I'm iller than a chain-smoker.

[raybear]

Where the hell to begin?

I mean, okay, it's not like heaven and earth have moved in the past 24 hours, but it's still been a helluva ride. A surprise afterwork visitor who then suprised me more by propositioning me (I declined for the moment with hopes and promises of making it happen again), and then intense passionate moments at home with Lowenstein (who left town this morning until Sunday night), and then a busy active morning involving car mechanics and multiple long train rides and legal research. It's 3:30 pm and I'm ready to go crazy. Or take a nap.

When did the Howard stop area get so posh? I hadn't been up there in a quite awhile and it was so....clean and new.

My mission(s) for the evening include retrieving the car, dinner with thebrownhornet, picking up vfc, watching Kill Bill Vol. 2, and if I'm lucky, a late-night booty call. No, that wasn't a request for people to ring me up -- I already have my ideas set.

This has been a long week and I can't believe it's taken so long to get to Friday, yet there's so much I didn't get done so I'm also shocked it's already here.

Once upon a time a very very long time ago, no one I knew in real life read this journal, only online strangers. And I very rarely used the freedom that came with that anonymity, in part because I didn't use the journal as regularly. Besides, some things are best told privately on paper or in confidence to partner or close friends. But it's hard because I write even when I'm not thinking or feeling so then when new and interesting thoughts or feelings are around, I want to write even more. I change the names and places to protect the innocent. But now it's not just here in my journal, it's in my real-life. I think I forget because I live so much of my life publicly that it's okay to keep some things either private or just between a few people. It's natural for parts of life to be on a strictly need-to-know basis and that's not the same as a lie of omission.

But sometimes I forget.

Comments

[ahkitekt.livejournal.com]

hi there, i live in chicago, and have begun to try my hand at writing. I am attempting to write a novel...any advice?

[raybear.livejournal.com]

hey -- i'm pretty new to being a writer myself. i'm currently getting my MFA in creative writing, but i started writing before i started school. i actually wrote my first long piece of fiction for National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org) two years ago.

the most helpful things for me as a writer so far have been:
reading lots of books as a writer, not as a reader
finding other writers to meet with and talk about writing processes
workshopping my reading in a small group

good luck!

[ahkitekt.livejournal.com]

are there any groups or classes you suggest? I tried 12 years ago, at age 16 to write a horror novel...I wrote over 300 pages, and then stopped. I tried once more and stopped after 50 pages...I think I found myself looking too far ahead and coming up empty for climax and closing. I have read SO many books, almost all fiction (horror/mystery/fantasy). I think I should take a creative writing class, I have a bachelor's of architecture with a minor in art history...I now need to dive into writing full speed.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

you might be able to benefit from joining a writer's guild -- they have them based on genre, so you could find other writers doing what you're interested in doing, some published, some not.

one of my writer friends got her bachelor's in writing at Columbia College in chicago and it was a really great influence.

i would suggest just keep writing, don't stop, even if you don't know the ending. my endings are often organic and i get so close to my characters it's almost as if i'm just observing the action rather than controlling it.

also, my two favorite books on writing are:
john gardner's "on becoming a novelist"
dorothea brande "becoming a writer"

[ahkitekt.livejournal.com]

thank you so much, i will grab those 2 from the library...i live a block from the library so i have no excuse!