The last few weeks have been tough. I had a baby, for one thing. I’m now 19 days into the newborn stage and am frankly having trouble seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Continue reading
Category Archives: Writing
Writing I’ve Started: The Pessimist’s Guide to Babies
I’ve always been hesitant about posting things I’ve written on a blog. (That is, things other than actual blog posts – books, short stories, poems, etc.) There’s two reason for this – 1) it’s “out there” which is just a scary concept in itself and 2) other people will see it, which could in my head lead to any number of bad things I’ve probably made up.
But I’m a writer. And a writer, at least the kind of writer I am, doesn’t just write things she never wants anyone to see. Which is what will happen if I don’t start putting things out there.
There’s actually a third reason I don’t post stuff I write – it’s never finished. Much of it is first drafty stuff, but even what is fairly polished just isn’t done. Well, no more. One of the reasons I finished some of my fan fiction back in college is that just the act of making it available for others to read (regardless of if they did or not) makes me feel more like a writer.
So I’m going to post a few excerpts from projects here, and see what I feel like continuing. The first is something I started almost 5 years ago when I had my first child, and it’s been on my mind lately because I’m about to have (God willing) my second. The Pessimist’s Guide to Babies is a kinda funny account of how to deal with a new baby, meant mostly for new parents who have not yet discovered, for example, that breastfeeding sucks.
Here’s one of the sections I liked better than others, on baby registries: Continue reading
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On Writing and Habits
I am a writer. And maybe what a writer does with her unexpected free time (due to pregnancy insomnia), is to open up a new document and write a little about writing.
This is part of a new undertaking I am attempting. I’ve always failed at habit making. The usual techniques never work for me – a “chain” on my calendar make me want to break it after a little while. The idea of doing something “forever” makes my breath shorten and has me feeling caged. Even something as simple as getting dressed in the morning can’t be a true habit for me – I want to decide every day if I really want to. Some days I just can’t, and spending the day in pajamas is much more appealing. So I do. (Clearly, I work at home.) Continue reading
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Writing for Me
My mom and I are both writers. She’s just getting into fiction after working mainly in non-fiction for most of her life, and I’m failing to stay on task for actually getting any writing done at all, so we’re trying to arrange a weekly reading and critique of each other’s work. This is hard for both of us – both because we have difficult schedules and because neither of us is terribly comfortable showing other people our “beta” work, which is what this would be.
So, the first order of business was to decide what kind of writing we should work on. My mom isn’t working on any particular projects right now, so she needs to figure out some ideas, maybe a short story starter book or something for writing exercises. I want to work on finishing a book, but the question is, which one? I have about 7 totally different book ideas, all of which I’ve at least started a basic outline for and written a few chapters. Continue reading
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7 Reasons to Write Fan Fiction (and one reason not to)
There are some people who believe that there are two kinds of writers in this world – real and fan fiction. While, granted, there is a lot of bad fan fiction out there, there’s also a far bit of horrible “real” fiction, so it seems to me that the stigma of writing fan fiction must have more to do with the idea itself than the products that come out of it. This is something that strikes me as unwarranted.
I write fan fiction. There, I said it. I’m also a published author, and yes, I do think there’s a connection. So let me share my top few reasons why I think writing fan fiction can be worthwhile and even really helpful for any budding fiction writer. Continue reading