Time for another Wednesday Writing Weigh In!

The weeks go so fast, it seems.  It's time for another #WednesdayWritingWeighIn, Sockmonkeys!

Thank you to those of you who are participating in these check-ins, whether here on the blog or in one of our other social media spots.  It's nice to hear how people are doing, even if you don't end up checking in every week. Feel free, even if you don't have an update yourself, to pop in and comment or ask questions about someone else's update.  This is a way to try to help us get to know other Sockmonkey writers in the area, after all.

Are you writing?

Are you editing?

Have you stalled on one project and decided to take a break to plan or work on another?

Are you refilling your creative well by reading some fiction (or nonfiction, if that's where you get ideas from)?

Please, check in with us and let us know how it's going!  You never know who else among us might be in a similar situation but feel alone and be encouraged just reading your update.  Plus, it's fun to celebrate other writers' successes with them, so let us hear about yours.

So, what updates do you have for us this week, Sockmonkeys?

It's Wednesday again, Sockmonkeys!

Hello again, Sockmonkeys!

Thank you to those of you who stopped in and read last week's check in post and even commented here on the blog.  It's nice to see participation in each of the various places our writers spend their online time and to hear what you're all working on - whether it's writing related, reading related or just life in general.  It's time to find out what you've been up to since last week.  (Well, maybe not EVERYTHING you've been up to...)

But first -

I'm not sure if any of you participated or not, but last night was the Open Mic Poetry night at the Puyallup Public Library.  If you did participate, how was it?  Were you a volunteer reader or were you an audience member?

Are you participating in any online or in person writing groups?  Are they open to the public? (If they are, please feel free to share the information in the comments and it can be mentioned in a future post.)  A big thank you to John Newsom for starting a writing group in North Tacoma!  I know he plans to post some reminders of his own, but I'll include a link to his original post with information about their next write in on March 7th.

Okay, now that those have been mentioned, how is your writing going, Sockmonkeys?  Are you drafting? Editing? Sending out to Beta readers and working on something else while you wait for feedback?  Busy doing school papers or working on other deadlines, so you haven't had a chance to work on personal projects?  Being creative in a non-written fashion?

Are you filling your creative well with good reading?  What are you reading?  Fiction? Nonfiction? Fanfiction? Poetry? (It IS National Poetry Month for a few more days...)

Please, comment and let us know!

How's the writing going this week, Sockmonkeys?

As a continuation of yesterday's post and a way to start trying to bring this to the blog where more Sockmonkeys will be able to see it and interact with it, this week's #Wednesdaywritingweighin is starting here on our blog.  You can, of course, just weigh in with your update on whichever social site you see this link on, you can comment here on the blog or you can do both. 

I know, a lot of Sockmonkeys aren't used to interacting with the blog, and that's okay.  The thing is, many of our writers do not belong to any of our various social accounts, so that means they get left out of the communication.  I've likely posted a bit about this before, when I first restarted the blog, and I will go into more detail in a future post, but, that's the reasoning behind making this change.  You can, of course, just interact where you're most comfortable.

That spiel out of the way, it's time for you to "weigh-in" with us. 

How is your writing going?  Are you drafting? Editing? Sending work to beta readers?

Are you busy with work or school or family?  Has it been hard to squeeze the writing in?

If you participated in NaNoWriMo during November, have you been working on your NaNo novel?

Read any good books lately?

Please, comment and let us know how things are going for you.

Look forward to hearing from you, Sockmonkeys!

UPDATE: Wednesday Writing Weigh-Ins

This is the graphic used in the first weekly "check-in" post that was created in our Sockmonkey group on Facebook.  A picture of the post (and then the text) follows:

Wednesday Write "Weigh-In" [I didn't want to call it a check in because I was going for alliteration! ;) ]

Last fall, Heather put up a post asking for suggestions about what members would like to see in the group and one of the suggestions was check-ins. So, I'm giving it a try.

I have seen some of you posting your individual updates, which is great. :) But for others who may not want to create a separate post and to make it easier to find progress over time, a centralized post like this now and then could be fun and helpful.

So, "weigh in" with us. How is your writing going? What are you working on? Are you writing? Editing? Having a hard time fitting it in because of family, work or school? Stuck on something? Have a fun breakthrough you'd like to share? Please, tell us how things are going for you so far in the comments below. #wednesdaywritingweighin

There was a week missed due to illness (but some folks started their own check in anyhow, which was great) and then I was back again on February 5th with the following:

Ready for you Sockmonkeys this week! :) It's been nice to hear updates from a number of you. I hope more will join in as time goes along (whether you've been writing recently or not). How is your writing going?

Any new story plans? Working on editing? Taking a break from a story to get some space before editing? Procrastinating in general? Reading any new books on writing? Please, share your updates in the comments! #wednesdaywritingweighin

Finally, here is the post from last Wednesday, February 12th:

#Wednesdaywritingweighin time, Sockmonkeys! It's been great to see so many responses from members. Don't be shy! How's the writing going?

It's okay if you've been busy with other things. Tell us if you've read any good fiction or writing related books lately. Bought any fun new writing tools? Let's share our progress in multiple ways! (And feel free to comment or ask questions about what other folks post in this thread! Start conversation, etc.)

Although I meant to get something posted to the blog about this sooner so it could be sent to the Sockmonkey Twitter for people to see there, I just didn't get to it.  I also meant to post a quick version of it on our Instagram, so Sockmonkeys who follow us there could join in, but that didn't happen, either.  That's why I figured I'd start with this post, so those not in the Facebook group could see what's been going on and could join in either here on the blog, on Twitter or on Instagram.  I have to admit, it was also easier to start testing this sort of thing out for interaction/response rates on Facebook first, because I'm often far too wordy for Twitter (haha) and I wasn't sure how it would translate to Instagram.  But, we're caught up now, so folks not in the Facebook group can see what we've been doing and more of an effort will be made to put this out here where it can be interacted with by more of our group's members.

Now, this post is already long enough, so I will come back another time with a quick post updating everyone on responses that have been given to the Facebook posts (without any identifying or personal information) as a way of helping connect our group more.

What do you think of having check-ins ("weigh-ins", as I've dubbed them) like this on the blog and our other social media?  Any suggestions for future group building posts like this?  Whether you want to answer those questions or not, if you'd like to, feel free to reply to any of the writing questions listed above in the comments below. 

How IS the writing going, Sockmonkeys?

The NaNoWriMo site is transitioning soon!

Hello all!

I just finished writing and sending out a regional email on the NaNoWriMo site about this, so I feel like I'm repeating myself, but that's okay.  I'm pretty sure not everyone gets the email notifications about new NaNoMail, so that's why there's a blog post about it, too.  If, after reading the NaNoMail or this post, you have questions, please leave them in the comments so every visitor can see them and the answer(s) in one central location - rather than some in one place and some in another.  Thank you! :)

To briefly repeat what was stated in the NaNoMail, the current NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo sites will be taken down soon and merged into the new, updated site, so that when you visit NaNoWriMo.org, the newest one is what you will see.  If you didn't get (or didn't read) the email from HQ about the changes, this post on the current forums has all of that information for you.  According to that mail and post, the transition is planned for mid-August, which means it could happen any time now.  One thing that they are working on but that isn't quite set up yet is Regional Forums, so, inspired by the ML of another local region, I have made this thread on the new forums to help keep us all connected on the site.  Updates on the Regional Forums will be posted here on the blog and via our social media accounts, as well as via NaNoMail, if that's a feature the new site gives Municipal Liaisons.

Please take a look around the current location of the new site by clicking here to help you get a feel for it before November rears its proverbial head.  The new forums system, Discourse, works a bit differently than the old forums did, so when you have time, pop in and look around.  After you've signed in, you can check your forum mail there for a note from Discobot which will take you on a brief tutorial of some basic posting features, as well as an advanced tutorial for learning to quote posts and other forum tasks.

If you'd like to be notified about new posts on this blog, including any posts related to the NaNoWriMo site update or event planning for November, etc., please feel free to use one of the boxes on the right to add it to your RSS feed or to sign up to get posts via email.  You will only get email when there is a new post.  Emails are sent automatically the day after a post goes live on the blog.

Let's hope the site transition goes smoothly!

Questions?  Please add them in the comments and I'll answer them as soon as possible.

Dusting off the cobwebs

Those of you who are fairly recent members of the SockMonkey Writer's Group probably had no idea we had a blog.  Heck, most of our somewhat longer term members probably never even saw it when it was active - back in the spring, summer and early fall of 2013.  This inaugural post from April 19th, 2013, explains what the original hope for this blog was, back when it was started by the then current Admins of the Facebook group (and NaNo Municipal Liaisons) Cassandra and Shelly.  [Thank you to both of you for the work you did within the group and getting this blog going!]

As stated in that post, there were many reasons (and hopes) behind its creation.  While Facebook can be a handy place to share a quick link or update or create a group event, not every writer in the area uses it and this leaves them out of much of the group's discussions. Plus, the algorithm being what it is, only about 6% of group members even see new posts, unless they've chosen to always see them or interact with the group a lot.  This, and the way posts quickly scroll out of view, means lots of information and conversation gets missed.  This blog was being used to catalog the links that were shared in the group at the time, to allow people to see what they might have missed - and to be able to discuss it outside of the group by making it easier to find.  Cassandra and Shelly hoped this blog could become a central place to collect information on members' blogs or websites, to share book recommendations, writerly events in the area and so forth.

Unfortunately, they stepped down from their roles and those who stepped in after them didn't end up continuing to update the posts and information on this blog, so it has been dormant for nearly 6 years.  After my first November as a Municipal Liaison and Group Admin, I realized it would be really nice to have a central, non-social media oriented, place to point members so they could learn more about the group, each other and writing, etc.  I didn't have time during NaNo to work on it, but I felt that this blog could end up being that central place.

It has taken me a bit of tweaking, but I have made a number of changes to both the look and function of the blog.  There are links to all of our (currently used) social media platforms, plus a few widgets so you can see what's been posted and shared on them, even if you're not a user of that platform.  There is also now an "About" page with some of the history of our group and our mascot and a "Writerly Resources" page where some of the links that are shared in the Facebook group or on various other sites will be centrally located - so you don't have to scroll through a bunch of old posts! There's also a questions/comments box and a way you can react to posts even if you don't want to leave a longer comment, plus, if you'd like to just get an email when something new is posted, you can sign up for that.

I do hope that this blog will become a place where we can share conversation and ideas with any in our group who choose to join in.  I know it may take some time for people to decide to migrate over and take a look.  That's okay.  I'm just hoping this is the start of something that writers in the Tacoma/Pierce County area will participate in and enjoy.

Please start by letting me know what sort of things you'd like to see on this blog or what you think of the layout.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you!