While I was roaming the land of Big Skies with two of my favorite males, I got "tagged" by Colleen Redman. I must state that I usually ignore memes, surveys, blog-monkeys...whatever you want to call these infectious bugs that dash through the social networks of digital song and make you dance/sing to their rhythm. Yet, I have read Colleen's blog for years and since she herself is infectious, I accepted her challenge.
This is a very difficult challenge because it is for "writers." I have just recently begun to see myself as a photographer, and now before I get too old, I guess I must get my mind about whether I am a writer or not.
I started writing for fun when I was in grade school. I kept notebooks that were pasted with photos cut from magazines or bits of nature collected and then I wrote prose or poetry that had emerged (like vomit) in my brain. It was an addiction and I really never thought about it. But I had to do it. In primary and secondary school the writing assignments (fiction or non-fiction) were my favorites. I am a story person. I even made up stories about my math figures to get through Algebra! Blogging is my adult panacea, but I do wish they provided a free editor.
Anyway, that is the background for my answers below:
What am I writing/working on now?
My blog posts, of course. I just finished a short photo-journal book of the trip for my grandson and it will be a memory gift. I tried to write in the mind of a 9-year-old and thus it was pretty yucky. I had started a fictional book months ago and it was such a disappointing venture that it gathers cobwebs on my laptop. I am always writing poetry in my mind, which sometimes makes it to the page. I keep thinking I will follow through on a few ideas that are germs in my mind...but this is why I do not see myself as a WRITER.
How does my writing differ from other writing in its genre?
Unfortunately, I do not think my writing differs much. My voice is a common one. I strive for honesty and try to avoid bluntness, but they seem to come hand in hand. I think that Gandhi had it precisely correct when he said the only God is truth...or something to that effect. Truth is very hard to capture in words, though. And I have not yet decided if it is truth that changes or my mind.
Why do I write what I write?
It is like eating and breathing and loving. It is something that I HAVE to do. I am a seeker and I hope that by putting the pen to paper I will find what I seek. I hope to make astonishing connections and sometimes I actually do, on a smaller and more comfortable scale.
How does my writing process work?
I do not have a process, which is, of course, the problem. Consistency is the engine of great writers. Coffee and early morning and being the only one up are the keys to getting my writing engine going. I procrastinate on keeping a notebook for all my treasured thoughts as I work through my day. Colleen keeps a notebook and even more important she can decipher it when she needs to! I am a people watcher and do have a skill for recognizing a good character...now if I could just weave that into a tapestry of a story.
What are my future blog plans?
Since I do not have deadlines nor do I get paid for this, I do not have to have a plan. I still feel a calling to write and would do so even if no one read these words. When I began blogging in 2004 (before you were born?) I had no plan and thought of it as a private journal. Then I may have been a better writer in purity of thought and tone---who am I kidding? Now I am somewhat addicted to "my readers" and have them in mind when I write. It is probably not good for writing that you care how your readers perceive you and sometimes bite your pen.
I will not tag anyone, but would love if any of my readers desired to pick up this tag/flag and run with the ball and any other metaphor you care to use...just let me know.
What am I writing/working on now?
ReplyDeleteMy blog, of course. Plus I write custom, descriptive poetry for all occasions under the pseudonym Angie Worth. I am also working on a freelance project of children's stories for a newly marketed product line.
How does my writing differ from other writing in its genre? The difference is vast in most content, it is also identical to another.
Why do I write what I write?
I follow my muse.
How does my writing process work?
Like a volcano eruption as long as it begins early in the morning:)
What are my future blog plans?
March, 2015 will see my 10th anniversary of my blog Fools Rush In and beyond that I don't know.
I'm currently in the process of publishing my first novel..in the works.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how my writing differs from others, but I try to be true to my real self when writing.
I write whatever I'm feeling or enjoying.
My writing process is something that is going on in my head almost constantly, even in my dreams. It seems when I get something in my head it rolls around until it comes out.
I have no idea what my future plans are for blogging. I just got started three months ago, but am so enjoying it. I absolutely love this interaction.
Thanks!
What am I writing/working on now?
ReplyDeleteRecently I re-edited all of my Portland series. I hadn’t thought of it as a series, but there are six books in the romances and all are set in or have a major part of their story in Portland. Editing and covers have been my summer. Current one is set in Montana and a little more western contemporary. I can hardly wait to see the last of my books re-edited (for the umpteenth time) and get back to the Oregon historical which is fourth in a series I may never even publish. I got an idea though for a seventh Portland book but not sure I’ll write it. I get lots of ideas while writing.
How does my writing differ from other writing in its genre?
I think my romances do differ from romances in general, as I don’t use the popular patterns out there. I probably have more difficult topics for my characters to work though like say the adult ramifications of childhood abuse. I also don’t write about weak women (some need to learn but they are not weak), because I have to spend a lot of time with these stories-- hence I better like the people about whom I write.
Why do I write what I write?
I like how love impacts our lives. I like writing about the relationship that probably most challenges us, makes us reveal ourselves, and can hurt the worst. I enjoy though setting that in some sort of turbulence. I want danger of one sort or another to make the writing enjoyable. See, I do write what I would love to read. I also try to make all of my stories uplifting in the end and with something that could make the reader’s life better for some truth or emotional energy.
How does my writing process work?
Lately I added a bulletin board to my station here in a corner of my living room. That’s for inspiration with images that keep my thinking in line with my characters as I consider my stories. I start in the morning if I am going to be here. I put maybe half an hour into social media to promote, spend some time writing that kind of promo stuff (with links) as if your books aren’t seen, they sure can’t be bought. I suspect I put in about 8 hours a day on writing but try to keep the evenings for things with husband.
What are my future blog plans?
This is iffier. I don’t know. I have gone to once a week for the main blog and three times a week for my blog on writing. But I think sometimes of quitting one of them. I do write a rant blog also for political thinking but that one only happens when I read or hear something that compels me. I have always felt blogging to not be forever but I’ve been at it a long time now; so maybe it will be.
I like so much reading your answer, Tabor! Your words are very inspiring and I will try to answer the meme about myself on my mind... It's a good exercise of self knowledge, self consciousness.
ReplyDeleteGood answers too, Granny Annie.
I will read also the answers of Linda Kay and Rain Trueax for now.
ReplyDeleteAnd I will follow the link to Colleen Redman for sure!
ReplyDeleteI like memes like this one as they make us think and in the case of reading yours, understand more about your creative energy. Filling them out makes us come up with direction where maybe we hadn't been thinking what we were doing.
ReplyDeleteKeep on writing Tabor...you have a voice worthy of being heard. I started my blog during a difficult time in my life, and just kept on trucking with it. It has become a great passion for me. Having a voice beyond my journal and getting feedback from other writers. I have met some wonderful people out in the blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteTabor, i enjoy reading your blogs, and i'm glad you enjoy writing as much as i enjoy reading!
ReplyDeleteFirst, I must say you ARE a writer! Your writing shows great skill and is beautiful to read.
ReplyDeleteAbout me, I am currently back at writing my memoirs, and my blog, of course, which is more about photography than writing, and then there is the writing of comments or other's blogs.
I know there are many who consider answering questions like this to be a chore but they do help us learn more about you. Great answers.
ReplyDeleteI think it's useful to ask ourselves questions like this every now and then. I didn't think you'd do it! And I learned a lot.
ReplyDeleteI can't read my own writing unless I read it back and type it within a day or so and lately most of my notes are on scraps of papers. I have so many notebooks that I forget which one is for what and which is current.
Lovely thinking. My writing this last year has been not only distracted by appallingly thought out. I too am resorting to photography.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of introspection. I like to question what I think, why I'm doing what I'm doing (or not doing), and have internal dialogues with myself. I also like reading what others say about themselves.
ReplyDeleteWe're all writers here; some are better than others grammatically, structurally; some are natural storytellers; some struggle to express themselves. You have a gift of clarity. Reading your posts is often like looking at word pictures. Keep on, I say!
You may be ONLY a writer of blog posts but you are a very good writer of blog posts. So many of us write rubbish that the blogs that’s grab the attention are few and far between. Yours does.
ReplyDeleteSo, nothing ONLY about it. And where are those poems? I enjoy the few that make it to this blog of yours.