WHY?

There was a question on one of the Facebook groups when a high school student asked if he should pursue a career in writing. This is my reply with additional comments since the wall post only allowed 1,000 characters.

The post starts with "I don't mean to be sarcastic but have you ever heard of the term 'struggling writer'?" I then address the high school student's other concerns. Find a job that pays the bills first especially if you plan to go to college because that leaves most people enough in hock to busy them for quite a while.
Secondly, being a writer is a difficult career. The market is saturated with people wanting to get their novels published. Hell, even Jane Austen would have a hard time selling a novel in this market. I wrote an editorial in one of my blogs about a man who passed off Austen's novels as one of his own.

So why write? Because you have a story that pulses through your blood and won't leave you until its ink dries on the page.

However, for the money, there's always commercial writing work. You develop that by making contacts. Facebook is one way to do that. Of the Social Network Services, Facebook is the most useful. LinkedIn is a good tool also. MySpace, LiveJournal, and Orkut are useless because they are not well-organized and cater to a less literate crowd. Bebo and Friendster are the same in the lack of content. Twitter is useless unless you are terribly vain and want those who would rather not know about your latest hernia operation. Also try Sunoasis and Debbie Ng's freelance writing blog. Good luck!

Technorati Tags: writing advice

SUPPORT THE WRITERS' STRIKE

Please support the writers' strike in Hollywood. One way that you can support the writers' strike is to boycott any scab activity that takes place online. Recently, I found this ad. The spelling errors are not mine:

"Freelance TV Writers - (US-CA-Hollywood - 90078)

Min Education: Bachelors
Job Type: Contract

Everyone knows it is a rough time here in Hollywood with the strike and with the holidays coming up it couldn't have come at a worse time. I was starting to wonder how I would be able to make it an enjoyable Christmas for my twin 12-year old daughters. That is why I decided to come up with an alternative.

I, and some marketing folks, producers, and other interested parties had some private disucssions on how to get some writers back to work while this strike works itself out. I've worked out deals to get scripts written on a couple of CBS shows and I'm working on a deal with Fox. We will be privately and discretely writing scripts for these shows. We will ensure your privacy and confidentiality and are willing to pay top dollar for talented writers. We are currently working on bring other shows into the mix, but the producers want to see if we can make this work for a few shows first before giving us many more.

Together we can make this a happy holiday season for our families, contact if you have any questions.

William Kinkade
Kinkade Creative Solutions"


I've excised the contact information for the company. Why help them?

Help these people instead.
Here is the web page for the Writers' Guild of America.
http://www.wga.org/

Technorati Tags: writing advice,writers'strike

POEM OF THE MONTH

The early sun dissolves the mist
that has covered the mountain.
All night I have listened to the wise,
yet failed to learn.
Dimly, darkly, the eternal pines
rise without effort from the vanishing fog.

---Xue Tao

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POEM OF THE MONTH INTRODUCTION

I was ambitious to have a new poem every week but my life circumvented that (off-line writing, family concerns et cetera). So without further introduction, please enjoy the new format.

----Anne

ONCE MORE INTO THE BRINK....

Here I go again... I have started my second unpublished novel in a series. I have written one hundred and eight pages into it.

No one ever said writing is a rational occupation. It is a profession that lives on hope, little sleep, and less praise. One has to be a master of dreams to push on through the most dreary of situations. The bills, sick kids, ill self, lonely nights typing at the computer, the blank screen that does not cheer with its stare uncomprehending as a government form that asks "Well, what is your work?"

Let me think... I am the tender of imagination, the midwife of new beings in print, a guardian of a world.

Doesn't get one very far in the "real world". I usually scrawl "homemaker" on a form. "Writer" means, at least to the bureaucratic people that I know, 'unemployed person with an English degree'. Not very prestigious.

So what keeps me going and persisting and hoping to be published? Because my characters, those mischievous struggling (almost) human creatures I've known for all these years, make my life reflective and intellectually alive. If they died unwept, so would the part of my life that budges the humane in me. This keeps me going as a writer.
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WHAT'S THE POINT?

Borders bookstore chain is installing televisions. The bookstore chain has partnered with Ripple, a national provider of in-store content to deliver information to "upper class" customers. Ripple also delivers content to such chic businesses as Jiffy-Lube and Jack-in-The-Box.

I don't know about the majority of the readers of this blog, but I'm old-fashioned. When I go to a bookstore, I expect to find books and periodicals. I like bookstores because I can escape the yak-yak of television. Bookstores are supposed to help people think not leave them hanging with their mouths wide open and drooling like eejits on the carpet. Or have I missed some crucial lesson in modern publishing?

Once upon a time, books were actually conveyors of knowledge not units to move out the door. When I was a child, too many years ago, I fell absolutely in love with the warm pencil colours of D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. The sweet face of Aphrodite arising from the sea or the poignant reunion of Demeter and Persephone in the grain fields kicked a hole in my tidy go-to-churchy view of life. My world was suddenly aflame with ideas. Books aren't meant to be a marketing tool alongside television. Books are intended to open up new venues for the mind to explore.

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UPDATE: FOOD STUFF

The regular cook was sick so my sous chef (represented here) graciously pitched in to cook for someone (me) who was sick onto death. Well, at least in no shape to cook. Unfortunately, we have different ideas on what constitute condiments for the food. Seasoning salt, in my opinion, is not a fit taste to use liberally in food preparation. We since have had IM conversations about the (in my opinion) proper way to cook Egg Mess.

All this makes me wonder about ghostwriters and their clients. Yes, there is a writing angle! Are the clients satisfied or do they complain about the seasoning? Is it the client's true story or the hired writer's tale? I wonder this as I am thankful for my sous chef pitching in at the last minute when I was not cogent enough to deliver one of my favourite dishes. It is something to ponder on those windy Canadian days when I'm imbibing a hot cup of Oolong tea and perusing my recipe books. Hmmm... Hobbit Shire Soup doesn't look that bad.

Technorati Tags: comfort food, writing advice