Writer at Large

"Writers really take their worst shellacking from other writers."
E. B. White (On Writing [1990])

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything to this blog. I don't have any good excuses, so I won't bother to try to make up any. I have been properly chastized, and I promised that I would try very hard to post something at least three times a week, even if I have to resort to taking a quotation from one of my books and working from that.

I have been editing the first draft of "Building Baby Brother" based on feedback from the people who have read it. I forgot how hard I fight the process of starting to edit a story. (This one is particularly problematic because I received conflicting opinions on the best way to handle one item in the story.) Once I get started, I'm fine. It's a lot like many writing projects, though. I remember reading or hearing an interview several years ago with a writer who said that her house was never cleaner than when she was avoiding the start of a writing project. A lot of writers I know suffer from the same syndrome. One theory is that if you never get it written, it never gets criticized. I can understand that.

Which is why I tend to avoid formal writing classes, workshops, and groups. I have received some useful feedback from these, but more often than not, I have found them more frustrating than productive. My primary goal when writing is to just tell a good story. I figure that the majority of readers will judge that far above any clever use of metaphor or deeply symbolic imagery. I'm not saying that these things aren't important to a story. It's just that I've found that a lot of "serious" writers get so caught up in the trappings of the writing, that the story seems to become secondary. Those other elements are important, but I've seen too many stories come out of writing classes that are mostly style and very little substance. I know some readers appreciate those types of stories, but they're not my style.

That's it for this time. Time to get back on the path.

In an attempt to ward off a complete onset of of road rage, I'm going to try to use this forum as a form of self-therapy. We'll see how that works out.

To some of you drivers out there (and you probably don't know who you are):

• The sequence is this:
  
  1. Turn on turn signal.
     
  2. Apply brakes.
  Not the reverse.


• When driving in the far right lane, it is not necessary to race with me while I attempt to merge onto the freeway. During commute hours, I am trying go from 0 to 65mph in a distance far too short to achieve that feat for most common vehicles.


• The gap in front of me on the freeway is not intended for you race from behind me and then dart in to fill it.

Thank you for your attention. Please drive safely.

I have been writing since my elementary school days. I'm the kid who, when asked to write a 1- to 2-page short story would turn in a 8- or 10-page opus. Things just progressed from there.

Lately, I have turned my attention to novel-length works, with the occasional foray into teleplays. Most of my recent fiction projects are thinly-disguised tales that I like to refer to as "writing as work therapy". It's amazing how you can sluice off stress-filled situations by casting real-life heroes and villians alike into the roles of starship captains and alien beasts!

I highly recommend it--and it's much less expensive than traditional therapy methods. The added bonus is that, should you sell the story, it can make money for you as well. Suffering might be good for your soul, but it can also be good for your bank balance!