You're Not Alone...

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein

Have you ever felt like sometimes your writing is in vain? That you’re alone on this intergalactic spaceship filled with words that are taking form but no one is there reading those thought provoking words? I have felt this way many a time in my writing career and that is the reason I join writing sites, so I can share my words with at least SOMEONE who is like minded and cares enough to read what I write.

Often times I post my hard work and it is as if I have the plague. People won’t comment and I realized something this week. I wrote this awesome poem. Yes, I am conceited enough to know when my poems are awesome. Some I might say, “EH.” to, but more often than not I say, “Wow! Where did that come from?” So what did I discover this week? That newcomers to the writing world are intimidated by another writers ‘well written’ work. Even if they like it, they should respect me as a writer and say so. If they don’t like it, then say so that too!

You see, my poem was so awesome that they felt less confident in themselves or they may have felt they didn’t measure up in some way. I’m here to tell you, stop with the ‘I fear, woe is me pity party’ please! You have a right to be nervous, you have a right to be leery of sharing your work with others, you even have a right to feel you won’t measure up. But by golly, if YOU are taking on the name of calling yourself a ‘writer’, you better stiffen up and get in line that stretches around the corner to the pity party.

YOU are not alone! You need leather-like skin in this business. We writers are not here to stroke your ego, we’re not here to make you feel special, we’re here to read what you wrote, and give honest feedback, so you can GROW as a writer! Sometimes people don’t feel like they are in a place where they can give feedback and that they just want to write, post and have people like what they write.

Well I’m here to tell you, not everyone will like what you write, and good writers will be the first to tell you where you might need work, where you did great and where you need a little tweaking. Did you join a writing site to post pictures? Did you join to promote your blog? Did you join to make all the friends you possibly could? I don’t think so, I think you came to learn the craft of writing and to share what you have learned along the way.

Too often I see people who write, but need a picture to visually give an idea of what they have written. If you need a picture to help people understand what you’ve written then you better go find a stock photography site and start posting there. Writers can give you a visual with no picture needed. THAT is what the craft is all about! Being able to fill your readers mind with the visual picture of your spectacular work!

You’re not alone in the journey, you joined a writing site to share the journey with fellow writers. The least you can do is respect the others, and give a kind and gentle comment (if you have nothing to offer constructively) and begin becoming a REAL WRITER.

Writing is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to those who have none.
Jules Renard

Write On!

If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away?
Lord Chesterfield
***

The world of writing is all about writing. Trying so hard to over please people, clicking the LIKE button one hundred times a day, does not make people LIKE YOU more it makes you pitied more. I have joined a couple of new writing sites where a like button is obscure. And the one site that does have a like button I haven’t seen anyone going down the board clicking like to something as simple as “my dog died”. You know these people don’t even read what they are clicking like to, they just want to BE liked and are over compensating while looking a little foolish.

No this isn’t at facebook that I’m speaking of, this is just my observance elsewhere on the net. A site that I no longer promote because honestly, its an embarrassment and I would not refer a professional, only for them to lose money because that is what they sought, a professional writing atmosphere.

Writing takes focus, writing takes commitment, writing is the breath of you and there will come a time when you can like your way into peoples lives, and some will buy it, but professionals won’t. A professional writing site is focused on your writing, your creativity, your story and structure, they don’t need the like button because everyone is equal!

That is what I seek in my writing journey, like minded people, who are creating and crafting stories, willing to give honest feedback, and are a comfort to wake up to, not a big scare. I laid my dream on the line, now I’m going after it without all the idle distractions of the day.

What will you do this new year to make your writing dream come true? Will you waste it trying to be liked? Or are you going to write, snag that keyboard by the keys and begin tapping ‘til your fingers bleed? You betcha!

Things to get you focused on WRITING:

1. Open your MS word, or whatever program you use, and begin with...”The clouds swept over the house...” or something to that affect. I notice if I open with an action line, many other words start to flow that I didn’t even know I was sitting down to write!

2. Disconnect from the internet! That is one of the main distractions to writing and that is the internet, looming in your browser, if it is open, you are more tempted to be distracted from it!

3. Focus on writing AT LEAST 500 words at one sitting. When you take away the distractions, more times than not, you can produce more than 500 words at a sitting.

4. Open the internet but only for research reasons! We may have written a 1500 word short story and need to do a reference check or something. Be strong, and focus on RESEARCH!!!

5. Have confidence in yourself. You DO NOT need a Social Scene to boost your moral, or to get you writing. If you honestly go there to boost your writing, then why all the LIKES? You are not focusing on writing, you’re more focused on being accepted, popular and LIKED. In the WRITING world, focus on WRITING!!!


So there you have it, all the tools TO WRITE! Writing software, focus, NO INTERNET, research tools, and most importantly, confidence in yourSELF! Now WRITE ON!!!

What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.
Hecato, Greek philosopher

Charlie in the Box

"When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it also helps us to develop inner happiness and peace." 

- Dalai Lama

Nobody wants to play with a Charlie in the box.  I love that line in Rudolph when Rudy tries to guess his name, “I know, it’s Jack.” and the reply  “No, my name is Charlie,” the sad crying box goes on to say. So why was Charlie on the Island of Misfit Toys? Because, all together now, “Nobody wants to play with a Charlie in the box.”

As a writer, you will sometimes feel this way as you write things no one wants to hear about themselves in your words. You’ve hit a nerve, and with that you get tossed out onto the Island of Misfits. They don’t mean to, but in their anger, they put up a shield of protection against your words and can not see you there. Either they are justifying their actions, turning a blinds eye, shutting you out completely, or running in FEAR of the truth. They remain at a distance, pretending to care, but really they are the ones that put you on the Island. You are now a misfit.

Nobody wants to play with a ‘Charlie in the box’!

It is okay to be on the Island with other misfit toys, because you have reached into your reader and touched them so much that they hurt, are angered, hate or just want nothing more to do with you, yet they keep on reading your words. You become Charlie; alone, in isolation on the Island, but there, you don’t feel the warmth of being loved and appreciated in life. Or do you? I’m okay with that because I have a mission. I’m not here to please all of the people all of the time, I’m here to strike a nerve within you, as a writer! I am not here waving my arms, flagging down a passing sleigh trying to get someone's attention. I’m not a people pleaser and I’m not an overactive drama queen (or king). I will not conform to a way that others have conformed to because God created me to be more in life. The one thing writers do in life is get easily side-tracked and distracted. You can ask any of them

Why do you think there are so many writing posts on GOALS and FOCUS? It’s because we as writers find the pretty colors and images of the day distracting so we stop writing and put our fingertip in the pool of colors and play. We finger-paint our way through, we play and enjoy what is offered to basically anyone, and you all make sure you put Charlie in his place, and isolate him from Santa’s workshop where all the happening elves are making merry.

Sure why not, as long as you don’t have to write.  You’ll do anything to be distracted from it. Go ahead play all you like, but one day you’re gonna say, “Where did all that writing time go?” Well go look in the sand, there is some words there, oops it’s all washed up, which is what you are, if your not sitting at home, writing the story or novel of your dreams! FOCUS people!

I think I’ve went and isolated a few people with my writings about how addicted everyone is to facebook. Some could care less what I wrote and shrug off my posts. They are the ones confident with who they are, not embarrassed or ashamed at all! They actually HAVE lives. But others have climbed into their closet of guilt. It is theirs, so I let them embrace it for a spell. Me? I’m visiting King Moonracer today and asking him if he has plans to upgrade this place. “Yes, Charlie. You will be our bearer of news to the writing community who tells all the boys and girls about us!” Can you just imagine an isolated writer? :)

 It’s okay, I still have you, all my followers and the new writing sites I’m joining will have new friends too. I might get picked up by Santa after all and put in a nice little home! I’m looking forward to it!

Job 4:16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

Change is in the air...

Job 30:18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

***

Can you smell it? *sniff* *sniff* It's called change. I’m about to embark on change in my writing career. Not sure I know exactly where I’m going to wind up but I’m gonna begin by changing the look of my blog. No nothing is changing with the content, I’ll still give writing tips and squeeze in a few personal pieces of my life, but really, the change is going to be within.

As his sight was restored, he will return to a lot of his old things, old stomping grounds like surfing pics (thanks for the redo up top), artists, songs, music while I heal this worn out body and find myself moving on into the future wherever God needs me on the next leg of this journey. By years end I should have a clearer picture of where I’m headed, whether it is up or down, falling flat on my face.

The writing life can be a lonely place. You find yourself on the edge of sanity many times. You create characters that call to you in your head, then your paranoia rises and the voices get louder and louder. You sit at the keyboard tapping away at keys as if your in a marathon, running and running with no end in sight.

You get tired of always running here and there and everywhere winding up no place special. And that is where I am at right now. I sit here second guessing writing. Can you imagine? I’ve been writing all my life and now at the young age of  *muffled age* I’m second guessing myself? Again, I allowed others to define me and where I am going, knowing full well they don’t hold the key to the door in which I need to go. While they were maliciously tearing down the walls, I was strategically building them back up and figuring a way to peel them from the floorboards and eliminate them from my life. Can I ask, did Jesus WELCOME Satan as a friend into his home? NO!!! In Matt.4:10, He commanded,  “Get out of here, Satan.” And I will do the same by eliminating the intruders from my life.

I only feel alone because everyone, and I do mean everyone, around me has let me down. How much family support do I have? None. I’ve been in pain for, let’s see, October, all of November and the only people that know of my health are my church family, and my writing family. Who has expressed concern? Those same folk. ALONE! Alone am I! So as I move toward change, I have decided to gradually move away from being a thread of help to writers, and actually focus on ME and MY writing.

I will not let my blog go and that is the one thread that will keep us all tied together. Maybe you comment, maybe you don’t, maybe you read and actually glean some info from this blog, whatever the case, my heart, blood and soul is poured out in this blog, and you all, have become the characters in my life, that keep this blog going. I will not let you down, like everyone out in this world has let me down! If anything you know of me, *I* am not like them, I’m a character to be reckoned with and we’re on a journey and the tale is far from over.

Not only are the seasons changing... everything in life is changing.

Job 13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
 

Isa. 2:11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

Chess anyone?

It is impossible to win gracefully at chess. No man has yet said "Mate!" in a voice which failed to sound to his opponent bitter, boastful and malicious. ~A.A. Milne
***

So you were anticipating a blog post about the correlation between writing and chess? Well let me tell you, I can give a really good analogy of a chess/life scenario but I’ve really got to work on the writing/chess scenario.

Okay where do I begin? I’ll start with the white side. This is the team I always go for in playing chess. It reminds me of purity and all that that entails. Strength,wisdom, knowledge,etc.

In writing, the white team can be visualized as the protagonist, or the good guy. The dudley-do-right, the main character of the story. Then we have the black team and they are the antagonist, the bad guys, the dark force, the one or ones that will be causing all kinds of trouble in the story.

We have pawns on both sides, correct? The same powerful pieces standing behind the pawns on both sides too. The pawns can be seen as the disposable characters, if you will. Now you have all of these characters standing behind you vying for a place so lets give them a place.

The rook will be the homestead or the solid foundation of your story, the dark side has an ominous looking castle which probably houses Count Dracula or some other dark figure.

The knight will be the character in your story that does all the fighting for you. They don’t call it the Knight in shining armor for no reason at all. He just might save, your damsel in distress. The dark fights for the light, the light normally wins IN THE END, hopefully, with fingers crossed, the Light will win. (emphasis on WILL win)

Then we have the bishops. They can be your moral compass. The bishop can stand for our values, beliefs, hope, faith and promise. The good seed buried in all of us that sometimes we call a conscious. Now the dark bishop is who in your story? Well it’s the dark force or the bad seed that will not and can not take root because you’ve given him/it no fertile soil in which to grow. He is going to be the turmoil around every corner in your story.

Ah, now we have the king and queen. This will be the strong lead characters in your story who eventually are left standing with the dark side (king and queen) all alone on that big checkered board, or white paged palette we call a storyboard.

What do we do in this position? We do what any good writer would do and that is knock the pants off of the Dark Force and we have our main characters all full of light left standing in a triumphant glow of completion. Check Mate!

Does any of this make sense? Well to my demented writers brain it does. Look out Stephen King, I figured you out! Now lets see if I can see what gardening and writing have in common. Okay, I’m kidding! (not really)

Now we know what makes a story so what are you waiting for? Why are you sitting here reading, shouldn’t you be writing? 

***

'Tis all a chequer board of nights and days,
Where destiny with men for pieces plays;
Hither and thither, and mates, and slays.
~Edward Fitzgerald

A Writer's Life

Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love. ~George Bernard Shaw
***

Sure we’re writers, but just exactly what is a Writer’s Life? Well, we wallow in words, make sense of sentences, hug our spellcheck when no one is looking, spew lies that we call “fiction”, spit out truths that we call “non-fiction”, we type until carpel tunnel syndrome sets in and we fill a page, or should I say pages and pages with...words!

When the computer is not churning, we’re at a loss as to what we’re supposed to be doing. “Was I supposed to clean the dishes again?” Confusion sets in when we’re not writing. We stand scratching our head in wonderment hoping something will come and make some sense out of the day, but we’re lost.

When the internet is not working, we’re stomping our feet, calling the ‘thing’ names so colorful we want to write them down real quick so we can give our antagonist a voice. Yes, we make our antagonists all the things we will never ever be or would ever say, out loud.

A writers life is not one of sit and spin, where we sit on our butts and spin restlessly in our swivel chairs. Wait, maybe our lives ARE of the sit-n-spin, we sit in our chairs and spin out stories, like spiders building the web of Shelob. (Shelob is Tolkiens spider creation!)

We’re creative, inspiring, smart, intelligent people who spins a web of words for other people to read. Some read, some get bored, some fan through the pages, while some get enthralled with our work.

Now the writers life becomes colored when we try out the publishing world. We then get accepted, rejected, booted, edited or tossed. We’re a tough bunch of people to endure such activity in our lives, by choice no less!

The writer’s life is also piled up with humility. We have to be of a humble nature because we are crawling on the ground begging for scraps of something, anything that the writing community can toss our way, and we feast on the tiny morsels as if we have struck a gold mine of inspiration, and always say, “Thank you kindly,” when someone has obliged us and done us a great service.

We have links to share, to help out the writer; we share other writers triumphs, as we muscle through our own meager triumphs. But I see every day that I wake up, get out of bed and face the day with a newness that only God allows, as a triumph in my writing life.

It isn’t all about writing and making money. Being a writer is a blessing that only other writers can understand and grasp. We are doing what we are called to do, and whatever fringe benefits come along, they are blessings! If none come along, it is still a blessing to be a writer!

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What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. ~ Logan Pearsall Smith