Word Up!

It's none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.
Ernest Hemingway

So whats the word...the word up!

Sometimes I read blogs and wonder how all these people keep it up. Do they just fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way? I like to maintain my blog where there is information that people can use and where the posts only go to not more than 500 words. Imagine a thousand word post of nothing, uck! Now if it is coherent, that's a different story

My time is precious to me and although I don’t get done the million things I’d like to, I do like to think that my blog is something worthwhile where readers,writers and passers-by enjoy their visit. Whether it is for educating themselves, (tons of links to dip into over to your left) whether it is for the pictures, ( I have tons of those too for the visually unimpaired), or whether you just come for inspiration, (lots of poetry to scan through also.)

A blog is not a showcase like facebook, where you announce you have to go the bathroom, be right back sort of thing. A blog is a tool to illuminate your world. To allow people to peek in your window in a voyeuristic fashion, so you better give that person the best of you (you know, don’t be caught with your hair in disarray?) Or better yet, don’t be caught babbling about nothing or the people might move on to peek into the next window.

In the windowed world of information, I think peeping toms have gone out of fashion. We can all, in the living room or dens of our home, peek into peoples world, and get caught up in the fascination of, doing absolutely nothing. What would Jesus do? I personally think he’d give a ‘shout out’ to all the wandering sheep and give them an enlightening parable so they can see their way into the light, via understanding.

So this is what my blog is all about. Not a joyride through neighboring communities. Its not a playground where we meet and throw sand in each others face. This is a place where words run into punctuation and somehow form a sentence. Thus this is a tool of understanding.

To you my fellow bloggers, live and learn grow and love. To the voyeurs, there is a life out there and it is happening, whether you live it or not! It’s happening people!

Matt.9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Losing Weight~The Write Way

Losing Weight ~ the Write Way.

"Branch out and expand your horizons. Write right and fly with the angels." ~joni

Even writers need to lose weight, and I’m not talking about the extra pounds that calories put on, I’m talking about too many words.

Have you ever looked at artist’s paintings and said, "That line doesn’t belong there?" No? Why? Why do you suppose that the artist took his time and made his picture perfect for the eye to behold? The same goes for the writer. He should do his best to omit unnecessary words that drag his sentences down.

A writer must work diligently to make his work concise and to the point like the new age airlines, lightweight and no excess baggage. The excess baggage will cost you at some point.

A writer needs to make every word count in his/her writing. Writing a 2500 word story can more than likely be cut to 2000 words, with a mere elimination of the ANDS, BUTS and OR’s. Putting your writing on a diet takes skill, time, and discipline.

When you submit your work, do you not think that an editor sees all the excess flubber hanging around your sentences like a slab of bacon? He sees every single standout word like a red light that is screaming to him AMATEUR.

Avoid redundancy whenever possible. Is the point not made when you say 12 am. Do you really need to say, 12 am in the morning? The same goes for 12 noon, can’t you just say noon? Reduce your clauses to phrases from phrases to words. Eliminate your excess baggage.

Putting your writing on a fat-free diet will help the reader digest your tale much easier than feeding them a prose style that makes no bit of sense at all (oh dear, I’m in trouble.) If you’ve established yourself and people understand your wordiness than go for it. If you are just starting out or have been writing for years and getting nowhere with submissions, try losing some extra words. See if the work looks better and SOUNDS better.

Did I already tell you the importance of reading your work out loud right? YES! Make sure you read out loud your wordy version and the tightened version.

Do me a favor and cut that 2500 word story down to 2000 then cut more and more and submit your work as a flash fiction. See if submitting it as a flash piece gets it accepted quicker than the longer piece of work.

Go on… I dare you.