writing as a skeptical act

[zenithblue]

The other thing I'm remembering (after a hiatus from regular writing which now has endured about six months, due to application/acceptance/moving/etc.) is that writing, at least in the early stages, at least for me, is nothing more than a pure skeptical act. I mean skepticism in its classic sense, which calls upon the thinker to suspend both belief

Comments

[bedlover]

ooh. no this isn't boring at all. this is the good stuff. :)

[zenithblue]

Heh...thank you. If "self-analysis and elliptical expression of insecurities" are the good stuff, you are 100% in the right place. ;)

[blozor]

What I love about your posts about writing is how very well written they are. It's humbling to be in the presence of someone who truly has the gift as opposed to a bumbling hack like myself. Although, I do want to get back into actual story writing, but first I need to do some reorganization with my belongings so I don't feel so suffocated. Maybe in a month or two I'll have the presence of mind to start back up.

A couple more songs that may help invigorate you. The Whitesnake song instantly made me think of this first one, called "Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way."

While listening to that, I automatically thought of a song by Simple Minds called "Great Leap Forward." I find it damn near impossible to be depressed while listening to Simple Minds.

Both songs will be available for your downloading and listening pleasure for a limited time, defined as "until I decide to allocate the server space for something else."

[zenithblue]

Oh wow...I'm really liking that Simple Minds song. I don't think I've ever heard their stuff before. I know you've recommended them before...a particular album I should look for?

I think you may be once again selling your own attention to craft short...do you have a laptop? If you do it might be worth taking it out away from your clutter. Clutter, in my experience, is a great excuse to avoid sitting down to work...but then again, you're not ready until you're ready. You should watch a bunch of Millenium--last time you talked about writing fiction it was because you were re-watching it.

Oh, by the way, you win for most fucked up icon I've seen today.

Music good...feeling more like performing a training montage than writing...

[blozor]

I know you've heard at least one Simple Minds song. They performed the song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" for the movie The Breakfast Club, which was their only #1 hit in America, although they still remain fairly big internationally. Of course, that wasn't written by them, and was first offered to Brian Ferry, who turned it down, and was in consideration for U2 if Simple Minds turned it down. Frontman Jim Kerr even resented it at first because it wasn't their original song and refused to include it on any album until a 1992 greatest hits album.

"Great Leap Forward" came from Good News From The Next World which was a bit heavier and guitar rock-oriented album for them. I enjoy it for the most part. I really liked Neapolis which was darker and more ambient, and their latest Black and White, which has so far not been released in North America. Every album has at least a few good songs on it, though. Not every album is going to be as hard as Good News; they are at the core an Eighties new wave pop band, only really talented, highly

[drawgirl]

Getturch Vale on and send me drafts when your ready!

[helpimarock]

My teachers used to want to stab me b/c I refused to embrace the drafting process. It wasn't out of defiance, I just couldn't write that first crappy draft without grinding to a complete and total halt. I had to jump right in and carve out the whole image at once, tweaking as I went. I got over it in college, but then things went awry and my bad habit came back and now I draft sentence to sentence. And I know it's wrong and I can't stop. Seriously, quitting smoking was easier than stopping this habit. But I guess I don't have to tell you any of this

[zenithblue]

I was lucky enough to have lots of support and positive feedback when I first started writing...though many of my other pursuits got me some nasty critiques. Honestly, I'm not too sure how those voices got so internalized for me...it probably has something to do with growing up with a parent who has a drinking problem.

I hope this weekend while El Giz is out of town you *do* get some creative velocity going. Rip it up, dude! What helps me is to think of a draft as a chance to play around. Make it fun, make it like eating candy, instead of something you have to suffer over. If you get the giggles or twiddle your toes while you're writing, you're doing it right.

[wanderlust_atx]

Hi. I don't mean to stalk you, but found you by way of deadkytty and then I found out that you were a writer and that you are also an MFAer and well..., now I'm blog stalking you.

A word of introduction: I got my MFA in fiction from SWT Texas State about three years ago. I have mixed feelings on the MFA thing, which has left me a little ambivalent about writing. However, on Monday, I am leaving corporate hell behind me to try to write full time.

Anyway, I found this post especially inspiring given my current turn of events. I spent a long time blocking out the voices and in the last few years of non-writing, they've managed to creep back in. When my draft writing begins in earnest, I think I'll come back and read this and then cue up the Whitesnake as well.

Thanks!

[zenithblue]

Stalk away! Are you a fiction writer or a poet or something else entirely?

Congratulations on taking the jump back to writing. That's fuck-all hard to do, especially if you've been away from it for any period of time or have had some kind of writing-related trauma. I have utmost respect for people who have the cajones for that sort of risk.