| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
I've started writing a monthly column called "Bleeding Words" for Hub magazine, ostensibly about writing in the independant press (but knowing me it'll wander all over the place). If anyone's interested the first one can be found here: http://www.hubfiction.com/ | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Gary- loved it, laughed out loud and recognised a hell of a lot from my own working day in there. Looking forward to the next one. | ||
| Coral (Coral) Username: Coral Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 90.215.237.100 |
Where? I can't see it. Am I looking at it wrong? | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Just download the PDF from the website, and scroll down.  | ||
| Coral (Coral) Username: Coral Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 90.215.237.100 |
Ta! God, I feel daft  | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Don't worry- we technodunces have to stick together.  | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.117.9 |
Loved the column Gary! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Thanks folks! | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Nice one, Gary. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Well done! Perhaps you should do a piece on writers' displacement activities - to showcase the other side of "writing time". | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.99 |
The thing about avoiding displacement activities is you have to make the writing more enjoyable. For example I have just been faced with the option of either having a cup of coffee or translating instructions on how to saw someone's head open into Latin. No contest | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.20.31.211 |
A couple of select kids at my childhood school studied Latin. In court. As defendants. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.20.31.211 |
Yes, writing's always done against a background of other tasks. If you have lots of fun things to do it's harder to write, so you're best planning a load of cleaning or gardening or something equally pointless, and then you'll do anything to avoid it. Even writing, by God. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.20.31.211 |
I actually love writing, find it immensely stimulating. I know others - Simon Strantzas for one - find it excruciating. I do think ultimately that despite all the little tricks we try, the difference between those who have fun and those who don't is dispositional. Like most things, alas. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.20.31.211 |
Paul Finch, Tim Lebbon, Gary McMahon, me and some others - I think we're just lucky in the fact that we're relatively prolific. We don't have a secret. Wish we did. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.20.31.211 |
In short, wot Zed sed: just write. | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 69.157.32.253 |
Nicely done, Gary. I'm in complete agreement with your thoughts on blogging. I only post on my blog when I have news or have something to say that I think visitors to my site will find stimulating. Beyond that, I reserve my time and energy for my writing proper. We have similar work habits, particularly at the day job. I find my lunch-break writing sessions to be my salvation from the tedium of work. Even if I only get a paragraph or two written, I find that this centres me enough to be able to get through the rest of my shift, and also gives me a springboard for my evening writing session, which, like you, is my more substantial one. Thanks for sharing this, brother. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.8.175.44 |
No one has picked up on Gary showing us his column??? Oo er missus. Sorry. very bored. First day back at work but they didn't have anything for me to do. Apart from a one hour training session mid afternoon I've been reading the same ten page document over and over again, for variety , trying to spot the oxford commas and greengrocer's (or should that be greengrocers') apostrophes in the HR documentation on the intranet. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.209.220.47 |
Interesting reading, Gary. Made me feel less selfish, realising the extremeties that others go to, to read and write. I've tried writing in my lunch hour at work but I find it too distracting. My favourite time is in the evening when the kids are in bed and the missus is asleep (or watching the tv, which is practically the same thing). What other subjects are forthcoming in the column, Gary? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
Thanks, Steve. My best time for writing is actually during office hours - which is why I've had to train myself to work whenever else I can.  The next installment of Bleeding Words is empassioned and confessional; after that, it's back to general stuff about writing and publishing in the small press. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.167.124.163 |
'My best time for writing is actually during office hours' Which is the evil little troll sitting on anyone's back if you have a creative outlet besides the 9-5 job. One's mind really works best from about 8am-2pm. Sometimes getting right up early and then doing something creative just after one's mind has been dreaming for instance, is also great. Though late at night also works but personally I feel that if I had my mornings free, more stuff would get done, or rather, it feels like less work is necessary to get the same results. But working into the night is still great. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.209.220.47 |
It's definitely made me think about the way I work. I'm not one for blogging, but I spend too much time arsing about on message boards (present company accepted). It's about time I started writing more fiction. I'll use this prompt as a way to galvanize my effort. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
One's mind really works best from about 8am-2pm Mine certainly does! I loathe having to write at night - my mind wants to switch off after a hard days' work. Steve - go for it. I write downstairs, away from the internet. I've actually just come up for a break from Abaddan edits. But don't tell Jon... | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.177.70 |
Weber, you got in before me. Which is only appropriate. [Bad porn joke #6873] | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.177.70 |
Weber, hang on... so you are trying to spot the Oxford commas... to identify them as errors... and remove them... I feel better already... let's just say that again: to spot the Oxford commas and IDENTIFY THEM AS ERRORS AND REMOVE THEM... suddenly the world is a better place, feel not downcast O Weber, your job is infinitely more worthwhile than most of ours. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.173 |
You gotta grab creativity when it strikes...I wrote a song called 'Happiness' in my head while delivering some stuff in the works van...I had to keep singing it all the way over & over so I could remember the words & melody to write it down when I reached the office. gcw | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.209.220.47 |
Gary, Ken Dodd got there before you, mate. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.255.161 |
Great article, Zed. Like you, I'm sick of people who go on incessantly about how they'd write loads if they could only see the point, or if language were not so inadequate to express feeling, or if there were more 'markets'. There is one word for such people: DABBLERS. Not writers. If you write, you fucking well write. You'd write with your own blood on a wall in the dark if that were the only option. You write when it costs you precious time, income, the attention of others. You hope that your friends and family and lovers understand the Muse is not their enemy, she is your better self. Sometimes writers get blocked – but they struggle on, trying every creative airway, until the oxygen of language floods their bloodstream once more. You know and understand all this. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.87.15 |
Gary, Ken Dodd got there before you, mate. "...the greatest gift that I possess"! | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 65.92.53.84 |
Hear, hear, Joel. Well said. I regard writing horror fiction as my only vocation. Everything else is merely a necessary avocation, especially my day job. As a small press author, I rarely have a guarentee of publication for any project I'm working on, but I still sweat blood in order to create fiction that no one but me could have written. That means being meticulous in word-selection, trying to be innovative with plots, and pouring a great deal of myself into each tale. We write to get the story written, because it is important to tell it, even if it is only for ourselves and a handful of other readers. Like you, I don't understand writers who can't see the point of writing. I've made tremendous sacrifices in my life in order to put words on paper, often for little or no money. But what's the alternative? More time in front of the boob tube? More chit-chat with co-workers at a pub or coffee house? No thanks. The older I get, the less patience I have for irrelevancies. One of the great secrets (and most rewarding aspects) about being a writer is that you can make everything in your life relevant to the craft of writing. But that can only happen when you are writing regularly and know what pointless activities can and should be cut away in order to write better and more effectively. It's vampiric in the sense that everything a writer does is feeding the Muse. It all becomes grist for future stories. As you pointed out, the crucial point is to sit one's ass in the chair and write. It may not be perfect, but it's the only life for me. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.8.175.44 |
Weber, hang on... so you are trying to spot the Oxford commas... to identify them as errors... and remove them... I feel better already... let's just say that again: to spot the Oxford commas and IDENTIFY THEM AS ERRORS AND REMOVE THEM... suddenly the world is a better place, feel not downcast O Weber, your job is infinitely more worthwhile than most of ours. No, unfortunately I don't have the access to edit the document's. I was just so fed up of reading them that I started proof-reading them for a bit of variety. When they give me my own email I may send a message to the HR department to tell them all the mistake's I spotted. There were more Greengrocer's apostostrophe's than any other error. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.8.175.44 |
Been a bit more interesting today. They've actually sorted me out with some work to do so I've been playing round with spreadsheets and databases instead. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.235.87 |
The only exception I'd take to Joel's manifesto above, is that I believe "writing" to be a sub-set of the larger creative drive in us. So to stifle that creative aspect is death, yes... but to allow that sometimes one aspect of the creative outlet isn't functioning well - say, "writing" - and moving on to something else that fulfills that need, does not betray the creative impulse. Those who stop creating completely, opting out for a non-creative existence, okay, those can be called "dabblers"... but - just grabbing an example from off the top of my head - Thomas Hardy didn't become a "dabbler" in prose when he, disillusioned, turned to poetry full-time late in his life.... Which brings up the other exception: that which has been created, vs. that which is "now." If Ramsey had simply stopped writing novels after THE PARASITE, say, or short-stories after his phenomenal shorter work of the 70's alone... could you not call him a "writer"?... or could one fairly call him a "dabbler"? (T.E.D. Klein comes to mind here)... as usual, the issue of "creativity" is far more complicated, when peered at closely.... | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.229 |
>>>You hope that your friends and family and lovers understand the Muse is not their enemy It is interesting how folk can become envious of a vocation. It's rarely a case of, "You don't spend enough time with me." It's often closer to, "You're never here - you're always away with that." The writing becomes almost alive to other people. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.229 |
Do all artists experience that? Painters? Musicians? Or is it just something about the fact that fiction involves relating to other people, however imaginary? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.76.118 |
I'm writing and I'm feeling guilty as sin that I'm not playing with my daughter. Mind you she is developing her own imaginary world which might come in useful one day. | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 70.31.58.51 |
Mike Resnick once said "Writers write, dilettantes talk." Which echoes what others here have said. We could all bemoan the lack of time, or our soul-crushing jobs, or a myriad of other factors, but the fact is if you want to write you make the time. You squeeze it in wherever you can. If it is something you must do, you simply do it. Though the act is rarely simple. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.235.87 |
Don Van Vliet (aka, Captain Beefheart) stopped recording music after ICE CREAM FOR CROW, in 1982, and went into hiding to this day, turning all his attention to painting. Is he not a musician?... The Rolling Stones kept recording music after GOAT'S HEAD SOUP in 1973 - are they still musicians?...  | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
In some cases, one could say 'Former writer' with no disrespect. Don Van Vliet is a former musician. In other cases one might have to say 'writer in phase of long-term creative block' or 'writer whose creative powers have waned', or even 'writer unable to work due to failing health'. You're only an ex-writer if you actively make a decision to stop or mostly stop. People who sweat for years trying to write books that just won't come have my sympathy – more so than people who turn out machine-standard fodder and call it writing. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
The Rolling Stones are still musicians. Just progressively less good ones. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.233.33 |
Clarified, Joel. Thanks. My hackles rise ever so slightly whenever I sense a "Just pick yourself up by your bootstraps, dammit!" argument coming. The pain levels of everyone is different. And when you are doing work like writing (and writing is work), with no benefits - i.e., the three pillars of benefits are: monetary gain; the approbation of others; personal satisfaction - then it becomes a terrible task to labor on. At these times creative artists deserve the greatest amount of sympathy. And I think, sometimes, allowing a creative artist to "throw in the towel" is perfectly fine - we are creatures in time, and nothing is etched in stone forever. Even Jesus had to go into the tomb for a few days, to rise again.... | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.173 |
"Gary, Ken Dodd got there before you, mate. "...the greatest gift that I possess"! iTS nOT tHE sAME oNE. gCW  | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.87.15 |
Course it isn't! Just keep telling yourself that.. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.209.220.47 |
Gary, you'll be telling us next that you wrote a new song, "When I'm Cleaning Windows'. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.20.31.211 |
How are the Diddi-men lately, GCW? Knotty Ash still full of jovial guffawing? The chuckle muscle holding up? How tickled you are! | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.173 |
'Sigh....Pearls before swine...pearls before swine..' gcw |