Writing 101, Day Six: The space to write

Writing 101, Day Six: The space to write

There is only one place to write and that is alone at a typewriter. The writer who has to go into the streets is a writer who does not know the streets. . . . when you leave your typewriter you leave your machine gun and the rats come pouring through.
— Charles Bukowski, Notes of a Dirty Old Man

Where do you write? Do you prefer blogging on your laptop in a coffee shop? Are you productive in a quiet room, door closed, away from civilization? Today, describe the space where you write. Or, if you don’t have a dedicated place, what is your ideal setting? Consider these questions to shape your post:

* What are your writing habits?
* What equipment or supplies do you use to write?
* What do you need and want in a physical space?

This month, we’ll occasionally ask you to do a task in preparation for a future assignment. At the end of this post, direct your readers to your contact page, through which they can send you suggestions on what to write.

To-write-means-more-than-putting

“I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose” Stephen King

Writing 101, Day Six: The space to write

Earth-Shape-Apple-Logo-Blue-Apple-iPAD-iCloud-WallPaper

I chose the modified Earth photo, which is a good fit, excellently representing my main modus operandi for writing.

Why?
Simply because, I write everywhere: In the shower (I keep my computer on the vanity just in case I get ideas while showering), on my way to work (mainly ideas, since I am driving), during lunch or a coffee break, while watching television and usually before I fall asleep. The night time is my most active and also most inspirational time. I don’t really need a special place or setup of any kind; I can write almost anywhere, any-which-way and anytime as long as I have my Mac or at least a pen and some paper! I was even writing immediately after waking from my surgery in August from the hospital bed.

For me, writing has never been difficult. I have lots of ideas and am constantly getting new ones. My problem currently is time or lack there of. Working around ten hours a day in the office does not leave too many hours to write during the weekdays. But I write at least a poem a day and then some until the early morning hours. Sleep is overrated anyway 😉 For the inspiration, I only need a picture, a phrase, a prompt, an overheard conversation or some happening during the day.

I usually carry my Mac everywhere and write my ideas on stickies.I also have draft versions of longer stories in Celtx, the application I use for all my writing. On any given day I just start typing, write, write, write, read, delete and rewrite, read again. After I am satisfied the story is done, I will have my beta do the corrective reading. Then it is time for posting, if it is a post. I do have a few long time projects I am working on also.
to write...
My Contact Page: Contact

contact page

I am who I am (Writing 101, Day Five: Hook ’em with a quote)

Writing 101, Day Five: Hook ’em with a quote

A blank page can be intimidating. Sometimes it’s helpful to use someone else’s words to give you a boost. Today, use a quote or passage from something you’ve read to introduce your post.
The type of quote you choose is up to you. Maybe the passage is something you’d like to comment on, or is one of your favorite quotes. Or maybe you read a great essay the other day, and one of its lines made you think.

1968

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken” Oscar Wilde

I am who I am

I am
What I am
Simply
Just
Because
I want to be

I am a closet writer
I am also intensely hyper
I am some kind of photographer
I am also a videographer
I am fifty year old lady with an attitude
But not without much gratitude

So what if I wear my hair short
So what if I sometimes snort
So what if I wear pink at my age
So what if I feel comfortable on a stage
So what if I wear a shorter than short skirt
So what if I’m a bit of a flirt

combo
Related posts:
Pretty in Pink
I’m not Evil, I was just Drawn That Way

relax

Monolith

Writing 101, Day Four: A story in a single image

Yesterday, you found inspiration in one word and used it as a springboard for a post idea. Images — including photographs and works of art — can also act as starting points for stories, essays, poems, and personal musings. For this exercise, use one image as the creative spark for today’s post. You might use it as the setting for a story or poem, write about how it makes you feel, or describe a memory conjured by it.

“The gargantuan crystalline structure that towered three thousand feet above the lunar surface was both menacing and bewildering to behold”

Monolith

Tall, dark and mysterious
Standing by itself, all serious
Staring at it, getting nervous
Or maybe just a little delirious

The stone called the monolith
Sounding totally apocalyptic
With a background quite cryptic
Its appearance utterly terrific

Forgetting superstition
By my own admission
Completing my mission
Trusting my intuition
And touching the stone

what-is-it

Writing 101, Day Three: Home

Writing 101, Day Three: One-word inspiration

Prompts come in many different forms. Sometimes, a single word is all you need to get your mind’s wheels turning. Here are six words:

* HOPE
* REGRET
* HOME
* CHOICE
* ABUNDANCE
* SECRET

Select one word in this list that speaks to you in some way. Have you always wanted to write about that one decision that changed your life? Are you a long-term traveler looking for the right city to settle?

home 1

“Home sweet home”

Writing 101, Day Three: Home

Other places are the best
They let you forget all the rest
But when I am away
I know I shouldn’t stay
Something deep inside me
A small voice with a plea
A soft whisper only for myself
Telling it is time for a farewell
Leaving the new place I must
Before the settling of the dust
Because

“There really is no place like home”

home 2

home 3

home 4

home 5

home 7

home 6

Gun Roswell in Numbers (Writing 101, 2)

Free flow/Poetry/Dialogue mix
&
Writing 101, Day Two: Write a list

“Today, let’s write a list. Compiling a list is a way to let loose, unlock ideas, and free your mind”

Today, write your own list on one of these topics:

* Things I Like
* Things I’ve Learned
* Things I Wish

If you want to tackle a different genre:

* Fiction: Your character discovers a piece of paper, with a list on it, on the ground. What happens next?

* Poetry: Incorporate numbers into a poem, or focus your poem on things you like, wish for, or have learned.

2449_46_writing-quotes-pick-up-a-pen-and-write

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed” Ernest Hemingway

Gun Roswell in Numbers (Writing 101, 2)

Let’s do some simple arithmetic
To get this show started

When?

I was born in nineteen hundred and sixty-five (1965)
That would make me a total of five and zero (50)
Surely that is worth some kind of high five (your hand held high and clashing with someone else’s hand)
After all I may not be a super hero (is there a number for that?)
But certainly some kind of artist, but hardly a Miro

Oh, yeah, I wrote that in rhyme!
Hope you don’t mind?

Personally

My slender shoe size is forty-two (42)
In other languages that means eight (8) for the United Kingdom
And ten (10) for the United States
Basically that means I can use my shoes
For walking, running and as skis
All in one package kind of deal with a freedom
To do what ever, when ever, whom ever (oops! scratch the last one!)
Of course I still need a pair of … skates

My waist size?

Well let’s not go there this time (there really is no measurable number)
Just kidding: I *do* have big bones!
Something something measured in stones (oh, wait, that’s weight: never mind!)

Got a full chest of ninety five (95DD) double dee
Yeah, really! Nothing new here to see!

On my high heels standing tall at a hundred and seventy-one (171)
That is metric and loosely translates as five point six feet (5.6)
I can easily steal the spot in the sun
Especially when I am wearing my high heels

Creatively I have been a

Photographer since I was ten (10)
Subtracted from fifty (50) that means a total of forty (40) years
During that time, I have managed to snap pics of the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben
– Imagine that!
Maybe time to shift to some new gears?

I started writing at the ripe old age of five (5)
Subtracted from fifty (50) that means a total of forty-five (45) years

So sue me: There are too many fives and I am having a difficulty of finding rhymes!

Professionally

I had a lot of fun in customer service for sixteen (16) years
– Oh.My.God. Seriously? That is a reason for a few beers!
And lately, for the past twenty (20) odd years in the world of IT
– Yeah, you really think you are so clever and mighty? (don’t ya!)

Contact details

I live in the flat number 3 A 1 (that’s some kind of hexadecimal code, right?)
My postal code is 02650 (Total of 13, ah, the magical number!)
And you can call me at extension 566 4574 (note the 7 and 4: vice versa that makes 47)
I may answer your call or then again I might not

– Hey, this last one did not rhyme!
So?
– You promised rhyme, in the beginning, remember?
Did not!
– Did too!
Na-ah!

(angry staring contest continues, but this tale ends right here.)

-> OK, so this may not be a resume, just some shameless self promotion, that’s all!

gun

Related posts:
Forty-Seven