April 16 2025 Wednesday Writing Weigh-In

 

Image: Beige background with four colored squares in a 2 by 2 grid under the words "Wednesday Writing Weigh-In" in pink letters. Upper row from left to right: a teal box with a white square and teal check mark in it above the words "I'm working on a new project." in dark letters; a green box with a white square and a green check mark in it with the words "I'm writing/editing and existing project." in dark letters. Lower row from left to right: a red box with a white square and red check mark in it above the words "I'm researching or planning." in dark letters; a pink box with a white square and pink check mark in it above the words "I'm taking a break to fill my creative well." in dark letters.

Hi Sockmonkeys!

Been a little while since I've posted one of these. This is just a quick post to check in with you and see how your writing is going. Are you working on something new? Reworking something old? Researching or daydreaming for a new project? Submitting work and waiting to hear back? Taking a break to read, watch movies, craft or do other things to refill your creative well?

Whatever you're up to, please take a minute to reply to this post or one of our social posts and let us know!

(Haha, looks like my actual message is shorter than my alt text for the graphic!)

Hope you're all doing well. Look forward to hearing from you!

11/8/2023 Wednesday Writing Weigh In

 

Haven't done one of these in a while and since I know not everyone is participating in NaNoWriMo, I thought I'd check in with the Sockmonkeys at at large for a Sockmonkey Writer Writing Weigh In.

How is your writing going? Are you writing something new? Editing a project? Querying? Preparing to Self Publish? Reply and let us all know a bit about what you're currently up to!

IMG: A dotted beige background with the words Sockmonkey Writer Writing Weigh In all in caps arced above what looks like a darker square of paper taped to it. The paper has four boxes with a check mark in each one. Next to the first is "Hit Like or <3 if you're working on a project". Next to the second is "Comment and let us know what you're writing OR". Next to the third is "Let us know what you're editing OR". Next to the final box is "If you're at a different point in the writing process currently." An image of Polly Esther and Pierson on a pink gradient background with a black circle around them and the words PCSockmonkey Writers Est 2009 in blue letters with black outlines is in the lower right corner.

Last Wednesday of April CampNaNo Weigh in!

Hello Sockmonkeys!

Well, it's April 29th, which means we're on the next to last day of the April session of CampNaNo for this year.  Even with the uncertainty going on around us, it feels like this month has just flown by for me.  How about you?

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who signed up to participate in one of our regional cabins this session!  It's been fun to see bits of conversation as well as the occasional site badge go buy as an update of various writers' progress this month.  If you weren't able to join this time, don't worry!  There's another session of Camp in July.  You can participate solo or can join a regional cabin at that time and join with other Pierce County writers as we work toward our writing and/or editing goals that month.

Whether you participated in Camp or just did writing on your own, how did your writing go this month?  If you participated in Camp, how did it go? Did you reach your goal?  Were you editing, rewriting, drafting a new project, writing a number of shorter works, etc?  I remember seeing some of our participants mention a little of each of these and I hope everyone got their projects where they hoped they would over the course of this month.

Please, leave a comment and let us know how the projects have been going, whether you participated in CampNaNo or not!  Will you continue working on your April project during May?  Will you be taking a break from writing to do some reading?  Other Sockmonkey Writers would like to know!

Bringing Wednesday Back Again.... Sort of!

Hello Sockmonkeys!

I realize it's been a little while since our last Wednesday writing weigh-in, but I think we've all been adjusting to things - changes in our routines and schedules, etc - and I'm no exception.  But, I guess it was missed in the Facebook group because one of our members posted their own quick check and got a few responses, so I decided it was probably time to bring this back again.  I'm not sure if weekly is too often and maybe bi-weekly would be better for folks, but I guess I'll find out, won't I?

Whether you're participating in Camp NaNoWriMo with us in one of our two regional cabins or not, are you getting some writing in?  Or are you just participating in a Camp project on your own?  How is your writing going?  Or are you getting in some reading and refilling the creative tanks that way?

With the quarantines and lock downs, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy, and I thought this would also be a good time to ask how everyone is feeling, too.  Whether you're writing regularly or not, are you getting enough rest? Eating and drinking to stay healthy? Observing hand washing protocols and other precautions?  Keeping in touch with isolated friends and family members?  How are you passing any extra time this Stay Home, Stay Healthy time is giving you? 

No matter how much writing you are or are not doing, please join me in saying thank you to the various healthcare, emergency and other necessary services workers who are out there trying to keep things going while we stay home trying to help flatten the curve.  We appreciate all of your efforts!

Sockmonkey Wednesday Update Time and Mini April Camp NaNoWriMo Update

It's that time again, Sockmonkeys!

Is weekly too often for these?  Oh well, I'll try to keep them coming and I hope more of you will chime in as you have various updates to add.

How is your writing going?  Or have you been reading?  Been sidelined by other life responsibilities?  Using your creativity in other ways?  Please, pop in the comments and let us know a bit about what you've been up to, we'd love to hear from you!

If you're new to NaNoWriMo in general and Camp NaNoWriMo specifically, you may be wondering what this whole "Camp NaNoWriMo" thing is about.  To put it briefly, it's like National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November, but during Camp, you can choose your own word count or creative goal.  [Although, I believe they are still coding in some of the old Camp functionality, so right now it only tracks words.  They eventually hope to allow you to track progress by minutes or hours spent, say, editing.]

The thing they've added that's very similar to the old Cabins from the Camp NaNoWriMo website is a thing called "groups".  You are allowed to join more than one group, if you choose, of course, but if you'd like to join a Regional Cabin with other Pierce County Sockmonkey Writers, I have set two up.  (If you get the emails from NaNo Headquarters, you've likely already seen a very short blurb about this with two links directly to the sign up threads, if not, please consider this your invitation to join.)  You need to be a registered user on the NaNoWriMo.org site in order to join a cabin/group. 

If you'd like to join Cabin 1, please reply to the thread linked here.

Once Cabin 1 is full, please reply to the Cabin 2 thread here. 

Each Regional Cabin has a capacity of 20, minus the Head Camper (me), so two should be plenty, but I can create more if we have that many who want to join us.

I will send you an invite from the NaNo site as soon as I'm able after you reply to the thread and you'll need to accept it in order to join the cabin.

Any questions?  Please feel free to leave them in the comments (someone else may have the same question, after all!) or send an email to our regional email @ PCsockmonkeywriters@gmail.com .

And, whether you decide to participate in April Camp NaNo or not, happy writing!

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?