Writing Wednesdays

Work in Progress:

I finished reading Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint by Nancy Kress and I found it very helpful. I am still reading Writing for Dummies by Randy Ingermasnon.  It has a lot of basic stuff that I am skipping over because I know it already. I found some good ideas too so I will stick with it.

I have been doing other kinds of research too.  Some of it involves this.

and this item too.

Yes, its archery.  I decided since my character was going to be an archer it might help if I could get a idea of what it feels like.  I talked to my husband who used to bow hunt, and he got out his old longbow for me to try out. I always thought that archery would be a fun sport to get involved with and I was right.

Day 1 - I could not pull the string back far enough. I also could not put the string on the bow
Day 2 - I practiced some more at pulling the string back.  I got it a little farther each time. It's a 40 lb longbow in case that interests you.
Day 3 - Pulled the string back and shot some arrows. Set up a target of a paper towel on some straw bales.  Shot too high or low but still had fun.
Day 4  - I was able to put the string on by myself.  Shot lots of arrows.  I managed to hit the paper towel once.
Day 5 - I couldn't get the string on by myself.  Don't know what happened there. Set up a target and shot some arrows.  Not too successful again, getting tired but tried one more shot, Ah success is sweet. the result is below.  I am happy about that this last shot. So I am getting better at it and will continue to do so.

So what have I learned this week you may ask. One is that research can be fun. Two that I like doing archery. Three that archery is a lot like writing, it takes quite a bit of practice before you can be good at it.