That shirt is better in picture than described. Love it. Wouldn't buy one myself, but that's just 'cause I don't need any more t-shirts (and because I'm spending all my money on DVDs at the moment).
Creativity happens when you assign yourself the space to work in it and then play around. Creativity comes from doing, even when you don't have the great idea (though as a matter of fact I think I have good ideas every day).
Well said, and something that takes far too many people far too long to internalize.
I always say LJ's not a proper blog, really, because it's very chatty. Most of my friends just write about whatever and we end up trading comments back and forth - there's no real inspiration, there. I certainly have no problem yammering on about whatever.
But I was talking to a friend about how I refuse to write any sort of original fiction unless I'm inspired, and I'm never inspired these days, and she almost lost my friendship by saying "Maybe you're not a writer." I've never understood this instruction to "just write", because in my mind the people who sit down and write when they're not inspired aren't any more or less "writers", they're just more disciplined than I am.
I've never understood this instruction to "just write", because in my mind the people who sit down and write when they're not inspired aren't any more or less "writers", they're just more disciplined than I am.Well, in the strictly literal sense, a writer is one who writes. Just to say that maybe that word doesn't need to be treated with great reverence; a writer is someone who writes, and if you want to be a writer, all you have to do is write something. (Of course making a living at it is another story -- but it's just like robbing banks; if you do it, you're a bank robber. Being good is a side issue
( ... )
But the thing that got me ready to end a friendship was the accusation that I was not something that I innately feel I am. I do write. I have been writing since I was 5 years old, and just because I don't post my word counts daily or force myself to write crap just so I'm writing something, does not make me less inherently something that I've been doing for probably much longer than the person throwing their accusation.
As it turned out, that is all she meant - she doesn't define being a writer as something inherent, in that she thinks that like, if a published author stops writing then they're no longer a writer. And that's not how I see it, so, meh, differences.
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Well said, and something that takes far too many people far too long to internalize.
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We'll see if I internalize it now. But getting the reminders I've gotten recently can't hurt, either.
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I always say LJ's not a proper blog, really, because it's very chatty. Most of my friends just write about whatever and we end up trading comments back and forth - there's no real inspiration, there. I certainly have no problem yammering on about whatever.
But I was talking to a friend about how I refuse to write any sort of original fiction unless I'm inspired, and I'm never inspired these days, and she almost lost my friendship by saying "Maybe you're not a writer." I've never understood this instruction to "just write", because in my mind the people who sit down and write when they're not inspired aren't any more or less "writers", they're just more disciplined than I am.
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As it turned out, that is all she meant - she doesn't define being a writer as something inherent, in that she thinks that like, if a published author stops writing then they're no longer a writer. And that's not how I see it, so, meh, differences.
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