Write Your Life

Take out a white piece of paper and place it on your kitchen table. You now have two choices. You can write or draw on it, or you can leave it there.

If you write or draw, you control the paper's destiny, the words or images it will express, the character it will display, the very meaning of its existence.

If you choose to leave it on your kitchen table, it will remain white. Over time, if left undisturbed, it will slowly turn yellow, old and weary, with no character and no meaning. But wait. It will not be left undisturbed. Surely something will spill on it. If your kitchen table sees the kind of abuse ours does, it won't take a day before there's a strawberry stain on it, perhaps a few drops of milk or syrup, or maybe some stray mashed potatoes.

That paper is your life. We can let fate take its course, splashing the splendor of life's stray mashed potatoes across our lives, or we can define our own meaning. It's up to each of us. What's your choice?

Isn't this a great little exercise to pass along to your friends?

The author of this is David Leonhardt. Visit his web site at http://TheHappyGuy.com

I like this but...

There is so much more you can do with a piece of paper. How about origami, making collages and any other paper craft you can dream up. There are so many possibilities beyond writing and drawing. Those are just the most obvious ideas. A place to start.

Anyway, I liked this little article. Found it on a website this morning.

Happy writing and don't forget to reach out for all the possibilities.

Do you agree with the idea that a character can be shown better in defeat than in victory? Think about the last character you wrote about. What was happening to him or her? Were they being defeated or conquering? Would it be easier to show their defeat or victory through dialogue or description? Or would you just narrate that and not leave it up to speculation?

I'd like to think people's characters can thrive in either situation. You know, that idea about good winners and poor losers. It should work both ways. Maybe it's more about the writer's own character than the character created for the page.

It's worth thinking about. How would you describe the setting differently if the character was happy, doing well and having a great victory compared to the setting of a character who was having a bad day, etc.? There would be small details like how they carry themselves, body language and tone of voice if they speak. Larger things like their reactions to other people and things that interact with them. Aggression and violence could develop for the defeated character. Whereas someone who has won would be aggressive but not in a violent or threatening way, over exuberant perhaps. Both can be intimidating for different reasons.

How much does the mood of a character influence their surroundings. You know when you are feeling angry you see things differently than when you are sad, happy, or laid back. Do you consider that aspect as you write the scene? Back to that is the glass half full or half empty.

Anyway, it's something I read in a book about fiction writing, an old book but still some interesting ideas. Yet another way to show without telling.

"Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind"- Rudyard Kipling

Here's something I found among a list of jobs for writers:

We are looking for writers to work on the following project:

• Author many short (100-200) word articles on a variety of keywords (keyword list will be provided).
• Author site map for your work.
• Ensure the content achieves an 8-12% keyword density rating.
• Ability to crank out at least 50 such articles a week

Qualifications:

• Use Dreamweaver or Frontpage
• Know how to FTP content to a site
• Previous web writing experience (send URLs)

Compensation:

• Paid on a per article basis.

Is this the job for you? You can find it on Craigslist.org if you want to. It sounds like they want someone to write spam, to me. I guess I still have a bit too much pride in my writing to consider it something I'd "crank out".

I'm not being stuffy, just thinking of the work and creativity and craft involved in creating a readable article and then comparing that to something you'd crank out 50 times a week.

Could you do it? Even if you would take the job, could you write 50 short articles about random topics each week? I guess if it really didn't matter how interesting or unique they were, you could. Of course, you have to consider how dense the keywords are. That seems to be the only content that matters.

Kind of sad if web writing comes to this, cranking out keywords for search engines to latch onto.

The funny thing is that search engines don't all use spiders any more. Some have real people who aren't impressed with a lot of half assed articles full of keywords. Even if those sites get listed and show up at the top of the search that's no guarantee of getting clicks. Not real clicks that stick around and actually look at the site. After all, getting clicks isn't enough. If people come to the site, find nothing and leave. You're not ahead of the game.

So, it's paying work for some writer. Not me though. Not that I couldn't use the money. I just don't want to be known for cranking out articles when I could be creating something unique, with real value.

It's almost the end of the year. Just two days left, including today. Did you get a new calendar, day planner, or whatever system you use to keep track of the days and your schedule? I still need to get a wall calendar. Mainly I use it for keeping track of how often things need to be done. I have a small calendar which I keep in the car to keep track of my hours at my other job. They give out the small calendars at work each January. Free is good.

Anyway, here we are at the end of another year. Are you ready? I think this is a good time of year to clean out your desk and your files. The physical ones you move off chairs, shove under the desk and try to put back in their proper place in the proper drawer. As well, the files in your computer, the ones which clutter up your hard drive and rob you of space you could be using for other, more personal clutter.

How about taking the time to do a year end clean up? Go through everything. Toss out what you don't really need and organize what you do need. Go through your idea folder and reminisce of ideas past. Any that can still be used or recycled?

Go through your invoicing (assuming you freelance) and make sure nothing is outstanding or neglected. Go through your receipts now, why wait till tax time? Make sure you're ready to claim all your writing expenses. Check and see what you can claim if you haven't already done so.

Dust and tidy your bookshelves. I know you have them. Round up all those CD's and put them back in the right places. Treat yourself to a new waste can for all the odds and ends that come along for tossing out during the average day. Consider a trip to an office supplies store and look at pen holders, filing systems and whatever else could help you sort out and maintain the every day desktop clutter.

If your clutter is so bad you have old coffee cups around your work space you need a heavy duty clean up. Get out one of those big green garbage bags and toss everything but the computer into it. Work your way backwards. Pull out what you really need and leave the rest in the bag, with the bugs.

Once the clutter is controlled and your work area is decontaminated (don't laugh too hard, I've seen those cookie crumbs in your keyboard)... consider better use of your work space. How can you keep things tidy and easy to find? What needs to be in easy reach and what can be stored below, in desk drawers?

Maybe it's time you made your work space a bit more personal too, add some finishing touches like a family photo, a few inspiring quotes you can print out in a fancy font. Whatever creates the write atmosphere for you. (That was no typo).

Good luck and happy 2004 for all of us.

"I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me." -Anna Quindlen

"A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us." - Franz Kafka

"The good writer seems to be writing about himself, but has his eye always on that thread of the Universe which runs through himself and all things." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Writing is kind of erotic. Kind of your own special luxury, something you do alone, to please yourself. It's almost like a secret life. A dirty little secret you don't share with friends or family who can just never really understand.

Do you feel guilty for the time you write? Are there other people lined up outside your writing door, perhaps listening in at your keyhole, waiting, lurking with all their demands. Do you ignore them just long enough to write one article, one chapter, one paragraph? When you stop writing, break your flow, ruin your focus, do they even appreciate what you gave up to give them this time away from your writing? Wouldn't you like to live with a sign that says "I'd rather be writing". Your own personal fetish.

But, when you are in the midst of that writing bubble, when you tune out the world and all you know are the words flowing from your brain to your fingers, isn't it almost as good (if not better) than an orgasm? Feel those words, use your favourite words, rub them in just the right way. It feels so good to see those sensual, almost exotic, just so good, words again. Sometimes it's the way they sound. Sometimes it's the way they look on the page. Sometimes, if you can even admit it to yourself, you just like them for what they are: words, your words.

Writing is like playing with words. Your parents wouldn't let you play with your food. But now, you can play with your words, it's almost like something which should be forbidden, it's almost too good. As you write the tension builds up, the words brushing your mind, smoothing down your skin to caress against the page. You can feel the vibrations of the keyboard as your fingers touch the keys. No wonder we like to keep physical expressions of this erotic nature at hand. Even now, I bet you have a coffee, some tasty treat or other near at hand.

Now, go nibble. Lick your lips and taste those words. Tease them, seduce them and most of all play with your words.

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

"It's the challenge of making a dull subject interesting without the use of fiction that gives me the adrenaline rush as a writer." Bonnie Burton

From her recent BackWash column - More Than Just Words