WRITERS WRITE

By notapoet - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in On Writing

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

An idea for a story is an elusive and wonderful thing.

Ideas that might make a good story occur to writers and non-writers alike. They occur to successful writers as well as those struggling for a small measure of success. And they can disappear as quickly as a blink of an eye during a casual conversation, never to be remembered again. The elusive and... Sign in to see full entry.

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Sunday, July 29, 2007

Recording devices can be useful for taking notes.

I have two. One is a bulky, by today’s standards, standard sized cassette recorder than is a tight fit in a large pocket. The other is a smaller micro cassette unit that works quite well as long as I’m not in the middle of a crowd. The larger unit no longer works that well and is kept for a backup I... Sign in to see full entry.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Journals and notebooks

...are essential tools for any writer. Different writers use them in different ways. I can’t presume to tell you how you should use yours. The best I can do is tell you how I use mine. I try to remember to jot down every stray thought and interesting tidbit that comes my way because I know that if I... Sign in to see full entry.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Free Stuff!!!

Specificically, books, thousands of books. There is nothing new here. Just a few sources of absolutely free books of all types. I’ve recommended these sites before, most recently around the Christmas holidays and New Years. I guess you could call this re-listing “Christmas in July.” No matter what... Sign in to see full entry.

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Your public library is a great source of free books.

Duh. That’s a no-brainer on the surface. The whole point of a public library is to loan books for free (if you return them on time) and to provide a collection of valuable reference materials that you may use for free on the premises. But many public libraries offer a great deal of free material... Sign in to see full entry.

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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

There is more than one way to skin a cat

…is an old expression meaning that there is usually more than one way to get something done. I can’t tell you much about cat skinning other than, “Ugh, why would anyone want to do that?” But I can tell you a few things about writing tools and techniques that have worked for me. Recently I touched on... Sign in to see full entry.

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Sunday, July 8, 2007

KISS

Yes, I love you all, but I’m not sending out hugs and kisses. I’m adapting a device that seems to work quite well for a great many things. It’s “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” KISS works quite well when applied to most things, and with one little change, works particularly well in blogging, or in my case... Sign in to see full entry.

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Friday, July 6, 2007

The check was in the mail!

Just what every writer dreams of. It may seem commercial and crass, but the check in the mail is the ultimate reward of the writing life. Seeing your name in print? That’s a pretty good thrill. But you get used to it after a while. And there are ways of getting your name in print as the author of an... Sign in to see full entry.

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Thursday, July 5, 2007

She did what, where?

When? How the hell did that come about? Why did she…. If you are anything at all like me you’ve probably already started filling in the blanks with envisioned characters, an event, a locale, a time frame, and at least started considering how and why your little imaginary scenario came about. Novels... Sign in to see full entry.

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Sunday, July 1, 2007

Seven is a lucky number.

Or so they say, whoever the hell "they" are. So I decided to post to one more blog for a nice uneven seven before calling it a night. Don't mind me, folks. I'm tired and I'm writing off the cuff, so I may not be entirely lucid. However it was kind of pleasing to learn that someone had taken the... Sign in to see full entry.

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Thursday, January 4, 2007

It would be great if writing shortcuts actually existed.

Let’s face it. Writing, if done properly, is very hard work. It’s much harder than the rewards most of us will ever reap from the profession, except for that most important reward, the satisfaction of doing something that you truly love. There is no better job in the world than the one you love to... Sign in to see full entry.

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Monday, January 1, 2007

Recycling and Reposting

There is a very important difference between the two. Recycling indicates reworking something to serve a purpose that might or might not be the same as the original intended use. Reposting is the lazy blogger’s way of making a post with no more effort than it takes for the few clicks required to... Sign in to see full entry.

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Thursday, December 28, 2006

Finally, a new post!

It’s about time I said something about writing rather than letting a repost stand for so long just because it had some links to free books that I wanted to share with you. But I also want to keep you aware of the links to those thousands of free books. Okay, how about this: To be a successful writer... Sign in to see full entry.

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Sunday, December 24, 2006

20,000 Free Books, and More!

I wish I could buy each and every one of you something for Christmas. Sadly, that is impossible under my current impoverished circumstances. However, nearly three years ago I did a series of posts about sources for free books online. If you love to write, you also love to read. And you can’t beat... Sign in to see full entry.

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Friday, December 22, 2006

What the hell is up with Fiction?

I have two unfinished shorts languishing in my Fiction blog. Both of them have been roughly blocked out and could be finished with another two or three posts. The question is: should I bother? Well, uh…um, yes. I think both are decent stories that could eventually stand on their own, or become a... Sign in to see full entry.

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The revision and polishing is going slowly.

At this stage of the game it is more of a fill in the blanks and cut the crap process. My NaNoWriMo novel ended up just over 64,000 words because I tried to cram everything I mentally planned into that first draft. Some segments ended up too long and repetitive. That’s the crap I want to cut. Other... Sign in to see full entry.

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Wednesday, December 6, 2006

64,129 words:

That’s the total I was credited with by the NaNoWriMo Validator. My word counter said 64,130. I’m not going to quibble about the difference of one word. The goal was 50,000 words in 30 days. I always knew I could do it. My participation was to prove me right in my estimation of my ability to produce... Sign in to see full entry.

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Friday, November 24, 2006

Racing Down the Home Stretch

Today is the beginning of the last week of NaNoWriMo. Seven days to go, and it looks like I’m going to make it. When I update today I should have about 45,000 very loosely strung together words of the 50,000 I need to earn my spurs. Not that I think it really matters. The important thing is to get... Sign in to see full entry.

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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

It was the book jacket that sold me.

The jacket was plain brown paper that looked like it had been cut from a paper grocery bag. The only thing printed on it was "this is a plain brown paper wrapper." The jacket made me smirk. When I opened the book to read the title it was all I could do to keep from falling down laughing. That was my... Sign in to see full entry.

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Friday, November 10, 2006

NaNoWriMo is going well.

When I update this morning I’ll be a few words shy of 15,000. The requirement is 50,000 words in 30 days. So far I’m on a pace to get it done, and I hope to move a little ahead of the my current pace by the end of the weekend. Much of what I’ve written probably isn’t very good. But that’s not the... Sign in to see full entry.

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Notapoet's thoughts and advice on writing, writer's block, and anything else he happens to think of whenever he's working in this category.

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