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Complete, Concrete, Concise » Entries tagged with "writing"

Writing Quickly

June 27th, 2011 | 4 Comments

In another post, I had written that writing is hard because we get frustrated that the process of writing is so much slower than our process of creating. Notwithstanding that, we often make the process even harder by writing even slower than we are capable. The medium (the material) that a writer works with is not ideas, it is not pen and paper, nor even keyboard and word processor. The medium a writer works with is words and we have to supply the words. A blank sheet of paper gives us nothing to work with. When a sculptor works some clay into a bust of a person, they don’t start with a small amount and carefully fashion the perfect nose; then fashion an eye and join the two together. No, they start … Read entire article »

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Why Writing is Hard

May 30th, 2011 | Add a Comment

“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” ~Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith “Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” ~Gene Fowler Pretty much anyone who has ever sat down to write has found it a frustrating experience. The ideas which seemed so clear in our minds come out all wrong. There is a reason for this. Writing is not Talking Writing is not the same as talking. It is similar, but not the same. Writing is more precise; it omits word whispers (uhm, err, and awkward pauses), it omits filler words (like, you know, see, and other more colourful words people pepper their speech with). You … Read entire article »

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Are you a Writer?

March 23rd, 2011 | Add a Comment

Many people talk about writing, dream about writing, fantasize about writing, wish they were writers. There is nothing wrong with all that – it shows great passion for writing, but … If you want to be a writer, then you must write. Imagine you want to be a gardener: talking about it is good, dreaming about it is good, so is buying packets of seeds, tools, going to gardening shows and workshops, but if you never put seed into soil, if you never try to grow something, then you aren’t a gardener. It doesn’t matter if you have a large plot of land or a window sill with barely enough room for a small flowerpot – to be a gardener you must plant and grow things. Of course, when people think about being a … Read entire article »

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