Write on...

I think most writers will tell you the hardest part of writing is... writing. It's true. It's easy to muse on ideas and themes and motifs and hidden meanings and whatnot, but it is much harder to sit down and actually make those lofty ideas make sense on the page. Why can't I just screenshot the thoughts in my brain and publish them? I guess that is probably for the best...




Million dollar thoughts in there

As an English major, both undergrad and graduate, a common question I, and many others, have fielded is, so you want to be a writer? Well, sure! In fact, I AM a writer already. Just not one that gets paid. Aye, there's the rub. Making the transition from part-time blogger, part-time story writer, part-time muser of lofty ideas, to someone who gets paid for putting their words on paper. Hell, I'm still working on transitioning to someone who actually submits writing to anywhere but school.

I'm a big excuse-haver, so the last couple years I milked the grad school thing. I was too busy working on my classes, my thesis, my excuses to polish anything for submission. Even now, three months after completing my thesis, a polished piece of writing that received good reviews from my professors, all of whose opinions I respect, I still haven't sent it out anywhere. Why? Well, it's an odd length at just under 15,000 words. A little long for a short story, too short for a novella. And where would I submit it? Sure, it was good enough for school, but an academic audience is a much different thing than a real world editor or publisher.

It's all YOUR fault I'm not published yet!

Excuse my french, but that's bullshit. It IS an odd length for a lot of publications, but who cares? There are some (I know, I saw one) that take submissions up to 15,000 words. And if they don't, the cool thing about writing something is you can change it. It could be shorter! I'm not so attached to every single word and paragraph and passage that some couldn't be cut to streamline it. That would be hard, though. Writing is hard! Especially the writing part!

So, in an effort to stop kidding myself about my writing somehow magically showing up in print with me doing nothing to help it, I finally started researching where I can send stuff. Or write new stuff. I'm actually better, in my opinion, with assignments. I have my own ideas, but it is so much easier if someone says this is your topic, be creative. I like guidelines. I like to break them, too. That's the fun part.

My first attempt at a writing assignment is a little contest I signed up for. It's a cool idea. You get twenty-four hours to write a short story. The topic and length requirements are posted tomorrow at noon and submissions must be in by Sunday at 11:59 am. The length shouldn't exceed 2,500 words (or as little as 500 words!), which is an easy length to do in one sitting. I will be at work when they post the topic, so I will have to sneak in the back to check it out on my cellphone and start the fun musing part of the project.

 

http://www.writersweekly.com/misc/contest.php

Of course this had to fall on a weekend when we actually have big plans. Tom got me tickets to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway! We are going up to New York tomorrow night to visit friends and then all get brunch in the morning, so writing time is time. But, even if it's not my best submission, it's better to do than not. Another one will be coming up in three months, besides a few other contests I found that I am interested in entering.

NPH in drag, what more could a girl ask for?

Tom asked yesterday if I had any particular approach to writing, like detailed outlines or anything. I don't usually. Sometimes I have an idea where I'd like things to go in a given story, but just as often the story and characters take over and my outcomes are moot. Perhaps I should try to work on a more structured approach, as I use when I write research or more professional papers. But part of the magic of writing, for me anyway, is letting the story and characters take over! Experimenting with different tactics is fun, too, I guess.

Just a little disclosure, I won't ever post any of my writing here. If you want to read anything, just ask and I will e-mail you. It's not that I don't want everyone reading my stuff. I do! It just compromises my chances of publishing things if I post them online.

Ready, set, write! Just don't spill that very green smoothie

My weekend to-do list seems too fun to post (pictures next week!), so here is my writing to-do list...

To-Do This Week in Writing:

- submit to 24 hour short story contest
- pick an August contest to enter and start polishing up a new or existing piece to submit
- find at least two not-contest places to submit writing
- finish one of the three short stories I am working on. Even if it's bad. Just finish it. You can always edit.
- write more on the blog. You guys like when I write on here, right? Right??
- learn some new words and use them in a story. Maybe start with the GRE book I stole from Tyler?
- try to write even a little bit every day

Your to-do list!

What are your favorite words? Mine is jawn, a Philly slang word that means... well, pretty much anything! Any noun, at least. So what is yours?

If you don't have a favorite word, think about it and get back to us. In the mean time, what is the thing that you want to do, but never seem to make the time to improve on? Playing an instrument? Learning a new language? Finding a better job? (A little secret, those are ALL on my list) Share with us AND make a little time for them this weekend!

Our "Less" Paul

Cheers and happy weekend everyone! I have off Saturday night so I can say that with conviction for once.