Wow... 105 words leads to 26 and possibly + posts by others and a response thread by Nancy. Holy Schnikes!
Wow... I mean wow...
Anyway... thank all of you for your responses and for keeping things from getting too far out of hand. Some really interesting discussion.
To answer a few issues raised in the course of the conversation:
1) Yes I am using you all to improve my writing. With the possible exception of Splintered Life and maybe my poetry, which I am still mulling over, there is nothing posted by me that will be pulled, as this has all been my practice work. A lot of my writing here has been stress relief and for fun. Splintered Life is a glimpse of what my very focused writing is like and some of my Whateley stories. I use these stories and ideas like sketch pads. They let me practice my art without having to foul up a major idea. As I believe Grover said, you get better at writing by writing.
2) I might be offering College Girl and Sorority Boy for sale, maybe through Lulu. I'm not sure, but I might. They are not getting sent of to publishers as I don't feel they are literary enough.
3) As Nancy mentioned in her hive off, I take my writing very, very seriously. I have a Master's in English with a focus in Creative Writing. I love writing and have been hooked since I was in eighth grade. I dream of winning the Nobel and am working towards that goal. I take this very very seriously and don't believe in dropping a story. Hell, I am still working on The Chalice and the Wand if you want to know, as the story isn't finished. However, I do keep writing for pay and writing for fun separate.
4) I will not be posting the stories on line unless they do not manage to sell when I finish them. It strikes me that it will be less hassle over all and that will be fine by me. I don't want to post and pull even if you know as to avoid hard feelings. I will be sharing the story bits with some people but not all. Mea Culpa.
So... I hope that works as a follow up to the last post. Have fun and keep reading.
Comments
Sounds WONDERFUL
Perhaps one day, I'll approach the level where something I write might be "publishable", but, in the meantime. I've discovered how much fun writing can be. The first piece I recall writing was also back in eighth grade. (Thus my response.) In my case, it was a play (a suspense mystery) for my "group" in English to perform for the class (we couldn't find one with the right number/sex characters, so I wrote one.) Whether it was any good or not, nobody will ever know (I did get a very good grade though), as my group took the piece and decided everyone needed the SAME number of lines in every scene. So, the character saying individual lines CHANGED from what I'd intended... Leading to some, well you can imagine.
As a result of this experience, I was "convinced" that I should never write again. I was devastated (despite the grade)... I didn't write anything I wasn't required to until a month or so before I first started posting here (I was challenged to write something.) I'd had "hints" that maybe I should write before. I wrote "summaries" of D&D games - so players in my "world" could keep up with what was going on even if they missed an evening. And one player - who missed the "end of year finale" (this is back in College/Uni) commented on the summary that I should write stories. I laughed it off, because I "KNEW" I couldn't write. In the late '90s, I started editing fan-fic for a few authors (in the Deryni world of Katherine Kurtz). But, I still "KNEW" I couldn't write, even if I could help others.
In any event, I'm writing now (when I can find time, and I wish there were a LOT more time!) and loving it!
What's the purpose of all this? I guess it's to say that I love writing (& wish I were better at it) and hope others will find as much enjoyment as I have. I think I'm also trying to point out how EASY it is to discourage a starting writer. Okay, maybe not all of them, but many may well be unsure of their skills.
Hopefully I've not horribly hijacked your blog note. As I think about it, this would probably be better in my own, but I'll leave it here for now. Thank you for your comment, and the note about starting in eighth grade. It got me thinking, again, about my writing.
Thanks,
Annette
You are quite
You are quite welcome.
Writing is a lot of fun and what is sad is that sometimes I am convinced that I am a terrible writer. So don't give up.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.