Baby

With any creative work, the end result (or at least one of them) is considered your "baby". This is the most dangerous mindset a writer could have along with anyone else who has a personal attachment to their created works. When dealing with something that can be edited, such as a written piece, it is to the benefit of the writer to be critiqued and accept the viewpoint of others. That doesn't go to say that those viewpoints always need to be followed, but the work will continue to lack dimension (in most cases) when offense is taken to a critique.

Falling in love with an ugly first draft as if it were the full finished work cripples the potential. I've worked in video editing and motion graphics, and I've learned that what my eye doesn't catch everything, and that what's needed may not be what I produce the first few times. If I took that personally, I'd quickly be out of work and limit my growth substantially. The same goes for our writing. Growing hurts and criticism isn't fun all the time. Changing the mindset and adapting is what separates those full of themselves from those who make a living.

Not everyone is going to understand a certain perspective, and not everyone will like the same story. But allowing yourself to be open and see at least why is a powerful tool. We can't be swayed by every opinion, but we also can't be stuck in our ways. Finding that happy medium is what will promote growth to those who want it and prevent a lot of heartache along the way. I speak from experience.

Friends

A relationship in any given person's life can be the grounds of a great story, written or simply lived out. This can go either way in terms of what is beneficial or not, but regardless, these close and personal relationships are great mediums of tapping into deep sources of our emotion and the realities of who we really are. How do we act to our enemies? How do we act to our friends. How do we treat our friends who become our enemies? That concept alone could fuel a novel series' storyline.

Still, the point is, how potent are the relationships in our lives and how much are we truly gaining from them? How much are we giving? Are they worth writing about? Can they bring forth the emotion of others to move them beyond what's written? Everyone needs to be careful about who they surround themselves with, but this goes especially for those of us who are aiming to have an impact on a larger group of people through our writing. The real questions are: do we really expect to influence people? how many? are we even doing enough to influence our own friends or draw something meaningful out of them?

Writing is fueled by passion and our deepest relations with the people we share them with. Hopes, dreams, love, and hate. It's our responsibility, not only to make an impact in them, but to have people around that can bring forth that potential for impact; relationships with real meaning, depth, and value. Hopefully that came across as intended.

Still love your friends, live for them, and seek to grow WITH them, not in spite of them. But do it with people who bring out the best in you, and embrace the negative aspects into constructive work from those who are against you. That's where the true soul will come out. I'm saying this to myself, more than anything, but also to whoever may gain something from this.

Purpose

There's purpose to everything. If there isn't then it's not worth doing. Still, we're somewhere, doing something, for some purpose at all times. That alone can provoke thought, but my focus now it on purpose in the sense of motivation to action.

A big pain for me right now is school. I don't like school... at all. And that's a horrible attitude to have. Still, aside from my personal biases, I'm here for purposes beyond my understanding that slowly come to me bit by bit. Every step of the way, in any of my classes, I begin to understand what I'm able to get out of it, bit by bit.

A character in a story is placed into situations unknowingly. Is there a purpose for him/her to be there? Yes. Even if it's only to fill a paragraph's space, things happen for a reason to get to the end and goal of the story. The true meaning of the story is found within those events, but they aren't understood until you read that final line.

That's how it's been for me. I know the Author has a great plan and ending, and I'm just enjoying the ride (some times more than others, I'll admit). My character is being revealed and I see who I'm developing to be. My passion and fire for writing has been rekindled and now I'm beginning to understand how situations can fuel endless numbers of stories, poems, songs, etc. Not that I didn't get it before, but now I'm experiencing it, through my own life and situations along with their results. Life is the best example of writing. Just as a story has no value to a closed mind, however, so life has no purpose to those who don't seek to understand it.

description

You can describe feelings in various ways. How feelings make you feel, how your body, heart, mind, etc. reacts to a certain situation or sensation. But how powerful would it be, yet, to describe feeling, not by words, but by action? I know writing is about words, but as we've learned, it's best to show, not tell. People can only relate so far to how someone feels by means of describing other related feelings or reactions. Action speaks for itself, though. Or so people say. And normally, those people are right.

I know this is no new concept, but it's still powerful, nonetheless. "the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or morepressing claim." This is a great action of something, a definition I received from dictionary.com. The word being defined is "sacrifice". But couldn't it also be used as "love"? What if the "feeling" of love (which is much more a choice than anything else) was described, not as love, but as an all out representation via sacrifice? The meaning and power behind the concept now has become much more clear and can reach the hearts of many more than just those who are "in love" or can relate to the warm fuzzy feeling of "love" (infatuation). The truer sense is given, and even those who are hurt can receive hope and enjoyment from it.

To think that I would be sacrificed for. That someone would consider my life to be of more worth than their own. My happiness over their safety. It becomes more real when given in an action and demonstration. The words give more understanding and meaning, but without the action taking place or being shown, the meaning is worthless. Still, it makes more sense and has touched me in a way I never even grasped before, all because of how something was worded, and how something was described through action and demonstration rather than just a description. It becomes more than wishful thinking or hopeful foolishness. If not to anyone else, than to myself.

I got this all from a book. A book I've read and skimmed over for years. A book I've become familiar with. A book I wish to relate my own style after because of it's amazing use of description through actions, continuity, and a story that continues well after the cover is closed. My Bible, as much as people scoff and think of it as ridiculous foolishness, has given me more powerful understanding and clarity of the word "love" (among others) through action than has any other novel, movie, or depiction possible. This hit me tonight and it wont soon die.

I want to bring understanding to people. Isn't that ever writer's goal? To be understood? Or at least hope that someone would understand? I want people, along with myself, to just get life and everything we go through. However that may be. It doesn't matter if it's with each other, against the world, or against ourselves. That only goes so far with fiction, but now at least I have a more powerful tool and method to get the message out and have some meaning behind it. I'm losing my words now, since it's late, and I'm not as coherent as I was when I began. Hopefully I can master this skill soon, since I'm sure this blog entry has gotten jumbled by now. Still, the message now should remain understandable, and my goal has been clearly stated.

Opening lines

The beginning sentences are supposed to draw readers in. I've always wanted to captivate my audience from the get-go, but really never put much thought into the process until now. Keep them guessing before they even turn the page. Spark interest in the first few words that will ignite a flame of curiosity and desire for conclusion through the rest of the story. A few words to burn through the rest of the pages. A few words to burn into the minds and hearts of those who even so much as glance over them. The follow-through is what makes the story, but those opening lines are what give them their chance. It's really cool to think about. And so, the act of writing becomes more of a refined art, though still as boundless and unpredictable as the emotions and thoughts it stems from.

Requirements of a Writer

Since when was the creative process and its patrons allowed to be dumbed down by generalizations and requirements? "If you're a real writer, you'll do this" "If you expect to be any good, you'll do that". Yea, because all writers that have made a difference in this world referred back to a certain other writing pioneer back when there was no one to refer back to, or made their mark in the world by writing this way, or that way, or reading this person's work. Of course not! There are tips that are helpful and methods that can bring out the best in your work, true, but it shouldn't be limited to that. I'm nowhere near the best at what I do, whether it be writing or anything else, but I got there because of my own experiences and methods, not following guidelines and specific rules and regulations. When that happens, our work loses its spark and value. Our passion becomes a textbook answer.

Who cares what people think? Who cares what one person dubs "good writing" or "correct methods"? No one should, and it's those who don't that make the real difference. I'd rather be called an idiot and end up like all the others who left their mark in the world by being called so than be praised as a genius in a classroom or by convention and replicate work that people have already ingested a million times or fail to cause people to think or understand because my style is outdated and overused, even though that's what I was taught.

I look forward to rejection letters. I'm excited for scoffs and ridicule. It's those responses I will save and keep next to the file cabinet of my acceptances and fan mail and later publish to show how cliche they all will become in the hindsight of history.

Too much rest

It doesn't seem to be existent at times, but there is such a thing as getting too much rest... becoming too comfortable in bed... especially before the week hits its end for me. I still hate waking up with a passion. Not that I don't enjoy being able to spend another day spending time with my friends and family, both at home and at church along with anywhere else we may go, it's just that it's a difficult task I never get tired of loathing. It's literally painful to try and force my body into cooperation in the mornings to kick off the covers and get ready for the day. It's mostly mental, though.

I remember a comedian, Mike Berbiglia I believe, who commented on a sleepy alter ego that had a gift for convincing arguments as why not to wake up. I'm beginning to come to terms with that same realization about myself, especially after this morning. Like I said before, if my mind has something more interesting to do, it's not too hard for it to convince my body to cooperate, and it just so happens that my dream needed to be finished, in my mind's opinion, and so I did before finally dragging myself out of my bed... literally!

Wiping my face off on my pillow and sheets as I slowly slid towards the edge of the bed and eventually getting up enough to see a blurred world through the slits of my eyelids who were still trying to decide whether or not to open or remain closed. I've gotten work done already, but it's not a pleasant ordeal to have to go through, especially when I finally wake up and remember everything I need to do in the day. "A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber." -Proverbs 6:10-11 and 24:32-34 (NLT) That verse kept echoing in my head this morning... talk about lighting a fire under your feet.