How Many Words Did You Write Today?

This is a question authors frequently ask each other---and themselves! But I'm not so sure this is the question we should be asking. I'd rather be asked, How good was the writing you did today? After all, putting a few thousand words down on paper or on a computer screen isn't what's really important. We should be focused on the quality of our words, not the quantity.

Is it really a matter of "the more words, the better"? If those words aren't the right words, the best we can write, if they fail to express what we mean them to, then we need to concentrate on improving the quality of our work.

Of course, rough drafts are just that---rough. Much revision and editing are always necessary to smooth out the bumps. But starting with the first draft, we need to aim for quality. Instead of struggling to churn out as many words as possible, aim to produce, instead, the absolute best work you can possibly come up with.

So my mantra is: Aim for quality, not quantity! Agree or disagree?

Keep on writing!

MRTighe

The Other Way Around

While I was watching my DVD of the first season of The Amazing Race, I was surprised to learn that part of the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, was filmed in Africa---in a place called Tatooine! Never heard of it except in that movie. But the setting was perfect, never would've guessed it wasn't a set constructed for the movie.

For a long time now I've realized that SF media have influenced real life. A prime example: Star Trek's communicators are now our cell phones, part of our daily lives. But for some strange reason, I never realized that it also worked the other way around!

Now I have to wonder, if we discover an ice-planet, will it automatically be christened Hoth? Or maybe, ahem!---Tartarus? How about naming our next space station Babylon 5? I'd be all for that. It would be very appropriate, I think. After all, there is a precedent. Do you recall that the first space shuttle was named Enterprise? Unfortunately, that vehicle was a prototype never intended to actually go into space. Too bad.

Do you have any other suggestions about naming future space-related items or places? Ships, colonies, planets, moons, asteroids, etc. See what you can come up with!

Keep on reading, writing, and dreaming,

MRTighe

The Writing Disease

During my childhood, I spent many a summer's day writing, tucked upstairs in my bedroom while other kids were playing outdoors, enjoying the sunshine, swimming, or boating. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy such activities, not at all. I was Nature Girl, and I still love the outdoors.

But writing is like a disease. Once you catch it, you can't get rid of it. A writer must write. A writer is driven to write. A writer can't live without writing. You can put off eating or drinking until it's absolutely necessary. But when the writing bug hits, you must write and write now!

Keep on reading and keep on writing,

MRTighe