Yep, I write for a few hours every day, whether that be starting new poems, editing older ones, writing for commission (poems, reviews, editorial), blogging (which I haven't done in a long time) or just talking to fellow writers about writing, which helps me grow in my ideas, thoughts and opinions.
But what I was going to say in here is that the publisher I had sent my second chapbook manuscript to has gone bust. So that's a bummer.
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:37 am Posts: 2465 Location: A dark place
My New Year's resolution is to start writing more. When my dad got sick, I vowed to start writing lighter stuff, but I just couldn't do it and eventually I stopped writing altogether. I am not capable of writing something nice or life-affirming. I have to go where my mind takes me and that's undoubtedly into darker/disturbing stuff.
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Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:34 pm Posts: 175 Location: Pennsylvania Gender: Male
turned2black wrote:
My New Year's resolution is to start writing more. When my dad got sick, I vowed to start writing lighter stuff, but I just couldn't do it and eventually I stopped writing altogether. I am not capable of writing something nice or life-affirming. I have to go where my mind takes me and that's undoubtedly into darker/disturbing stuff.
I understand the desire to censor or direct yourself-- I tend to shrug off "easy" writing projects in favor of ones that make me sweat a little. They don't always go the way I intend, but the process can be rewarding and it feels more like growth to push at the edges of your comfort zone.
"Life-affirming" takes many shapes. What does it even mean to be alive, anyway? It depends on the writer and reader what message they take from the work. I find lots of dark or dreary fiction to be life-affirming, at least in terms of craft.
_________________ "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." -- Gene Fowler
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:37 am Posts: 2465 Location: A dark place
griffinxi wrote:
turned2black wrote:
My New Year's resolution is to start writing more. When my dad got sick, I vowed to start writing lighter stuff, but I just couldn't do it and eventually I stopped writing altogether. I am not capable of writing something nice or life-affirming. I have to go where my mind takes me and that's undoubtedly into darker/disturbing stuff.
I understand the desire to censor or direct yourself-- I tend to shrug off "easy" writing projects in favor of ones that make me sweat a little. They don't always go the way I intend, but the process can be rewarding and it feels more like growth to push at the edges of your comfort zone.
"Life-affirming" takes many shapes. What does it even mean to be alive, anyway? It depends on the writer and reader what message they take from the work. I find lots of dark or dreary fiction to be life-affirming, at least in terms of craft.
I'm actually writing children's fiction at work right now. I'm totally out of my comfort zone. If I'm writing for work I can fake nice, but if I'm writing for me it's all death and mayhem.
_________________ Do you like crappy amateur photography? Check out my photo blog here.
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:34 pm Posts: 175 Location: Pennsylvania Gender: Male
Curious how some of the folks in this thread feel about genre fiction-- thinking specifically about fantasy. I've never written anything like that, but I can't help but admit there is something attractive about the idea of inventing a fantasy world and playing around with sword and sorcery stuff. Part of me thinks that would be an absolute blast to do; part of me thinks that "monomyth" stuff is derivative and boring and it's all been done.
_________________ "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." -- Gene Fowler
There's nothing wrong with genre fiction in itself, but it's rare that someone writing to genre specifications manages to also stick out from the pack. There are sci-fi and fantasy novels which have proven to tick the boxes of genre as well as being great literature, but they're memorable precisely because there's relatively few of them.
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:34 pm Posts: 175 Location: Pennsylvania Gender: Male
Harmless wrote:
There's nothing wrong with genre fiction in itself, but it's rare that someone writing to genre specifications manages to also stick out from the pack. There are sci-fi and fantasy novels which have proven to tick the boxes of genre as well as being great literature, but they're memorable precisely because there's relatively few of them.
Agreed-- I think I'm going to make this a pet project for 2013. Never know until you try, I suppose.
_________________ "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." -- Gene Fowler
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 5:58 pm Posts: 1259 Location: Western Masshole Gender: Male
If we're including work, I write 5 times a week. Sometimes it's copy, sometimes it's feature writing, sometimes it's speeches, but it exercises the same part of the brain.
_________________ Paul McCartney told me to never drop names.
Just finished an essay for a new literary magazine that is starting up locally. It was the first time in a number of years I've written about something other than music--it felt pretty liberating.
It's called Bluff--I don't know a lot about it honestly, as the first issue hasn't come out yet. The guy who edited my book is an old English professor of mine, and he's starting the magazine with a local newspaper editor, and he recruited me for it. So I guess the submission hasn't actually been accepted yet, but I'm thinking positively. From what I understand it's going to be a forum for all different types of creative writing.
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