WRITERS WRITE

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

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Got writer's block?

Get real. One of the best ways of looking at it is to decide there is no such thing. Most of the time when I feel I should be writing something, yet I find myself looking at a blank sheet of paper or a blank screen, I have to remember that I’ve got plenty to say. I just haven’t put any of the words... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

This is a plain brown paper wrapper.

“The Man Who Wrote Dirty Books” by Hal Dresden was a hoot when I first ran across it in 1965. I once posted a review of it in the Arts & Entertainment category. I‘ve since deleted that blog, but I‘ve considered reincarnating the review. It‘ll take some revision or a complete rewrite. The original... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

The long and short of it.

It’s much easier to write long than to write short. Unless, of course, you’re trying to write long in the first place. Then, for some strange reason, it seems to be ridiculously easy to come up with a short version that says everything you want to say. This little trick works for me almost every... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Joel Whitburn's record research books

...have come in handy to me recently. I have three of them left (all from the early eighties) that I have managed to hold onto through the years and several relocations and moves. They are all singles references. I used to have several of his album guides as well, but they managed to disappear... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, October 9, 2006

Na na, noo noo, nee nee, na no nu

…is nothing more than a nonsense phrase that was central to a little game I used to play with a couple of my old army buddies more years ago than I’m willing to believe. There is no great significance to it, the phrase or the game, other than the picture it creates of Hadley and Kearns in my mind.... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, October 6, 2006

The tools of a writer

…above and beyond talent and persistence, include a decent reference library. A writer’s reference library need not be large. In these days of almost unlimited free information on the Internet it might seem that everything you need is online. Not so, for so many reasons that it would take me far too... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, October 2, 2006

"Truth is stranger than fiction"

…is a quote usually attributed to Mark Twain. What he actually said was: “Truth is stranger than fiction -- to some people.” Twain was probably paraphrasing an earlier quote by Josh Billings that he had heard or read. This is entirely conjecture on my part that I base on the fact Billings was some... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Being two places at once

…is what I’m supposed to do tonight. It can’t be done, you say? It isn’t physically possible except maybe in a work of science fiction. Well, that is an interesting premise for a work of science fiction or fantasy. In truth, it’s one that has been written many times in time travel and alternate... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

"A writer is rarely so well inspired as when he talks bout himself." --

Anatole France, I'm guilty as charged. My writing is filled with reminiscences of my youth, of my own experiences as a very minor writer, and of anything and everything else from birth to the present. And that’s just the blogging and nonfiction. My attempts at fiction are laced with those same facts... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Name Dropping

Okay let’s start with George Bernard Shaw. This great giant of many forms of literature once said: “He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches.” Perhaps this explains why this blog has always been one of my favorites. Much to my chagrin, I have not become a world famous author. Regardless, I enjoy... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, September 15, 2006

"Stop, Look and Listen"

I listen to “oldies” on the radio a lot these days. Part of the reason is that I no longer have a music collection from which I can pick and choose favorite albums and songs. The other part is that the play lists of the stations I listen to often jog my memories or evoke a feeling that gives me a... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

"playin' solitaire with a deck of fifty-one..."

is my favorite phrase from Flowers on the Wall, an old Statler Brothers single that did well on the pop charts. It was an apt description of my circumstance at the time. I was out of school, having (pick one): flunked out, dropped out, been kicked out (or “all of the above” -- there is no incorrect... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

280,000 Words!

Actually a little over that, almost 300,000 words, in just under six months. That, much to my amazement, was my actual production. I discovered an unknown feature on my word processor that gives me a word count on any document I’ve saved. So where is my novel? Or novels? 300,000 words should be... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, September 19, 2005

80,000 Words

That was considered to be the average length of a novel when I first began writing way back in the dark ages. Most published novels ran about 180-300 pages, approximately 60,000 to a little more than 100,000 words. A popular rule of thumb back then was that a coherent work of at least 50,000 words... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, September 16, 2005

"NOBODY LIKES TO WRITE

(BUT EVERYONE LOVES TO HAVE WRITTEN)” is the title of chapter 3 in Joel Saltzman’s book If You Can Talk, You Can Write. I love this quote almost as much as I love the book’s title. Yet, like most over-generalizations, it’s not strictly true. It has often been said that everyone has a book in them.... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Where were you and what were you doing on 9-11?

Not Sunday, 9-11-2005. I’m talking about the 9-11. The one four years ago when life in the good ole U S of A underwent its most dramatic change of the still young 21 st century. Significant events have the affect of making us think that we’ll always remember them complete with our own personal... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, April 26, 2004

Writers on Writing

I’m going to quote myself and say “WRITERS WRITE.” Yes, I know it’s the title of this blog. I call it this because its the shortest summation I could think of to describe the state of being a writer. I don’t have anything else to say this time out. I’ll leave it to the following quotes from books on... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, April 25, 2004

Rewriting Sucks

Under certain circumstances, anyway. This happens to be one of those certain circumstances. I call it damage control. My last post here, one which I was quite proud of, was a casualty of the recent Blogit crash. I’ve been trying to get around to rewriting it for more than four days. It just isn’t in... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, April 19, 2004

More Thoughts on Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement

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Friday, April 16, 2004

The Public Domain and Plagiarism

My Darlin’ beachbelle, who works very hard to keep all of us informed and straight, recently addressed the matter of plagiarism again in her On Writing blog, “Blog Page.” Her most recent post, “YESTERDAY 2 BLOGGERS MADE IDENTICAL POSTS,” discussed the unfortunate situation of bloggers who are... Sign in to see full entry.

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About this Blog

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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