Here are some of my writing habits. Leave yours in the comments! Do you write every day? - Every. Single. Day. Even one word written, or typed, is progress towards my ultimate goal. - Daydreaming does count! I call this practice "Whimsying." To whimsy is to process, daydream, every moment you're coming up with the story BEFORE your pen touches paper, or your fingers hit the keys. When I take some time away from writing my story, I don't feel bad for not getting it done as fast as I like. Why? Because I am whimsying; I am still "writing" my story, (its just in my head.) Do you have to write in the same place? - I write anywhere and everywhere. Whenever the call to write comes finds its way to me, I seize the opportunity. This may be in the car (giving shorthand information to a passenger for note keeping), at my desk, at the park while watching my toddler play, at the apex of a hike, etcetera... - I keep my writing on MANY different forms of documentation. GoogleDocs is my best friend, for I utilize this application the most. I also a bookshelf full of notebooks (with all genres of writings), and as many scraps of paper with story ideas and poems, as I have books --It's a lot. Sometimes I use the recording application on my phone if my hands are busy, or I don't have a pen. Often times, when I am out walking, and I don't have service and cannot access GoogleDocs, I text myself the idea(s) I have, or poem(s) I am working on. With music or without music? - Music, anytime and every time I can. Music plays everywhere; periwinkle ear buds in whenever I am not at home, a dark blue speaker on my desk, and Pandora on the television (near my desk), and a mini dark blue speaker for the park. - I like creating playlists depending on my mood, the mood I am in need of, the feeling and direction of the story. Not only can music be inspirational, but it can be motivational as well. Some playlists are for specific characters, some are for the novel as a whole, and some are just meditation and frequency sounds to keep me distraction free when the ADHD rears its ugly head.

Hey y'all! There aren't many of us, so be sure to get to know everyone if you can. @Ashlie Killian— Jill of all trades! "Passionate and versatile." Fiction, poetry, cookbooks... editing, ad copy... @Dahveed Bullis— Playwright, Actor, and Horror Novelist (and also the best man at my wedding!) @Jack Slott— Literature major... What @Angela E. Just— Here to learn writing! Tell us about your daily writing routine! Do you write every day? (daydreaming counts as writing, btw) Do you have to write in the same place? With music or without music? I wanna know everything ^.^

Hey @Dahveed Bullis and @Ashlie Killian! I appreciate you two being here. ^.^ This space is VERY MUCH under construction... I'm at the cheapest tier, which means I can't add admins yet, but the idea is to build it into a space for writing coaches. I'm gonna just list out my vision, but the point of this li'l first-ever post is actually to ask what YOUR vision is. I'm just gonna start so it's a little less intimidating... I'm a rambler, so forgive me! But the main point is to hear what your dreams are, and start batting around ideas to make a space that creates better stories, and more of them, in a confused world. Here's my vision for this platform - In the same way that gyms have personal coaches with different body makeups and workout styles, I figure this could be a place where the only rule is: FICTION. It's gotta be fiction courses, but the coach gets to set the price, Story Gym takes a small (very small) cut of whatever that course price is, and the curriculum remains the property of the coach, meaning all videos, all text, all templates and style guides and cheat sheets and frameworks, that all remains yours. Also, it would be cool to have a place to "work out" daily as a writer, right?

Good morning, fellow writers! My name is Ashlie. For publishing aspects, I go by Shoshana Eitz. Shoshana is not only my nom de plume, but my Hebrew name as well. I chose it for a few reasons: 1. Ashlie means tree, specifically ash tree. Eitz in Hebrew is tree. 2. My middle name is Rose. Shoshana, of course, is rose in Hebrew. 3. Due to familial hardships growing up, I chose to only publish under my Hebrew name to protect my identity. The first time, that I can remember, finishing and "publishing" a story was back in 2000. I was 6 years old. My story, Fairyland won me a Young Author's award, and a trip to a conference. In 2001, while in 2nd grade, I wrote the sequel to that story, and again attended a writing conference. Due to mental health: anxiety and depression, I stopped writing for a long time. Well, that's not quite honest; only partially. The writing that I did do focused on poetry and journaling. Writing is still writing--even one word a day is something to celebrate. (Just like one sit-up, one squat, one mile--it all brings us closer to our ultimate goals) Currently I am a writing coach for another Skool community. My current WIP (writing in progress) is a fictional story titled The Stockade Escape. My manuscripts is almost 1/4 done, which is the first act. That includes that set-up, inciting incident, the reaction to the inciting incident, and the set-up for the first-slap. I have approximately 6 chapters typed up already, and the whole story outlined in great detail. My novel is a psychological thriller, with the most comparable titles being: 1. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane 2. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen 3. The Shining by Stephen King (was originally going to be similar to Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King.) Feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, concerns or dad-jokes, that you may have.