One of the more inevitable things about writing is not to. For various reasons it just won't happen, I'm not going to go down a list of "reasons not to write," simply because that would be stupid. Let's just say that sometimes life intervenes.
It happens, everyone understands. If your house burns down, no one is going to be upset with you for not jotting down that story that was banging around in your head. If your dog breaks it's leg, no one is going to blame you for sitting it out for a while. But what is important though is that you get back into the saddle at some point.
Don't just stop writing forever, like I did so many years ago. If writing is important to you then, after your "life intervention" is over try to get back into the habit again, but go slow. Don't burn yourself out. Think of it like going to the gym. Nobody takes an extended break then just jumps back into the workout pumping out olympic records.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
References are Good
No, I'm not talking about a friend you can hit up for a good word to someone. I'm talking about reference manuals. A dictionary and thesaurus are the bare minimum for anyone that writes more than just letters and memos. Even better though are complete reference guides, like those that are required for college comp classes.
I have two of them currently, Pearson's Little Brown Handbook and Prentice Hall's Reference Guide, and I keep them both on my desk at all times. These handy little books are veritable fonts of grammatical knowledge as well as serving to offer various techniques for every step of the writing process. Even those who have a perfect grasp on the English language (Does anyone? I've never met anyone that knew every little idiosyncrasy of our language) can benefit from these books.
They're not just good as references either. If you ever find yourself stuck, staring at a line on the screen and don't know where to go, try flipping through one of these books. Many times the next line is already in your head, but you just don't know it yet. I can't count the number of times that looking how a sentence is formed or just reading different techniques of framing an idea has shown me what I already knew and just needed a little nudge to get free.
I have two of them currently, Pearson's Little Brown Handbook and Prentice Hall's Reference Guide, and I keep them both on my desk at all times. These handy little books are veritable fonts of grammatical knowledge as well as serving to offer various techniques for every step of the writing process. Even those who have a perfect grasp on the English language (Does anyone? I've never met anyone that knew every little idiosyncrasy of our language) can benefit from these books.
They're not just good as references either. If you ever find yourself stuck, staring at a line on the screen and don't know where to go, try flipping through one of these books. Many times the next line is already in your head, but you just don't know it yet. I can't count the number of times that looking how a sentence is formed or just reading different techniques of framing an idea has shown me what I already knew and just needed a little nudge to get free.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Write It Down!
It's happened to all of us, though it may hit us in different ways. For some it could be like a light bulb going on, for others it could be like a bolt of lightning, for me it's like getting punched in the face. Not very eloquent I know, but true. I'm talking about when, completely out of the blue, you have a story in your head. Or more precisely, the root of a story; it's concept or perhaps a vague outline.
The problem is my brain isn't a computer and these epiphanies are ephemeral. They take root for a very short time then disappear forever unless you write it down. Grab a notepad, steal one if you don't carry one around with you (kidding) and jot down the basics if that's all you have time for, but make sure it gets recorded.
If I have time I try to turn this initial burst into part of the writing process. I park myself in front of the computer and start to write. Brainstorm the idea onto the screen, letting it take me where it wants. Then when I'm done with that I read it, picking out bits and pieces that show promise and then write it again. This time deliberately though, picturing the story in my head, assessing what would fit with where I wanted it to go.
That's just what I do though. Anything will work at times like this as long as you be sure to write it down.
The problem is my brain isn't a computer and these epiphanies are ephemeral. They take root for a very short time then disappear forever unless you write it down. Grab a notepad, steal one if you don't carry one around with you (kidding) and jot down the basics if that's all you have time for, but make sure it gets recorded.
If I have time I try to turn this initial burst into part of the writing process. I park myself in front of the computer and start to write. Brainstorm the idea onto the screen, letting it take me where it wants. Then when I'm done with that I read it, picking out bits and pieces that show promise and then write it again. This time deliberately though, picturing the story in my head, assessing what would fit with where I wanted it to go.
That's just what I do though. Anything will work at times like this as long as you be sure to write it down.
Monday, March 10, 2008
What Do You Do?
What do you do when you have two hobbies that require massive amounts of time each? This is the situation I find myself in now. First, I'm a geek. I love computers and learning everything I can about them. Programming, tweaking, or just playing around with them is an addiction. On the other hand, I'm getting back into writing, which also leads to a ton of reading as a side affect.
This conundrum has been occupying my mind all day (much of which I spent at Barnes and Noble by the way). The obvious solution presented itself to me almost write away. Why not combine the two and write about computers? No, no, no, no, and no. I refuse. Call me quirky, but writing the equivalent of a technical manual is not a joy inspiring thought to me.
I guess I should make it perfectly clear that I am a true geek in every sense of the word. My bookshelves are completely filled, floor to ceiling, with fantasy and sci-fi books. I even have a small collection of first edition Heinlein books. These are my pride and joy, never touch them, you'll regret it if you do. [insert menacing glare]
Naturally this means that, unless I'm conscripted at work to write something technical, I'd much rather write what I'm passionate about. I've considered writing a technical fantasy (yeah I know, Dune and stuff), but that still doesn't solve the problem of how to split time between two time demanding hobbies.
No wonder us geeks are stereotyped as having no social life, eh?
This conundrum has been occupying my mind all day (much of which I spent at Barnes and Noble by the way). The obvious solution presented itself to me almost write away. Why not combine the two and write about computers? No, no, no, no, and no. I refuse. Call me quirky, but writing the equivalent of a technical manual is not a joy inspiring thought to me.
I guess I should make it perfectly clear that I am a true geek in every sense of the word. My bookshelves are completely filled, floor to ceiling, with fantasy and sci-fi books. I even have a small collection of first edition Heinlein books. These are my pride and joy, never touch them, you'll regret it if you do. [insert menacing glare]
Naturally this means that, unless I'm conscripted at work to write something technical, I'd much rather write what I'm passionate about. I've considered writing a technical fantasy (yeah I know, Dune and stuff), but that still doesn't solve the problem of how to split time between two time demanding hobbies.
No wonder us geeks are stereotyped as having no social life, eh?
Writing Advice Pages
There is an overabundance of web sites these days exclusively devoted to offering advice for the budding (or not-so-budding) author. Usually I take these advice sites with a grain of salt. Oh, I read them and try to absorb whatever knowledge looks useful I find on them, but usually there's nothing really new to find on them.
Take this list of 101 Writing Tips found at Psychoprogs for example. After sifting through all 101 tips I only found a couple that were useful, but the vast majority of them were either regurgitated, generic advice or just too situational to be any use. This particular list was refreshing in the fact that it kept a bit of humor throughout, that was a plus.
Other sites offer horrible advice. One I found a while back described a surefire way to write a novel in one week! Amazing! Ludicrously bad advice, but interesting to read none the less and yet even with terrible advice pages like this you might find a few spots of good advice.
Perhaps someone should start a web page that works as a guide on how to utilize writing guides. I'd consider it, but no one would take me seriously and I'm way too lazy anyway. I will offer one nugget of advice though: Don't take these writing guides too seriously and yet don't stop reading them. Try to use the collected advice that you pick up from everywhere to form one big picture. Shape it into your own personal style.
Take this list of 101 Writing Tips found at Psychoprogs for example. After sifting through all 101 tips I only found a couple that were useful, but the vast majority of them were either regurgitated, generic advice or just too situational to be any use. This particular list was refreshing in the fact that it kept a bit of humor throughout, that was a plus.
Other sites offer horrible advice. One I found a while back described a surefire way to write a novel in one week! Amazing! Ludicrously bad advice, but interesting to read none the less and yet even with terrible advice pages like this you might find a few spots of good advice.
Perhaps someone should start a web page that works as a guide on how to utilize writing guides. I'd consider it, but no one would take me seriously and I'm way too lazy anyway. I will offer one nugget of advice though: Don't take these writing guides too seriously and yet don't stop reading them. Try to use the collected advice that you pick up from everywhere to form one big picture. Shape it into your own personal style.
StumbleUpon - Window to Reality
StumbleUpon is this nifty little add-on for Firefox and Internet Explorer that is designed to aid a persons random surfing the web, neatly breaking the web down into classifications such as "Computer" or "Humor." Of course, I'm oversimplifying quite a bit, but that's basically how it works. I've been an active stumbler for quite some time now and honestly it's set up quite nicely.
One of my favorite reasons for Stumbling is to read the comments left by fellow stumblers about the pages. These comments are like little windows into the reality of how completely different people are from one another. This microcosm of comments brings to light everything from the beauty of humor to the ugliness of hate filled rants.
Every once in a while I'll stumble around until I find a page that, in my humble opinion, could never piss anyone off. Then I click the little comment button and sure enough....hate, hate, hate. It's as if the bile of humanity now collects in the comments of StumbleUpon.
How depressing.
One of my favorite reasons for Stumbling is to read the comments left by fellow stumblers about the pages. These comments are like little windows into the reality of how completely different people are from one another. This microcosm of comments brings to light everything from the beauty of humor to the ugliness of hate filled rants.
Every once in a while I'll stumble around until I find a page that, in my humble opinion, could never piss anyone off. Then I click the little comment button and sure enough....hate, hate, hate. It's as if the bile of humanity now collects in the comments of StumbleUpon.
How depressing.
Friday, March 7, 2008
So...Now What?
So I have a blog now. I'm writing! Yay me! But am I brave enough to put my practices here for anyone to snicker up their sleeve at? Or do I just write about writing? Tips from other authors, good practices to follow and the like? Perhaps a combination of both is best.
We shall see.
We shall see.
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