Talk about writing.

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Open topic. Whatever you want to discuss, thoughts you have, poetry, grand plans, ideas... Whatever, just let it all hang out.

-- Atara (atara@raex.com), January 29, 2001

Answers

One of the first things I remember writing, when I was probably 6 or 7, was an article on why you shouldn't destroy spider webs. You know, they're the spider's home and all...

I've been writing ever since, though I do go through phases in which I write different things. For example: when I'm tormented, I write poetry; when I'm obsessed (or bored,) I write fanfiction. :-)

Speaking of which, Sarah - I don't suppose there's any chance that a select few of us might be able to read your Pern tales...?

-- taerin (taerin@home.com), January 29, 2001.


I've been keeping a paper journal on and off since around 1990. I started the online journal thang in 1998, although I don't update as often as I'd like to. I dunno how you find the time to write about stuff nearly every day, Atara. Wish I could, because I usually thing of all sorts of stuff to write about on my commute home and by the time I get home I'm just too tired. My next entry is probably going to be about the week I spent out on the Left Coast... which means it's gonna be one of those entries where I write (and write and write and write).

I have a tendency to ramble on a bit, yes.

One of these days I'm hoping to write a book on the history of the Hudson River valley. All my other friends are publishing books so I might as well, too...

-- Xydexx Squeakypony (xydexx@my-deja.com), January 30, 2001.


Writing is great therapy! I used to paint, but I enjoy word painting more. Nothing can express emotions/feelings, pain/hurt, happiness/joy than words unleashed from the soul.

-- Nelson (nelsonks@email.com), January 30, 2001.

Speaking of which, Sarah - I don't suppose there's any chance that a select few of us might be able to read your Pern tales...?

That's really sweet... =) But you don't understand. They're bad. Really bad. Horribly bad. Bad gone wrong, even. And they stink, too.

Besides that, they're in a box somewhere. And they're written in longhand. I'd have to find them and transcribe about 300 pages of handwritten squalor. ;) So... Maybe someday, but right now I simply don't have the time, unless someone wants to hire me a secretary. =)

-- Atara (atara1@yahoo.com), January 31, 2001.


I've been writing probably as long as I've known how to print on paper. I've kept paper journals for years, just recently switching to a PC-based journal program. I've discovered that one of the best ways to do a brain dump is to not look at the screen when I write in that journal, even going so far, sometimes, as to type with my eyes closed. Try it sometimes - it's a really neat way to get the thoughts out.

I did freelance writing for a bit back in graduate school, but gave it up because I realized I just wasn't cut out for a career in that (I need deadlines - I work best under pressure!). Now I content myself with my online journal, and I usually have a blank notebook with me to jot down random stories. There's something so deliciously tempting about clean white paper that makes me just itch to write on it.

-- Jenipurr (acatbyanyothername@pacbell.net), January 31, 2001.



Writing . . . well, that didn't begin until later. What began was with reading. I was and still am a reader. If I don't get my daily fix, then I'm worthless.

When I was a kid, my grandmother hounded me over letters and such. I did the obligatory and then delved back into my world of delightful books. I'd still be there if it weren't for my 8th grade teacher and her creative writing assignments. When it happened it was effortless and fascinating all at the same time. It felt much like Alice during her free-fall after following the frantic rabbit into his hole. Everything was new, riveting, and fun. Could I free-fall faster? What was next? The thrill never stopped, but somehow it got diverted into boyfriends, hair problems, and then high school.

Although I kept up my dutiful letters to my grandmother, I didn't write much again for years. When I was a junior in high school, writing arrived again. This time it was poetry. At least for me, high school poetry was fun. I played with it like a kid in a sandbox. I'm make it, demolish it, and then remake it even better. When my teacher wanted me to have several published, that was when I became dumbfounded. It had been too easy. Wasn't writing supposed to be hard?

Thus I took my honors and my acceptance and my publications as my due. I didn't realize that writing "could" be hard. I didn't realize that writing could shape the rest of my life. Within months I withdrew again into my favorite books and worked a job to pay my bills. I found my love. I married and kept on reading.

After a long hiatus, I went to college after normal work hours. I went for accounting, my then vocation, and found writing again. I was nearly thirty then. I found it and haven't let go since. I found that I couldn't let go. It wouldn't let go of me.

Often I write drivel, most of us do. However, once in a while, something I write is worthy. It's something I'll go back and read and enjoy over and over again. If I'm lucky, it's something that another will read and enjoy or hate as they will and I'll hear from them.

Writing is a gift. We may do it well or badly, but if driven, we will write. If we are lucky it will move another. If we are luckier still, it will move them to respond and tell us so. There is no greater satisfaction than that.

Kudos Sarah! You've found your niche. I see that many others have responded lately. Life is 'just' coming together for you. Much more happiness lay ahead. I wish you great joy.

Carol

-- Carol Remsburg (remsburg@shore.intercom.net), February 03, 2001.


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