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Any other Writers here

Chazra

Chazra

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 15, 2011
Messages
26
Location
texas
looking for "colleagues"

professional writer here, any body else?

lets join for experiences, tips, ideas, etc...


<3
 
My writing experience is quite limited however I know a fair bit about academic and business writing. I have also tried to write a book however it's a stalled project for now:(

What about yourself?
 
i used to write for a living. been writing since 16. now i write a lot to myself.

my writing style is simple: less is more.

ostentatious writing styles bore me to tears. i write just to communicate.
 
professional in what capacity? do you freelance or occupy a permanent position at a reputable publication? there's not a whole lot separating a professional from an amateur in the writing industry. the only distinction is that a professional generally earns less and has to diversify to make their writing generate suitable income. in that case, the best tip is always "write what you know". not that it's a bad tip otherwise.
 
I am a writer, I've been working on my novel for a few years now. It's coming along nicely. I have a lot more planned. I guess I am not a professional as I haven't even finished my first yet, but it is what I plan to do with my life. I will always write books because I care about saying what I want to say to the world. I will write them no matter if I get paid or not. :)
 
i've been writing since i learned to read at the age of 3... been writing short stories and poetry since the age of 12...been servings clients as a freelancer since late 2004. currently run a word-of-mouth online publishing and marketing company. also freelance for upfront and commission on many different websites.
 
I honestly don't think there is a difference with writers being professional (paid) or not, it is in the passion. I feel there is too many "paid" writers who have no clue how to write. Is it just knowing the right person/s? Who knows. For some it is not about making money, but doing what they enjoy and even being healing (catharsis) from writing. I was a huge blogger on a site, had no intentions of having followers but it happened, and I was asked repeatedly if I was a professional writer.
 
thujone said:
professional in what capacity? do you freelance or occupy a permanent position at a reputable publication? there's not a whole lot separating a professional from an amateur in the writing industry. the only distinction is that a professional generally earns less and has to diversify to make their writing generate suitable income. in that case, the best tip is always "write what you know". not that it's a bad tip otherwise.
Click to expand...

I used to work with a paper as a reporter. does that count?

Left due to problems with the editor who edited IN typos, grammar mistakes, and reworded interviews to express HER beliefs, not the truth.

5 years of college in this major (journalism) still have issues with grammar and punctuation. fighting dyslexia and the fact that i didnt learn English until i was prepubescent. which means my brain is hard wired for another language (non latin).

I was born in the U.S. though, grew up here, lived all my life here. You'd think writing English would be easy... LOL
 
my creative writing has come to a grinding halt, as my life is intercepted with managing full time study with full time work. almost half way there, and our first kid will be throwing a wildcard into thing when they join us in a few months. i really hope to get back to it.

actually, i plan to do some during my 6 weeks paid paternity leave if when i can make the time.
 
You SHOULD get back into it! I remember reading some of your stuff a long time ago and enjoying it. :)

The local newspaper is having a poetry contest, entries due by March. I am going to sit down and turn on my "poetry mind" soon I think. I've always been very good at writing poems off the top of my head and I think I can come up with a few good ones for this contest. I figure it can't hurt to try, the winners get published in the paper, and every little thing I do to put my name out there can only help my writing career I suppose. Plus, even though novel writing is what I dream of for my life, poems are just fun.
 
yeah lack of time is what puts a damper on my hope of becoming a professional writer too :S i've got an excellent idea for a sci-fi novel and another idea for a screenplay and both are well-developed i just don't have the goddamn time to sit down and write :(
 
Plan is to be a professional screenwriter post-college. I have a short that I wrote that is almost completed and should be released within the next couple months, and if that takes off, then me and my writing partner/director have 2-3 features just waiting to be finished and sent off to financiers.
 
I'm an aspiring writer; I have several stories I plan to submit this year, though I have yet to be published (and odds are I won't, as many writers try for years). For a while I've been writing what I consider dark fantasy rather than outright horror (some would disagree), though I feel myself tilting back toward SF, at least for a couple of ideals.

I can only say a few things that work for me:

*Editing is worse than writer's block on a draft ever is.

*Put your ego aside and listen to the pros.

*Read as wide a variety of works as possible to sample the many ways of expression.

*Keep your foot to the fire, always.

*Like others have already said, do it because you like it, not because you will or won't get paid. I've written unpublishable dross that I absolutely loved making, because when I write and I'm in the flow I *know* it's what I'm supposed to be doing. It's a kind of satisfaction I don't feel with anything else I've ever done or ever will do; even when I hate sitting down to what feels like a chore, once I hit the keys or put pen to paper it's pure magic.
 
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yeah i have the same trouble with editing. i'm very reluctant, each letter feels like a child i've given birth to. keep at it, bel!

thanks notdeja, for the kind encouragement. :)

thujone, the developing of the concept for me is the hardest and most time consuming part. putting it to paper is like jumping off a cliff. the jump is difficult and the rest is exhilaration. jump, bro. jump!
 
I'm not so much a writer as I am a reader who happens to write.

I'm currently delving into modern american poetry, well I don't know if Whitman counts as modern, but that's my jumping off point into the subject. I've been getting backed up in some wonderful books. Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, William Carlos Williams, the rest of the Beats, and then the contemporary poets like Gwendolin Brooks and more spoken word hip-hop rather than actual poems, but the difference isn't exactly clear.

But yeah I write at least a journal entry and a to do list every day, just to organize my mind, and if I'm feeling extra ambitious I'll write out pages of creative brainstorming until I touch on something that's worth forming into more of a structured piece, or possibly a verse/chorus or poem stanza, and then I jump off with that.

I'm a music student with a part-time job at a music store though. So I'm no writer. I'm working on building my literary background up to snuff so I have a vast backdrop of ideas to draw from if I ever do actually take the plunge and try my hand at writing professionally.
"If you write more than you read you'll forever be an amateur." Is the quote that I take with me in all of my creative endeavors. I learned it from a poetry professor I had last year, and I'm glad I heard it now at a young age, rather than finding it out the hard way. But I love literature, and I would love to know more great writers personally and just through their literature.
Also the annoying thing about me is that I'm very particular with grammar, even when I make a mistake I'll look it over and decide if I want to keep the mistake just to communicate the kind of mental state I'm in far better than the actual ideas I'm trying to say, but I edit my posts constantly unless they are throw away posts while tripping at 6 in the morning.
 
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I was thinking of this thread today after reading some news that made me gag.

Snooki is now on the best sellers list... and she never wrote one word.

Times like this is when I feel really old, I just do not get it.
 
lol The snookies of the world will come and go my man. She's a spectacle of some interest. Even though she's really just a wanna be skank (she doesn't even hardly get laid). I wouldn't worry about it.
The world will forget about her and real literature will be remembered. That's nothing new.
 
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