The Write Place
Here you will find everything to do with writing, whether it is my writing or what I'm learning from reading books on writing. Reading, vocabulary, and grammar are the tools of the trade. The very best people to learn from are the ones who are seasoned writers who teach writing. You would be wise to enlist them as your mentors, as I have.
- In: The Write Place
So, since I’ve decided to spend far less time writing a newsletter I’ve decided I need to spend a little more time blogging. My goal is to blog weekly. I ALWAYS have something to write about so this shouldn’t be too difficult for me to do. Basically, I sit down in my chair and type. Something always comes out. As a matter of fact, that is also what most writers recommend you do if you want to become a better writer, just sit down at your computer until the words come out. It doesn’t have to be too long, just a way to keep in touch with whoever might be following me on my writing journey.
- In: The Write Place
There are so many books written that are turned into movies and I say 'Bravo' for the author who is privileged to have that experience. With so many authors out there today, I'm always surprised by the number of remakes that are made (such as 'Spiderman') I mean, do they think they just haven't gotten it right yet? Or is it because with CGI they can go beyond their wildest dreams. Personally, too much CGI is a turn off for me because I feel as if there is less and less acting and more just stretching a rubber CGI character through the air (again, 'Spiderman'). I feel like I'm watching an animated movie.
- In: The Write Place
No, that isn't a misspelling of the word Sudoku, the numbers game. Tsundoku is Japanese and means, "acquiring reading material and letting them pile up in one's home without reading them". For years I've called myself a bibliophile which is "a person who collects and has a great love of books". That is still me, too, but now I have a new term to describe the hundreds of books in bookcases lining the walls of my basement, my living room, my studio.
I find it fascinating that everything we do, no matter how unique it may see to us, and even if no one in our circle of friends and family ever encountered anyone else who did this unusual thing that you do, you can be assured that someone else out there does it, and there is a name for it. That was definitely how I felt when I heard a contestant on Jeopardy not only say the name "Tsundoku" but Alex Trebek agreed he, too, suffered the same affliction.
To me there is no such thing as owning too many books.
- In: The Write Place
We all have different writing styles and what works best for us. Some writers have to have complete silence while others work best in a busy cafe. What we use to write our stories is also an individual choice. I often start getting ideas and, without a computer close-by, will jot them down in a notebook. Sometimes I will actually start the story and then when more and more ideas come to me and I have hand-written four or five pages of barely decipherable pages, I will switch to my computer and add the pages. From that moment on, I will continue with the story on the computer. The computer is much neater than my hand writing, particularly once I get moving on the story and then cross out and write a paragraph below and draw an arrow here to there.
- In: The Write Place
On March 19, that's just 4 days away, spring begins. Winter over, I already see the signs of spring in the return of several birds to my neighborhood, the crocuses that are not only pushing up from the dirt but that have also opened with the tulips and jonquils not far behind, plus the buds appearing on the tips of many trees that surround our home in rural New Hampshire. Now is the time to start clearing away the old dried plants and weeds from around the yard, trimming bushes, and preparing for new growth all around. And this year, unlike previous years, I won't be in such a hurry to get away from those duties and instead get out to visit with friends because as we all know by now, it is in our best interest to stay home and away from others who may be infected with the COVID 19 virus. More deadly than any we have known in some time and taken right off the screen of a Hollywood movie we are hunkering down and taking care of ourselves and staying indoors. Perfect time to get down to business with my writing and actually complete another book or two since that is my immediate goal.