It's the end of another year and I have still tried to keep up with this blog. Granted, it's taken a bit of a hit lately as I've seemingly not had the desire to write here at the same times I've actually had the time to do so (that sounds redundant, doesn't it?). I actually have a blog post that I set aside back in October on something that struck my fancy but it is still sitting in my inbox doing nobody any good at this point. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it up and post it here soon. Fingers crossed, anyway...
For those who actually do read this blog, I should like to point out that I have not abandoned writing altogether at the end of this year. Indeed, I have actually done a fair amount of writing lately, just not here. But for the year (up until the end of October or so), I averaged at least a couple of posts between here and my professional blog - which is kept completely separate from here for my own reasons. At the end of October, I was able to really kick onto paper the beginning of what I hope to be a decent book idea that I've been pushing around in my head, seeking the best way to open the story. It finally hit me and I was able to finally get it onto paper (thanks, in part, to a wonderful writing class I took around the same time). And when work and home life affords me the opportunity, I take a bit of time to add more to the story. The ideas still bounce around a great deal in my mind but the biggest key is getting them onto paper and, for that, I am most pleased with the progress. It's slow but it's a beginning. Each step simply takes me closer to the end of the story - or at least a decent stopping point.
I will try not to neglect this blog quite so much but we'll see how things progress. The one thing in its favor is my ADD tendencies to switch focus on different subjects at the drop of a hat - so switching gears from book to professional to personal blog will hopefully not be such a challenge. And, let's face it, the only way to ensure that I can improve my writing skills is to continue to use them. So hopefully there will be more here to say in the upcoming year.
I set no goals publicly, though. I have my own thoughts on what I hope to accomplish but I have to accept that life will throw things in the way and I cannot account for them so public goals will simply be subsumed to my personal goals in this regard. Hopefully I will be successful at them. Fingers crossed.
Showing posts with label literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label literature. Show all posts
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
The Written Word
A few weeks ago, I attended a writing seminar offered by a local writers group. Despite my love and passion for writing, this was the first writing seminar I have ever attended. And it helped to kickstart me and my aspirations. I've never been a believer in these types of seminars in the past as they seem to me to be a forced effort and I don't like being forced into anything, let alone something that I feel so passionate about such as writing. But I found it was not entirely like what I had anticipated. Instead, it was a session wherein we were given a variety of topics over the course of 4 hours and asked to write about them for anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes - by hand!
Now, let me point out here that I tend to write all of my stories, articles and blog posts on my computer. The only time I really write anything by hand is when I'm writing poetry. Poetry seems to be very odd to do on a keyboard and I feel it is more elegant, for lack of a better term, when done by hand. But I haven't written anything other than poetry by hand in years - though everything I wrote when I was younger was done by hand (and I have the boxes of papers to prove it!). To me, it just seemed much easier and faster to type things as I tend to type fairly well and it helps when my mind is racing along a story path to be able to keep up. Writing by hand has been slower for me for many years and I've really fallen out of the practice.
However, at this seminar, I did not take my laptop and had to rely on handwriting. And after the first five minute exercise where I could only write up a single paragraph, my hand felt like it was cramping up on me. I wasn't sure that I could complete the remaining 3+ hours. However, I did persevere through a series of writing exercises and, by the final exercise, a 30 minute process, I produced two full pages worth of a pretty decent story that the mediator even commended as a decent effort.
More importantly, though, I was hooked on writing by hand again! Whereas writing on a computer is still faster for me and my computer has the nice ability to auto-correct my spelling (well, my typing since my spelling is usually pretty decent), I have re-discovered the joy of writing by hand. It may go slower but that allows me more time to really organize my thoughts and produce (what I feel is) a higher quality of writing. It forces me to consider what I am writing rather than just putting words to paper and then trying to go back later and sort them out via a random editing process. And considering how I feel about editing my own work, that is a huge plus.
At some point, I will have to go back and transfer my writing back onto a computer so that I can save what I have in an electronic format should I decide to seek publication (an eventual goal). But, for now, I am glad to return to what some would call a troglodyte methodology in a world that increasingly disdains anything done manually. To me, it is a more peaceful and fulfilling effort and one that I have found is allowing me to do things I enjoy again. And, at the end of the day, isn't that what is most important?
Now, let me point out here that I tend to write all of my stories, articles and blog posts on my computer. The only time I really write anything by hand is when I'm writing poetry. Poetry seems to be very odd to do on a keyboard and I feel it is more elegant, for lack of a better term, when done by hand. But I haven't written anything other than poetry by hand in years - though everything I wrote when I was younger was done by hand (and I have the boxes of papers to prove it!). To me, it just seemed much easier and faster to type things as I tend to type fairly well and it helps when my mind is racing along a story path to be able to keep up. Writing by hand has been slower for me for many years and I've really fallen out of the practice.
However, at this seminar, I did not take my laptop and had to rely on handwriting. And after the first five minute exercise where I could only write up a single paragraph, my hand felt like it was cramping up on me. I wasn't sure that I could complete the remaining 3+ hours. However, I did persevere through a series of writing exercises and, by the final exercise, a 30 minute process, I produced two full pages worth of a pretty decent story that the mediator even commended as a decent effort.
More importantly, though, I was hooked on writing by hand again! Whereas writing on a computer is still faster for me and my computer has the nice ability to auto-correct my spelling (well, my typing since my spelling is usually pretty decent), I have re-discovered the joy of writing by hand. It may go slower but that allows me more time to really organize my thoughts and produce (what I feel is) a higher quality of writing. It forces me to consider what I am writing rather than just putting words to paper and then trying to go back later and sort them out via a random editing process. And considering how I feel about editing my own work, that is a huge plus.
At some point, I will have to go back and transfer my writing back onto a computer so that I can save what I have in an electronic format should I decide to seek publication (an eventual goal). But, for now, I am glad to return to what some would call a troglodyte methodology in a world that increasingly disdains anything done manually. To me, it is a more peaceful and fulfilling effort and one that I have found is allowing me to do things I enjoy again. And, at the end of the day, isn't that what is most important?
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