In my first post on this blog, I spoke of being honest with yourself or you can never write. And today I’m f-ing around online, and I notice that there is this article about dating, and one of the things on there was this section about how you can’t wait to try and date someone until all your ducks are in a row. And by that I mean, you can’t wait until you’ve lost all the weight you want to lose, you’re out of debt … blah, blah, BLAH! Well it isn’t what I meant; it’s what Read the rest of this entry »
Sep
9
I promised this in my very first podcast, but I kept forgetting to put this online. This is one of the stories I submitted to get into this conference I keep talking about. I’ll post the other one later (I need something to hold over everyone’s head.) During the conference, and part of the 750 bucks you put up, a professional writer critiques you. I actually loved the woman who critiqued my story. She was very Read the rest of this entry »
Sep
9
Okay, I promised a section about contests … and this is the first of many (since I continue to enter contests, and I can’t post those stories until I lose! Cool how I figured out how to make these things a win/win for me, huh?). Below are a couple sources, and if anyone has any other ones, please feel free to post them. I have a couple things to say about contests. First off (and I think this is the first thing that everyone should know about writing in general) … KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! Do a little research. I’m not going to do a constant rant about how awful and insensitive the publishing industry is (at times), when there are writers (who read my blog) who are just as insensitive about the stuff they turn into contests. Don’t turn in a satire piece when the contest clearly Read the rest of this entry »
Sep
9
Contests … I’ve entered a couple, but to be honest I don’t think I have what they want. I write in a pretty specific way, I figure out what I’m supposed to put in the box, and then I throw the box away. I do think, however, that it’s important that you enter contests, and get your feet wet, and win, not win … whatever. It’s just important to have the confidence to put your work out there for people to read, and not for the same old stupid reasons we keep hearing Read the rest of this entry »
Sep
8
About a year ago I got a bug up my ass, and decided to do something about writing. I admit it; I had dreams of grandeur, and had forever wanted to be a published author, but just never did anything about it. I figure dreams are like that; they’re such a powerful thing to embrace. If you go after them you might figure out, in the end, you didn’t have what it took to achieve it. And after the dust settles, you fully understand what it means to live an existence without your dream, and how dismal that actually is. I think that NOT going after something is a very potent thing because if you never try to realize a dream, you never have to lose it.
After college I wrote this completely awful book that fully contemplated the origins, status, and future of my naval, written in the second person (why be ordinary), which had no discernable storyline. I called it “experimental fiction” so that people would feel smart for reading it, and equally I would feel smart of writing it. It was Read the rest of this entry »
