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February 29, 2012

Automatic Writing


Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself—it is the occurring which is difficult. ~ Stephen Leacock

I found this quote this morning while looking through a selection of quotes from writers.  What struck me about it is that I have the exact opposite problem.  I have ideas racing through my head all the time.  it is the jotting down that is difficult for me. 

Actually it's not even the jotting down but the finding of the time to jot down.  Sooner or later my brain overloads so much that I have to write or collapse.
 
These overload times are the times that are most enjoyable for me.  I sit in the library and the words pour out of my fingers as if I am doing what the turn of the century spiritualists called automatic writing.  It is in those moments of creation that I am certain that I am a writer.

February 28, 2012

The new nest

Permit me to sit and gloat for awhile.  I usually write in the library.  That is to say I write purely creatively in the library.  I sit at a table with my AlphaSmart in front of me, stare off into the distance and mind dump.  Then, when I get it home, I upload it to my pc and start the slog of making it look like English.  For this I need space.
For some time, now I have had my computer desk in the den and my handwriting desk in the living room.  I have no idea why I didn't connect them before, but this week (and largely because a very nice chair sale in Staples) I found myself with a new desk chair.  Why not share it with my writing desk and my pc desk?  Hence I combined the two, added a small bookcase that has been amouldering in the garage and voila!  I now have a nest.  Thank you Diane Chamberlain for the apt description. 
I find myself nesting there everyday.  Not sure it will replace the library but I'm getting a lot more work done.

February 27, 2012

Enjoy



Enjoy with me the Oscar (TM) winning short:

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2011) 

February 25, 2012

Revisions...they happen to the best of us

"There are days when the result is so bad that no fewer than five revisions are required. In contrast, when I'm greatly inspired, only four revisions are needed." - John Kenneth Galbraith

February 24, 2012

Quote of the day

"I should think it extremely improbable that anyone ever wrote simply for money. What makes a writer is that he likes writing. Naturally, when he has written something, he wants to get as much for it as he can, but that is a very different thing from writing for money."

P G Wodehouse   



February 17, 2012

Signs of the times

Not sure the attribution is correct but it sure got my attention:


'Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book.' -Cicero, circa 43 BC

Really?

Listening this morning on PBS about how Julian Fellows created the situations on Downton Abbey, I am reminded that all of our "stories" come from somewhere.  Writers just take the single incidents we experience or hear of over the years and create a world that includes them.

Click here for  the link toFellowes discussion.


February 16, 2012

Groan

Getting ready to teach

Attended an instructors meeting today for the Lifelong Learning at RVCC. My class has reached the requisite number of students so I will be teaching! (It was on the bucket list so excuse the enthusiasm.) There is still room for additional students so have a look at the catalog here (click on courses) if you are local and interested. The fee is nominal and I promise I won't give any tests.

February 4, 2012

How did I neglect to post this?

Run right over to Amazon.com if you want In Season on your Kindle.  From now through the middle of February you will find it on sale for 99 cents.  Can't miss this one!