Okay, so I have to admit I have been a bit remiss in my consistency of posts the last couple of weeks. For which I sincerely apologize. Quite frankly I have felt like KA-KA! The persistent cough from the lung infection is taking its toll on me I am afraid. It certainly has screwed up my smoking. Here I am sitting on a nice full humidor of perfectly wonderful hand rolled cigars and can’t enjoy one of them because of this bloody cough. The injustice of it is down right infuriating. It makes it absolutely difficult to think of something positive to write about! Not that I am addicted to smoking or anything, mind you. Just saying!
But thank the gods for coffee, that wonderful brew, that elixir of life brought to us by the gods, and Folgers, that stimulating concoction that stirs the mind and activates the creative juices.
Yes, coffee, truly a wonder drug.
So let’s talk about writing today.
Last night a dear, dear friend of mine called me to inform me that she and her hubby were intending to travel down here to South West Florida with the express purpose of visiting and seeing me and mine. She and he are located in North Carolina.
She expressed how proud she was of me for having finished and publishing my books.
We further discussed the monetary rewards of being a published author, or rather the lack there of. During our discussion we came to the realization that the true rewards were not monetary in nature, but rather emotional and yes even spiritual to some degree.
I can attest to the fact that there really is no better feeling than seeing the word picture you have created in print. Even if sometimes it is a silk purse created from a sows ear.
Is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Maybe, but I have not seen it yet. But I am not alone in that category. I was informed the other day, not to despair as even some of the greats like Hemingway and Poe did not see financial success in their live time. I wish that I could say that gave me solaces, but it did not. I suppose it is my narcissistic nature that makes me think that anyone would actually be interested enough in what I have to say to actually pay real money for it.
But I truly believe that any writer is somewhat narcissistic in nature.
Here is what I have learned from this experience, in today’s age with Kindle Direct Publishing, Create Space, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble Print on Demand there is absolutely no reason that any writer should go unpublished except for the obvious reason, that being that they cannot write.
It actually is a rather simple process. Granted there are some mechanics to learn as far as formatting your manuscript for uploading and print, and it is better to be aware of these mechanics at the get-go when you first start writing your piece, it saves a lot of time and frustration if you do the formatting before you start to write.
The hardest part of the process is learning to write about a subject in such a way as to paint a verbal picture for you audience. In other words do not tell but rather show. This is as important in non-fiction as it is in fictions you want to immerse your reader into the story in such a way that they feel as if the action is happening to them!
This is what a true story teller does. In my writing I attempt to write as if I were talking to you, at the restaurant or on the bus. Granted sometimes that makes some of my work grammatically inaccurate. But I find that it help immensely with the flow.
I also find that writing when the spirit moves me and not worrying about the right and wrong way is very helpful. I can clean up the grammar later when I do the first draft edit. Getting the thoughts on paper and out of that dark place called my mind is the important thing.
Also it helps to write about something you know, especially if you are working in non-fiction. It saves on the amount of time required for research!
So okay it seems that I have become a bit chatty with this so I think I will stop for now and let you all digest what I have conveyed. We will pick up on this at another date.
The important thing to remember is that if you want to be a writer then you must write. Write on napkins, write in the middle of the night, write when you wake up, and write before you go to sleep. Just write, write, and write. Any time and any where you get inspired write!
May the Great Architect of the Universe watch over you and keep you safe. And may all the lesser gods of the Universe guide you on your path through life.
Comentarios