6 posts tagged “writing”
I am still using the Mystery Meat setting on my iPod, and not all the way through sampling every song on there. I don't have everything I want on there yet, but what I do have keeps me pretty entertained. So on the way back and forth to the office I hook up the thing to a crappy radio adapter, and sing along. Loudly (as if you didn't know already).
First one on the list this afternoon was one of my own songs. Listening to it, and realizing that I was the person who wrote it, I decided that I'd go with the idea I had for a new site redesign and start on it right away. You can only let procrastination win for so long before it becomes boring, and you become stupid. Now to find a flattering photo to use... good luck and godspeed on that one.
Next was Stewart Copeland's "Strange Things Happen". I had been in the middle of pre-ordering his unreleased book by this same name last night before I was foiled by a glitch on the website, so I was actually heading home to complete that order before my computer packed it in and lost my shopping cart.
I know a whole bunch of folks who are even more thrilled about the release of this book than I am. They have probably already predicted what strange things have happened in the story. After Sting's rather sparse (read: non-gossipy) account of the band's history, and then Andy Summer's more rambunctious joyride through his Police memories, I'm wondering if being last to tell the tale has its merits.
And Stewart talks the way other people write. You can never be sure just what the man will say -- you know it will be absolutely unfiltered, and chances are it will be surprising. But while other people take some time to think up clever answers and spend time thinking about what they are writing, and what they SHOULD be writing, and the best words to say it with... well... that stuff just comes rapidfire right out of his mouth. With no thesaurus-thumbing and really no thinking gap at all. There's barely a chance to really take in the full meaning of what he's just said before he goes on to something else. I'm amazed and impressed with this ability because I've never met anyone like this in my entire life. I wish I could think in words that quickly. But because he talks like other people write... what is he going to write?
Anyway. I've just now finished my pre-order of the book, along with a second readable copy of Andy's "One Train Later" (the autographed one from Luminato is now untouchable). Like the rest of us, Stewart's put out some questionable stuff (and I'm willing to take my licks on that from the nutters -- plus I'm first in line to showcase some of the really horrible songs I'm forced to take credit for myself) but this book is going to be something to really look forward to and devour no matter how it turns out. And there's always the chance of a booksigning tour :)
About 15 years ago I started hanging out at a chat site, and I've been a part of the community there ever since. For the most part, we're a pretty cool bunch... I met one of my bridesmaids there and we are still RT friends... and we do stuff like donate huge amounts of cash to specific charities and collect toys for kids at Christmas. I'm a "lifetime" member, and although that means I have a paid and permanent account until the site disappears, that community was a HUGE part of my life for quite some time and will probably continue to be a part of it in some way.
After the honeymoon wore off for the chatting aspect, we all started hanging around a room where posts didn't scroll off. It was more of a corkboard than chat, and because it existed before blogs did, we all posted on a regular basis about our lives and stuff that was happening on the planet. I remember writing a hell of a lot of content and absorbing the responses, a thrill beyond compare. And then one day I realized that I was living my life and writing a corkpost about it... as the event was unfolding. My life was a corkpost. I bolted. And then I came back, with less to say about my life but doing more stuff in it.
Then blogging came along. Fabulous -- and familiar, of course, being a writer and diarist and having been through the whole cork experience. The only difference was that I could post in a blog, and it would not scroll off. I could write and post and leave, at my convenience. Addictive without being an obsession. Perfect for someone like me who has sporadic time slots for writing and surfing and connecting online.
Now there's Twitter. I signed up years ago, shortly after it came out, and sent Tweets and read Tweets and loved the microblogging aspect. I pulled my account when I started getting multiple requests from spammers and there was no way to block them (I believe there is now, though) but I signed back on with a "protected" account not long after that. When I got my Blackberry Bold I installed Twitterberry, and can send Tweets without having to go to my computer (now mostly unavailable to me because I'm either at the office or my kids are using it). Quick and tasty, just the way I like it.
Except: unlike blogging, I am finding that I've reverted to my old cork ways. When I do something, anything at all, I have a short sentence in my head, like a Facebook status update, that would fit in Twitter's limited amount of characters.
Michelle thinks [insert inane nonsense here].
Michelle has finally dragged herself out of bed and turned on her Blackberry for the day.
Michelle is out of the shower and rubbing lotion on her ass.
And this is not good. I can still blog through my Bold and send it to Vox, but it's something I've written about, and requires much more thought and actual brain processing than two thumbs and a synaptic outburst. I think this is a sign: I'll have to pull my Twitter, and bolt, the same way I did from the cork so many years ago. I think I have -- and I think just about everyone else has, too -- so much more to say and share than just short explosions of 140 characters or less.
And most of all, we need to stop living our lives that way, too.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to list all of the fun stuff that you can think of to do with a press pass.
Not that I'd actually do any of them... I'm not actually sure I have any use for this one... but I just received my press pass in the mail, and it would be amusing to consider the possibilities :)
Happy Tuesday!
I'm a nerd. Huh-YOOGE nerd. Always have been, and always will be. I was a nerd before it was cool to be a nerd, which shows you how big (and how old) a nerd I am.
When I was in grade school, part of the curriculum was that we had to write a deliver a public speech. Quite the amount of pressure to put on a little kid, but we all did it. I did my first one on Louis Braille. I won an award for it. My second one was on Thomas Edison, and I won an award for that one as well. See? Big nerd.
It gets worse: when I "grew up" (ha!) I went to Henry Ford and Greenfield Village and brought home Thomas Edison shwag. Maybe that's not as nerdy as it is lame, but my Edison interest continues on to this day.
I was just visiting our local library's online site, and saw the coolest thing: Edison Invents. It's an Edison game in Flash! You don't have to be a nerd to play the game, so even if you're one of the few non-Tina Fey nerd-girls on the planet, check it out.
1) They knock more than once. If you miss one opportunity, just make another one.
2) They come at you very fast. Opportunities don't wait for you to lose weight, get your skin cleared up, work on your tan. They don't gauge your stress level or your sanity threshold. Obviously opportunities don't care about that kind of stuff. They show up and you are either ready or you are not ready.
3) If you are given an opportunity -- a rare occurence, because usually you have to make your own -- take it. Just take it.
4) Don't sweat any of that stuff that you thought you had to do before you jumped head-first, whatever that may be. Just take the opportunity, and if it works out for you, fabulous. If it doesn't, then consider it your two-minute warning to get ready for the next one.
5) Consider doing an opportunity dry run. What would your perfect job be? What would you do if you had the money to do it? What do you dream about dropping everything else for? Now close your eyes and imagine yourself actually doing it. Write that cover letter... plan the trip... compose that theme song. When it comes time to do it, you'll be able to do it without any fear or hesitation because you've already done it, albeit not for realsies.
6) People are really, really busy. If you are personally offered something pretty huge and you don't grab it right away, it will disappear very quickly -- when you go online, the entire world can come to you. On the other hand, people are also very lazy. They may wait for you a little while because it's more work to try to find someone else. Believe that they are the former.
Oh yeah, I talk a good game, but am I up for it? I guess I'm going to have to be. I've just spied a really delicious freelance writing opportunity and I think I'm going to chase it down. I am chock-a-block right now, so if it doesn't work out I'm not going to be devastated, but just thinking that this could actually happen feels really damn good.
Wish me luck... I've got my fingers, toes, and eyes crossed for you, too :)
[ if you got here through one of my tags but didn't find what you were looking for... this is the explanation why ]
It's really very simple.
Being a writer is a shitty job. People think that writers should just write for the pleasure of it, and therefore writing is a job they won't pay you for. Not true. People think they can just sit down and decide one day to be a writer. Not bloody likely. People also think they can control what other people write. You can't.
I've always said that if you know a writer, you will eventually find yourself in one of Mork's reports back to Orson.
Does Mork care if you are in the report? Nope. Does Orson think it's wrong for people to interfere with Mork filing his report? Hell, yes.
So I'm going to admit it. I'm sick to death of the scrutiny. Quite frankly, I'm embarrassed for you -- that you think you have the right to control the things I say, what I do, what I think, and what I write about. I'm tired of feigning respect for, and continuing to smile and nod at, the people who just want to judge me. Worse: when they communicate these judgments to me and then expect me to change to fit their ideas.
I'm taking my control back. Here's what I've left for you: your scrutiny, your judgments, and your ideas. You can have them. They are, after all, just yours. I've never shared them.
This is not my first VOX blog post. I've moved almost everything into
"neighbourhood only" so that I can select who sees what, and when. How's that for showing some lady balls? I hope you aren't feeling threatened. All I'm doing is living my own life. Which is, like it or lump it, the life of a writer.
If you need access to one of my previous posts, whether through a Google search or a link that one of my friends has shared, just message or contact me, and I'll hook you up.
