On the flavors of writing

[syringavulgaris]

For as long as I can remember, people have told me that I should be a writer. Which makes it every flavor of ironic that I have never made any advancement whatsoever in such a direction. --I lie; there is a carefully-hidden plastic binder containing a number of scrawled pages produced at approximately age 14 that embody the worst type of Mary Sue

Comments

[sweh]

Things to throw into the mix: Why do you post "experimental kitchen" items? Why do you write erotica

[syringavulgaris]

Yeah, I realized I left out the bit I'd thought of when first evolving this post, which was the "private" space -- journaling etc. Which is very clearly and definitely for oneself (though often enriched by the kibbitzing of others). I thought it very telling that this was the one flavor of writing I was semi-successful at.

Why not make it all private? I do want feedback from others. Particularly positive feedback, of course. ;) Even better, if things that I write (erotica or other) evoke a discussion of any kind, that makes it instantly a win.

[sweh]

So now a reframing of the question: what's wrong with occasional posts on your DW/LJ, or on FL?

In the olden days you might have posted to Usenet; why not find a forum on the topic you're interested in and start posting there? Or (bleh) Facebook interest group?

The question is still, ultimately, "why are you writing and who are you writing for?".

Many bloggers started out in this way; posted to existing fora and as/when they built up a following then forked their own blog. If you don't get critical mass then you still have the forum members to provide feedback.

[dvandom]

Amusingly, rec.arts.comics.creative is currently one of the most active newsgroups in my feed. Some days over a dozen posts.

[dvandom]

And if you want some people to see it, but not a LOT of people, you could always post to rec.arts.comics.creative. ;) Get some of that superhero jones on, whether silly (LNH) or more serious (most of the rest of RACC).

[syringavulgaris]

If I had LNH stories to tell, I definitely would. :)

[bychoice]

I have been writing fiction since I was a tiny tiny me. Not all has been good. A lot of it has been fairly morbid or weird. But, when over-busy, I stop. I don't have stories. And then, when I take time to focus on writing, I do again. I have found that I don't need a big audience. Right now, I have a friend who likes my writing. I write stories for him. I need to polish things before I can send them out to be published, but haven't found the time so far. I intend to, though. I have read a whole lot about writing. Most of what they say is that it is work. You have to spend lots of time and work at it. However, this doesn't mean that it doesn't have to be fun work

[bychoice]

For example, I was thinking that you could write about the end of CoH (I think this is the right game) and why video games matter. This would be a good article for a variety of places.

Or how about retelling family stories or legends, finding a random and odd object at a thrift store and tracking down the origin, travel writing (you probably need to take more vacations anyway).

[syringavulgaris]

Funny you should mention; Papa Smurf is leading us to Italy next month. :D Though I anticipate being too busy looking to write things down. I tried to write regularly from Australia and that tapered off really fast.

The things I'm most comfortable with writing right now are personal exploration--the experimental kitchen, as Stephen commented above, and the next thing I'd like to do is recording the development of my sewing process. (Which isn't just about gaining the physical skills, in my case, but a whole bunch of brain stuff.) They're chiefly for me, to go back and refer to, but I can see a case where I could polish them up and use them as a help to others. (Beth is frequently at me to teach an SCA class of that ilk, in fact.) So I'm going to work on making time for that, and hope that by getting in the habit of writing, more creative channels will open up.

I don't think I need to be published or anything--though I like your ideas about an open ebook site. But another angle is that having a commitment to an external entity

[bychoice]

In case you are interested, there is a book called "The Art of Travel" by Alain de Botton, which I think does an excellent job of talking about travel and writing. It might inspire you, and it is a short, easy read.

As for polishing up stuff that is for you to help others, I think this sounds fantastic! Everyone needs advice of this kind, I think.

As for commitment to an external entity, it could also be that, as with Russian for me, you will find the feedback and the process so satisfying (once you find a good way to get your work out there) that it will be something that you do for the pleasure it brings. I will keep an eye out for places that might be good for publishing/posting/etc for you.

Yay! I am glad that I can help!

[missionista]

How does technical writing fit into all this? I think you'd probably be good at it, there is a built-in audience, and it's neither fiction nor blog nor wholly academic.

[dvandom]

Well, technical writing isn't supposed to be fiction, but....

[yesthattom]

I wrote my technical books for a few reasons:

1. Pissed off at people doing things wrong and wanted to tell people there was a better way

2. Ego

3. Money

Two out of three ain't bad.

[syringavulgaris]

I have done a fair amount of both documentation and policy-writing and I am indeed good at it; but it doesn't feed my soul (other than the general satisfaction of a job well done / making my own and my people's lives easier).

[syringavulgaris]

aheheh. That's the "not ready to commit the required time & attention" bit.