Week of 2/22/09 - 2-28/09

For the week of 2/22/09 - 2/28/09

For you writers out there, what is the hardest thing about writing for you? Do you have difficulty finding a topic to write about? Trouble with character development? Fear of rejection by publishers or peers? What gives you the most grief? This is open to anyone, not just those that are trying to write professionally.

Man, I am horrible about two things in particular. My tenses is one, I always have to go back and correct words that I slipped on. And doing the whole "show don't tell" thing. It's not always hard but there are some scenes that I have trouble describing properly.

Oddly enough I don't have trouble coming up with ideas, I have tons of them in my head. The problem there is actually making the idea work in some cases. I started writing only novels but have moved on, as some of you know, into doing short stories as well. I've just been practicing with different tenses, different POVs, trying to see which ones I like best.

I'm hoping that I'm getting better at the things that I have trouble with. I'm trying to, I really am.

You make me jealous, Sneaks. Writing, as I see it, is really just another form of social interaction. I've had to be so damned straight-laced for most of my life that getting beyond a one-dimensional mindset is tough for me. I had hoped to be able to find my "inner child" by hanging around you youngsters, but to be honest, I know I just don't fit with most of the stuff I see on Jeb's Pub. I have no trouble writing about what I know, but if I venture very far from that, I'm in trouble. Sad.

Fear of rejection from peers I guess was the worse for me. I am getting better but even now when I go to post something the mouuse hovers over Post Quickly or Submit, wondering if I should bother. With my WIPs I find that there are different problems I come across in each.
WIP1: too descriptive...
WIP2: not descriptive enough, and holds no warmth
WIP3: Well it is fresh, and still in works
Poetry: I have no confidence in some, I don't like how some are written, they never seem good enough.

I find that the more I write, the more I realize how little I know. Even with poetry the ones I like the best are the ones I wrote from experience or about what I know.
Inspiration is not a big problem with me, I find it to be very easy to be inspired but I can't properly write half the things that come across my inadequate brain. Idk.

Pilot, all of us have a muse. You have just learned to tune yours out because it was inappropriate for what you were doing. A dog fight is no time to be daydreaming. You just need to hear it again. You write beautifully, I saw the piece you had written about your old fighter jet. Please put it here too. Everyone should see it. As for coming up with ideas, I think you have them, you are just too shy about expressing them yet. It will come, but you have to ease into it. I know I did. I started writing in 1981 and just now have the first story I feel comfortable with trying to publish. After seeing your piece, I am the one that is jealous. You are much more eloquent in form than I am. You will do well with anything you try. You just need to gather some of that overflowing courage you have and stuff it in your writer's box. Let it flow and it will.

Man, I am horrible about two things in particular. My tenses is one, I always have to go back and correct words that I slipped on. And doing the whole "show don't tell" thing. It's not always hard but there are some scenes that I have trouble describing properly.

Oddly enough I don't have trouble coming up with ideas, I have tons of them in my head. The problem there is actually making the idea work in some cases. I started writing only novels but have moved on, as some of you know, into doing short stories as well. I've just been practicing with different tenses, different POVs, trying to see which ones I like best.

I'm hoping that I'm getting better at the things that I have trouble with. I'm trying to, I really am.

Sneaks, I think you have described something every single writer has ever suffered through. It took me literally years to get to the "show don't tell" stage. And the only way I got there was practice, practice, practice. I have literally a couple hundred stories that will never see the light of day doing just that. So don't worry. Just keep at it and you will get there. I am not saying you will ever be completely satisfied with it, I know I am not with my own, even now. I mean that you will gain confidence in yourself with each one and they will progressively get better.

Greeny, I don't know why you think your poetry is so lacking. I would give anything to be able to put one together with the speed you do. I can't seem to do it. I can write 60 or more pages of a novel in a single day, and can't sling a few sentences together and make them work like you can in telling the thoughts or feelings in them. Do not belittle the talent you have my friend. You do a great job with your poetry.

And as I said previously...no author is ever totally satisfied with their work, so do not feel alone in that respect. We all have to find a level of comfort where we say, enough is enough and send it to the next phase, hoping we chose the right stopping point.

I guess since I wrote the question, I should at least answer it.

For me it was thinking I would never measure up to the authors I have always admired. I would write something, thinking "man that was great" then read a truly wonderful story by one of my favorite authors and trash my piece, knowing it still was not even in the same galaxy as their work. After 20+ years I have finally decided that one of my pieces might just be good enough. I am not saying that it is in the caliber of writing I want it to be, but that it is a good story that is written acceptably well.

We all go through growing pains with our works. I know I went from baby steps (read short very abrupt sentences) to running strides (read flowing graceful structures that reflect not only information to the reader but the passions and emotions as well). This does not always come easily, I know I struggled, in fact at times still struggle with this. I was not an english major and even had to struggle with that in school. But I did not give up and now have a series of books that while they may never get published, are the culmination of all my hard work and I am feeling very proud of reaching the goal I had set for them.

Cali, you asked that I post my "Yesterday" here, so I will do so. I won't post the picture of the old fighter as I know pics chew up a lot of bandwidth. Suffice it to say the plane is on static display at some podunk park and looks about the way I describe it in my piece. The windshield has that grayed-out appearance that old glass gets, and the paint hadn't been touched in years. Poor thing is probably all corroded under its skin, being left out in the elements all this time. For what it's worth, I did take an F-104 to 100,000 feet altitude and on the way back down did in fact achieve 2,000 mph. There's no particular sensation to that, BTW, but it sure gave me good bragging rights when Edwards AFB radar confirmed both altitude and speed.

The Russians had a four-engined turboprop bomber that NATO code-named "Bear" and my squadron and I did on several occasions intercept them when they came over the pole and got too close to the states. Interesting times we lived in. Anywho, here's the ode, or open verse, or whatever it would be called. Thanks for asking.

[center]YESTERDAY

LONG AGO WE WERE YOUNG. PEOPLE SAID YOU WERE SLEEK AND BEAUTIFUL, THAT I WAS HANDSOME AND DASHING. WE CLIMBED THROUGH THE SKIES TOGETHER, LAUGHING FOR THE SHEER JOY OF LIVING AS WE RACED THE SUN. WE SOARED TWENTY MILES ABOVE THE EARTH AND CAME DOWN FROM OUR LOFTY PERCH AT TWO THOUSAND MILES AN HOUR. WE CONFRONTED THE RUSSIAN BEAR, YOU AND I, AND WE NEITHER ASKED NOR GAVE QUARTER.

NOW THE YEARS HAVE FLOWN BY. YOUR PAINTED IS CHIPPED AND ROUGHENED, YOUR GLASS DISCOLORED. MY SKIN IS WRINKLED, MY HAIR GRAY. WE ARE BUT SHADOWS OF OUR FORMER GLORY AND IN THIS LIFE WILL NEVER FLY TOGETHER AGAIN. BUT OUR HEARTS WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE ENEMIE'S FEAR AND THE THUNDER WE LEFT IN OUR WAKE. SLEEP IN PEACE, OLD FRIEND. VALHALLA AWAITS US.

I'm just getting back into writing after, oh, about 10 years away from it. So the hardest part for me is really getting my butt in the chair and writing!! I struggle to get over the "guilt" of taking time to write when I feel like I should be working on my "real job".....

I'm sure I'll encounter other problems, but right now...if I'm not writing, then I'm not a writer!!!

Thank you for posting your poem, Pilot. I love it. And knowing a tiny bit about altitude and Cabin control issues, 100,000 feet was nearly life threatening in that time period. Impressive to say the least.

Wickham, I hear what you are saying about feeling guilty. There is always something around the house that needs doing or somebody you should visit. I tend to become a hermit when I settle in to write. And when you feel pressure in your life while trying to write, it can cut the creative flow of your mind to a dead standstill. If you ever find a way around that, you could make a fortune writing a self-help book on it.

Ha ha, yes, I definitely need to figure out how to let myself go "free" enough to just write...to not worry about the other things on my "to do list", the toughest are work ($$$) related. I'll keep trying!