Every now and then I say to myself, "Self, you should write something." I'm well read, I have a good vocabulary and a pretty good grasp of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Where I mess those up a proof-reader will help. I'll find one.
James Macdonald posting in his thread "Learn Writing With Uncle Jim" said "I promise you: If you can write two consecutive pages of grammatical English with standard spelling you are already in the top ten percent of the slush heap. (This shouldn't give you too much hope, because the sales come from the top one percent, but still....)"
This is far from discouraging. What is discouraging to me is that I'm 48 and I've been out of school for 27 years so I feel like I've fallen behind and might not ever catch up. When I was in school all my writing was critiqued and graded. I was an English major and my days were filled with books, writing, reading and thinking about same. Doing combinations of same. Since then up until recently writing was not a componant of my work. Only recently has that become more important in the world of email and PowerPoint presentations to management. Still, there's nothing very creative about that kind of writing and there's a void.
Now I have to start studying all over again. I am reading things with a critical eye. I am studying texts about writing and lurking around writers where I can find them online. I could just start writing, couldn't I? Well I've tried but I keep stalling out. So I'm filling the time-between with self inflicted homework.
What do I think I could write? I love research. I've got a couple areas of expertise gathered in the last 27 years earning a living, raising a family, finding a real career instead of just another job. I might be able to do freelance articles. I'm reading about how one does that.
In the few times I've just said f---it and started typing stuff what I was writing was pretty much molding itself into the Romance genre - a heroine and a hero, their conflict, resolution and happy ever after ending. I like those. People who know me know I prefer romantic comedy movies -- even ones that are pure treacle. So I'm now studying that genre. Reading series fiction in a couple different subgenres and books about writing Romance. Might join RWA. Heck, will probably join before long.
The other book I'm reading is Jenna Glatzer's Outwitting Writer's Block. I've got a nearly terminal case I think. Last time I tried to write I got to about 4000 words and froze. That was about 7 months ago.
There are ideas out there. Today I read a fascinating article posted in Yahoo science news on My Yahoo headlines about consciousness -- there are a lot of ideas in that article alone begging to be turned into a Science Fiction story. There are all kinds of discussions and prompts at Absolute Write Water Cooler. And lastly I'm surrounded by strange and interesting people doing weird and cool things -- a lot of it on the cutting edge of information technology.
Yeah, I should write something.
More truth about Publish America
Don't be scammed!
Posted by Dawno at August 8, 2005 10:23 PMWell, seems like you just wrote something here.
Secondly, I found the discipline of college invigorating and frustrating...perhaps consider a creative writing course to get your sea-legs back?
I do think you've got what it takes in spades!
I also recommend Connie Willis for the combining of romantic comedy-science fiction trope.
Yay, I'm glad you're working on this! Keep on writing. 4,000 words is better than what I've done in the past week, that's for sure!
Posted by: qplagh at August 9, 2005 06:16 AMI second the Connie Willis endorsement. I, too, think you've got what it takes, in spades.
Posted by: Mac at August 10, 2005 05:21 AMThanks, both of you! p.s., I love Connie's writing.
Posted by: Dawno at August 10, 2005 06:22 AMDawno, great blog! Got here from Mac's. Will keep reading. Amazing how separate we can be from one another and yet have so much in common! Keep thinking.
Posted by: Jill at August 11, 2005 08:04 AMDawno, great blog! Got here from Mac's. Will keep reading. Amazing how separate we can be from one another and yet have so much in common! Keep thinking.
Posted by: Jill at August 11, 2005 08:04 AMThank you Jill. I couldn't agree more. It something I've been thinking about alot and one of these days I'm going to get my thoughts about it sorted out. It's all about finding or developing and then supporting communities of interest. We have this wonderful tool, the Internet that lets us do this irrespective of distance, ability/disability. We find kindred minds and each of us is challenged and supported by the other.
In other words, this is nifty neeto cool.
Posted by: Dawno at August 11, 2005 08:15 AM