to weave the next time. You won’t waste any of those precious 30 minutes, because you know exactly where you are going, what comes next.

Sometimes, and this is rare, your timer will go off just as you finish a paragraph or, even rarer, a scene or chapter. In this case, switch your timer to either 2 or 3 minutes and keep going. Much better to have that thread the next day. If you think that’s too short a time, you are wrong. 3 minutes is 10% of your 30 — you should be able to write the next bit in that time, surely?

That’s it. You’re done. You can reach for the rapidly cooling tea or coffee you forgot.

And then you count.

Obviously, this is easier in Scrivener or another word processor than it is by hand.

Then you record this number somewhere (I currently use tumblr, backed up in Scrivener and Onedrive, but I’ve also used spreadsheets and hand-written the results too). This is important — you need to look at the factors that curtail your drafts. Hence you’ll see notes on my tumblr, where I explain how, for example, I started later in the day, or a record of illness. This gives you (me) a much better idea of what you are capable of — even under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Done.

At this point you can stop for the day, or plan another 30-minute session. If the latter, you get up now and do something else. Never, ever, ever do two 30 minute drafting sessions back-to-back without something different in between. That rarely works and when it does (yeah, I was once young, foolish, and hopeful), it is a statistical abnormality — not the norm. This is why you keep a record and notes, so you can tell future-you not to make mistakes like that.

Done. Done.

Congratulations, you’ve drafted words. Messy, beautiful words.

Somewhere in that coal is a diamond. Somewhere, amidst the mass you’ve just collected from a riverbank, is the clay you will use to make a cup. Your branch is whispering to you, showing you where to lay axe and knife. That is the next thing. For now, keep collecting the raw materials and, make no mistake, when you draft, those raw materials are simply a volume of words.

Easy yes?

Go try.

This is what works for me. It might not for you, but it is advice/description culled from a long period of practice (and reading about the processes of others, something it seems all writers and artists love to do).

Good luck — but do please remember — in writing as in anything — you make your own luck through discipline, hard work, and practice.

30 minutes.

Draft.

#nanowrimo #nano 2018 #writing #amwriting #drafting #words #process

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alexandermichaelcrow · 6 years

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WIP TKPEPPER 16.10.18

A day when I didn’t write my new fiction words until 1700 — for me, not a good time. My brain is too weary, my body tired. So I am pleased with this. It was also a day when I fleshed out some further ideas for this story. How, for example, do you find and track someone in a city where everyone is legally obliged to wear a mask in public? Watch this space.

#WIP #TKPepper #wordcount #wordcountability #the lesser evil #writing #story #fantasy #new words #weary brain

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alexandermichaelcrow · 6 years

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WIP TKDesert 11/10/2018

Nearly finished, perhaps only one or two more 30 minute sessions to yield a decent first draft.

Physically, my infection feels like it has completely passed, but I have been left weakened, easily and constantly exhausted, which is irritating in extreme. Likewise irritating is my lightheadedness, which doesn’t seem to want to pass — it has been hanging around in one shape or another for weeks now, and recently has been worse. I suspect perhaps dehydration, but also perhaps something underlying, such as a relative lack of iron. Here we rarely eat red meat, for example, so perhaps it is time to check our iron intake, see if it needs raising. Perhaps some rehydration salts will also help? Can’t hurt, anyway.

#TKDesert #WIP #wordcount #wordcountability #writing #amwriting #the lesser evil #scrivener

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alexandermichaelcrow · 6 years

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On Adventure and Travel Equipment/Gear/Kit on Alexander Michael Crow

On Adventure and Travel Equipment/Gear/Kit on Alexander Michael Crow http://alexandermichaelcrow.com/on-adventure-and-travel-equipment/

#adventure #gear #gear review #kit #kit review #ray mears #Sawyer filter #survival handbook #Thailand #travel #travel equipment #travel equipment review #travel gear #travel kit #wilderness #Equipment #Travel

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alexandermichaelcrow · 6 years

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Habits, Travels, Me, Future. Post Number 91. on Alexander Michael Crow http://alexandermichaelcrow.com/post-number-91/

#a user guide to alex #adventure #Brexit #Emerald Isle #EU #FAK #France #mosquito #personal #Post 91 #road trip #scotland #social media #Thailand #travel #travels #Personal #Travel

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alexandermichaelcrow · 6 years

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Time

It’s been a while. In recent months I have mostly been using tumblr as a dump for wordcounts and little more. I used to do this in a private instance, where I would also record details of a day, such as what music I had listened to, what movies I had viewed, then I switched to using a public tumblr under the same name as my (forthcoming at this stage) website:

https://notatravelwriter.tumblr.com

There’s not a lot of interest there, at this point, but I intend to use it (as long as tumblr still exists, of course) to record such information, as well as snippets of interesting thought, observation etc. Essentially, the plan is to use this space to post items too long for twitter, too short for a full blog post.

And that is it, for now. I miss many of you, I miss our interaction, as I miss my interactions on twitter too but, if it is any consolation (if you even remember me), this disconnect has led to many tens of thousands of new and edited words in my work. As I get older I am painfully aware of mortality and time and, as much as I would like to continue with my ages-old habit of replying to emails with vast essays, there is not enough time, nor energy, left to do this. (See: https://www.uarts.edu/neil-gaiman-keynote-address-2012 for similar points.)

But that does not mean I do not care. Of course I do. Hello.

#hello #time #notatravelwriter #fiction #fiction versus email #neil gaiman #tumblr #writing #writer

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alexandermichaelcrow · 7 years

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The East Coast of Caithness on Alexander Michael Crow

The East Coast of Caithness on Alexander Michael Crow http://alexandermichaelcrow.com/caithness-east-coast/

#Ackergill #Badbea #caithness #Dunbeath #Duncansby #Girnigoe #Keiss #NC500 #North Coast 500 #scotland #Whaligoe #Places #Scotland #Travel

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alexandermichaelcrow · 7 years

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Step Four-Point-Five: A Reflection on Alexander Michael Crow

Step Four-Point-Five: A Reflection on Alexander Michael Crow http://alexandermichaelcrow.com/step-four-point-five/

#39 Steps #Amy Liptrot #books #Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros #home #injustice #reflection #Stromness #The Outrun #words are weapons #writing #Personal #Scotland #Thirty-Nine Steps #Writing

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