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For writers, authors and other frustrated creatives. |
This is where I write about why I'm not writing.  The excuses that pull me away,  the chores that need to be done,  the money that becksons me, etc. etc. etc.  It is my hope that I will get tired of complaining about never having enough time  to write -- and just write. Since you are here -- please leave a comment. Thanks and Enjoy! |
Doing a lot of research on blogging platforms. I intend to do some affiliate marking so wordpress.com is out. Anyone use a hosted version of wordpress through NetSolutions (or other host)? or other blogging platform with affiliate marketing? Would love to hear your experience. Thanks! Keep on writing!! Dee ArizonaHeat   |
| I'm saving my calories today for a nice meal out tonight at a local bistro type restaurant with a twist: comfort food with a gourmet flair. You know Mac and cheese but with lobster and bacon; Shepard's pie with sirloin steak etc. I'm holding out for the desert S'mores - twist on that, you ask? It's served with the expected fire roasted marshmallows and gram crackers made from scratch but then add in chocolate dipped bacon (yes, BACON) and homemade peanut butter to bring it home! Is it dinner time yet? Yummm... Keep on writing!! Dee ArizonaHeat |
| Fiction - maybe a beginning, maybe nothing more... The Never-Ending House Most people walk by and don’t take notice, but the house is older and wiser. The wooden front door, with its black iron hinges, square rod-iron peek-door, and round black handle is framed by bright red bougainvillea. The red brick walls barely seen under the thicket of ivy vines. The heavy front door creeks open to a round vestibule which imbues you in a drug-like trance of warmth, acceptance and potential. Doubts and fears melt away in the natural light shining through the circular window atop the 15 foot ceiling. The life giving light feeds the ever growing greenery that covers the walls, fills the air with vibrant energy, and invites you under one of the five arches of hope welcoming you to the hallways of possibilities. As you soak in the beauty, the majesty, and energy of the house — it evolves for you, and beckons you through the archway of your potentiality. |
| Saturday morning, first day of vacation. Most people would have slept in, but I headed out to a photography class; an iphoneography class to be specific. It wasn't but an hour or so in and I began to realize that this photography thing wasn't going to be easy. It was too much like real life! Filters. My first thought was that filters were like masks people wear. You know the person who is shy and reserved in public but then talkative and forward in private. The coworker who can tear you apart in a meeting, then ask you out as you’re leaving. But really learning about what filter do, I realized the act of using a filter was more like a mood we take on, and then the act of saving that picture with the filter, that was like the mask. The filter or our mood is transient. We can switch moods on a click. However, once a filter/mood is saved, or worn so long, or intentionally brought up — it becomes our mask. Our true self is not lost, we can revert back to the original but until we take those steps to do so, say by changing or environment or our physiology, then the mask comes off. Editing. Some editing is like daily hygiene. For instance auto-enhance; the picture is just enhanced a bit. Not unlike washing your face, brushing your teeth, and combing your hair: auto-enhance for the body. Then there was the make-up. The type of editing that covers the slight flaws and moves the picture closer to the image that you envisioned in the lens. Taking the red-eye out, sharpening or blurring the edges, lessening the brightness or adding a bit of contrast. Brings out the best in the picture. Whereas some editing is like plastic-surgery. Parts are removed, others added, facial features tweaked, pounds lost or gained instantly. Then there is the type of editing that is more analogous to medicating a chronic disease. The type of editing that is trying to make a fundamentally bad picture, good. It helps but never really solves the problem. Being a novice photographer I found myself in this mode often! Philosophy. More than anything though, I was stuck by the difference between what I actually saw on the screen of my iPhone and what the resulting picture looked like after I clicked the shutter. How different it looked from what I actually saw. Or was the picture the reality, and what I actually saw a distorted reality brought on by some sort of visual challenges I wasn’t even aware I had? It didn’t looked centered. I didn’t see that car in the background. The colors looked much more vibrant. That shadow wasn’t as overwhelming. Not one picture really came out like I saw it. Conclusion. Photography is like life. What we bring to the table: our hopes, our fears, our experiences affect our perceptions of things. It affects how we see, hear, and react to everything around us. It filters out what we don’t want to hear or see. And most importantly, it makes us who we are today. |
| I read a very interesting blog post today written by Steven Bancarz's on his site Spirit Science and Metaphysics. The blog post was title, "We are Living in a Giant Brain Claim Scientists. He summarizes a very technical scientific report (that was way over my head) for lay persons like me. The conclusion was fascinating: ". . .the universe may be growing in the same way as a giant brain - with the electrical firing between brain cells ‘mirrored’ by the shape of expanding galaxies. The results of a computer simulation suggest that “natural growth dynamics” – the way that systems evolve – are the same for different kinds of networks – whether it's the internet, the human brain or the universe as a whole." (See more at: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/we-are-living-in-a-giant-brain-claim-...) For me that triggered the thought, "well no wonder Facebook and other social networks have taken off so fast." I've always believed that, at some level, everything, everyone is connected. If all "networks" evolve in the same way, is this by coincidence or conscientiousness. The study admits that this finding demonstrates that we are missing a piece of the puzzle. From ant farms to the galaxy we evolve the same way. From sub-particle atoms to a human being we evolve the same way. I don't believe this is coincidence but a conscientiousness that grow and learns: evolves over time and applies successful patterns to every network. From Quantum physics to the Galaxy, from the internet to social networks, from family to community -- all networks grow/evolve the same. Applying natural growth dynamics to the building of neighborhoods to advance strategies of war the impact is fascinating and powerful. |
| Sometimes writing is more about surrendering, than it is about creating. Just sitting down and letting it flow. Not worrying about structure, or grammar, or spelling. Just flow. Surrendering to the words, the rhythm, the fluidity of it all. Opening up yourself to the possibilities of the characters, the setting, the plot. Not being bogged down by judgement, nor perfection. Not driving the story, but allowing the story to drive you. Just writing. |
I was organizing my files -- getting my ducks in a row (great way to procrastinate actually writing!  ), and I came across an old document titled "Writing Plan", that I created back in 2010. It was a great plan. It has seven sections; in each section I layout specific milestones for each week related to: 1. What I commit to 2. Writing (word counts, project milestones etc) 3. Reading (books, reviews etc) 4. Learning & Networking (grammar, structure, blogging & social media tools, writing group goals) 5. Generating ideas 6. Staying organized 7. Researching Awesome plan. It followed the SMART strategy: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time bound. Well, all except for the "Attainable" part. Man, oh, man -- I must have thought I was a super hero to meet the goals I set out. Totally doable if I was a full time writing turtle who could retreat into my shell, be protected from the world (and life), and do nothing but write. And as appealing as that sounds, it isn't attainable. I read once (Tony Robbins, maybe?) where we totally exaggerate what we think we can accomplish in a year, and woefully underestimate what we can accomplish in ten years. If we extrapolate that down (I know that is sort of an oxymoron) to a week, I overwhelmingly exaggerated what I could do in a week! How about you? Are your writing goals realistic? Attainable? Energizing? Let me know, and Keep on writing!! Dee ArizonaHeat |
| At the risk of sounding like a line out of the movie ET -- I'mmmm bAAAck!!! At least, I hope I am. I've been gone from writing.com for almost four years. Four long years. I started a new job that totally engaged my every waking hour. But now it's time, once again, to infuse some work/life balance. I haven't written a non-work related thing since I left. So not only am I rusty on the how things work on the site (totally have to relearn how to submit things, various protocols, formatting text, not to mention get caught up on all the new features etc. etc. etc.) but also on writing altogether. But, then again, it's probably like riding a bike - I just need to get butt in chair and type! I've popped in a couple of time during the last few years, not to write, but to catch up with some of you (read: virtually stalking you  ). GhostRanch is as prolific and giving as ever, Storm Machine is setting the example of writing everyday, The Paper Doll gang is going strong (Phoenix moved from Newbie to Editor!!), and contests have come and gone. I admire all of you for your dedication and perseverance. Anyone out there interested in non-fiction writing? If so, I'd love to hear from you. All for now, and remember Keep on writing!! Dee ArizonaHeat |
| I've found that I haven't been writing much lately. I tend to blame this on my husband. If it's any of you knew him, you'd know how ridiculous that is; he is a very supportive and encouraging husband. He just happens to be convenient. You see, if I didn't blame him, I'd be forced to blame myself -- where the true guilt lies. Like I've written so many, many times before -- I know I want to be a full-time writer. I know from past experience that I can make it work and be relatively successful at it. Yet, I don't write. Writing has never been one of those things that comes easy to me (written that many times before also), editing is a nightmare, and typo's abound. Somewhere among the misspellings, the overused m-dash, my strange love of the colon, is some good writing. But it's not safe. I know in the world of finance, business, and consulting I can make very good money. I know in the world of writing it would take me about two to three years to get back up to making an okay living (at freelance magazine writing). So part of me doesn't want to give up the money, and that part of me I get, and can get over. However, part of me doesn't want to give up the energy of business. I remind myself that if, I mean when, I publish a book that business energy, acumen will work well for me and perhaps, even give me an edge over other newly published books. That need for the adrenaline rush that a busy day gives me is, as I grow older, lessens every year. I think I'm at that point, that tipping point, where I could make this work. So I believe, if I put in the work over the next two years, I could retire, or at least cut way back on the business side of life, and let the creative side flourish for a change. What about you? What, if anything, keeps you from writing today? |
| I recently saw the remake of the movie the Karate Kid. I still like that movie. Every time I watch it (I've seen the old one on TV a few times) I'm motivated by it. For writers specifically it is a great teacher. In the new movie the kid had to pick up his coat, hang it on a hook, take it off the hook, put the coat on, take the coat off, drop in on the ground ... and start all over again. At first the kids does it begrudgingly. After a short time complains but when he is clear that in order to reach his goal (of being able to defend himself against the bullies) he has to do what his teacher asks. Then after days of doing this same thing, he eventually submits to the will of the actions. Then after days and days of doing this one sequence of moves, he really gets frustrated and in a rage wants to quit. Just at that moment, the teacher strips the coat from the kid's hands and yells the sequence as he attacks the kid, and the now automatic responses (movements of his arms picking up and putting on the coat ect) are used to block the teachers attack. So, you say, what does this have to do with writing? Writing is about the only activity, business, sport, hobby, any anything ... that people think they can just sit down and write. But really it is like every other activity, business, sport or hobby - in that in order to get good at it - we have to practice. And it really isn't until we fully submit to that concept that we begin to truly grow as writers. The practice never ends ... even for the best and or highest paid writers. So, how do you practice. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Here are a few of the ways I've come up with over the years. These are in no particular order, nor are necessarily my ideas - but please forgive me, for I don't remember where some of them originated -- 1) Participating in Contests 2) Write a story about your day. If your days are like mine, making the story interesting can be a challenge! 3) Sit in a food court, pick interesting person and write about them. 4) Read good writers. 5) Read a great passage from a great writer and break it down. What made it good emotionally, what made it good technically - sentence structure, length, paragraph structure length? What?? Look at it from all angles. 6) Read that same great passage from a great author -- and write something identical but in different words. Use the same sentence structure -- sentence by sentence, paragraph length etc...try to emulate everything about the writing but use different words and a different scene. 7) Same passage as above. Rewrite that great passage but this time same words, same scene but rewrite it badly. Define what made it bad. 8) Grammar exercises from school books and Internet sites. 9) Sentence diagramming. 10) Read about great writing, grammar etc (writing is always better than reading, but use the reading to help "grade" your writing... ) 11) Edit. Not just line edit your work, but really edit it. Step back and ask - --- Does it flow? Read the first sentence of each paragraph and see if the piece overall makes sense. --- Is every sentence optimized. For every sentence, reverse it - is it better? Compound or simplify it -- is it better? Remove it - does it matter? -- emphasize it - is it better. --- Sentences with lists - are they parallel? all staring with vers or nouns, parallel in constructions (one, two or three words), sequence order, or large to small or some other meaningful organization. --- and on and on and on... What are your ways of PRACTICING? Not just writing, but really trying to get better and better at the craft of writing? I'd love to hear 'em !! Keep on writing!! Dee ArizonaHeat ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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). I agree with you about needing to practice the motions. This month's Writer's Digest contains suggestions from some top selling authors, which say the same thing. In order to be able to write we have to write, not only when the mood strikes, but daily.