Something to Write About
I feel somewhat lost that I have nothing to write about. No stories from foreign lands to amaze and bewilder you. No pictures of grubs or lotus or temples. I kind of miss writing about all of those things. I need something to write about. SPF told me last night that one of his coworkers said that "I write beautifully." (Thank you, if you are reading. :) And I love to write. I love that I had readers!!
My sister once told me (you know, the one that just won the screenwriting competition (reference blog titled "My Sista Kicks Ass!!")) that it takes writing a million words of merda before you get something brilliant, nay, something even good. A MILLION words. Do you comprehend this number?
Now I am not saying that I haven't gotten a start. I wrote my first book (or began to write) when I was ten. It was a joke amongst my closer friends all through high school that I had already accomplished that and therefore could set my sights higher, such as pursuing a nobel prize. (At the time, I thought that nobel prizes were only for science. I only recently realized that they extend beyond that realm and into literature.) My second book I started in college, wrote for seven and a half years, and then submitted to TOR. My third book is halfway done. None have been published and the second is in its first rewrite. But I digress. The point was to count number of words total. All of those books combined equal less than a quarter of a million words, and I have been writing those since I was TEN.
Now, let's count poetry. I know, I know, that seems like a waste, but you forget, a lot more words go into making poetry and then they get taken out, reworked, reemphasized, molded, metaphored, and polished. Okay, that still only adds like two thousand at most.
Blogs? Maybe another ten grand. But I don't know if you can count blogs. If I wrote the word "smile" one million times, I haven't learned anything from it, therefore I haven't completed the task the writing that ensues will not be "good." But I journal a lot, and since I am not just writing all stream of consciousness here, maybe that is to be counted.
So with blogging, letters (I love to write snail mail letters), emails, journaling, and poetry, I think we have maybe another 100,000. So, all told, I have written 350,000 words. This is terrible!! What will I write to reach the proscribed million?
Well, I better get started.
smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile
posted by Moose Tucker @ 1:12 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
All work and no play makes Moose Tucker a dull girl.
While word count is certainly important, experience has a lot to do with a writer's scope. Even in the last two or three months, you've gotten more than most. Looks like the day job's good for something besides paying the mortgage.
That is actually an excellent point. I didn't count any of the technical writing, or any educational work, like essays, historical analysis, or filmic deconstruction. (Actually wrote a lot of these, the whole "Film Studies Major" thing.) I have to be over a million. That is nothing to worry about anymore! I should just write and concentrate and maybe the writing will be really great on its own merit, word count be damned.
Oh, and abigail...I don't know anything about Stained Glass. The explanation of the name of this blog is...private.
Did you edit me?! Or did I edit myself? Hm. At any rate, here's the best quote I have ever heard about writing:
The secret to writing is writing.
I tend to agree with wamez, translating LIFE into prose, poetry, essays, etc. is what makes for good writing. You had some great writing through all the trauma of last winter. Writing that causes people to connect to your feelings, your experiences, your frustrations--that is great writing. In many ways, I think you have reached your million mark in affect and effect. I know that jq is correct--the secret to writing is writing, but there must be something that can touch, amuse, anger, uplift others in what you have to say. You have definitely been doing that! Keep it up.
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