Playing With Text

Writing isn’t the only way to play with words. Take them down a peg, look at them as just letters, forms on a page and you can make a different art with them. This isn’t writing, its a whole new creation.

ASCII art is my personal favourite. But, there are other ways to get into the game of playing with your words. Typography is playing with fonts. What others have you found? Email me, I’d like to hear about them.

There is the whole riddle, puzzle, Scrabble issue. But, I’m looking at making plain ordinary everyday text into art.

Does anyone make ASCII art or am I the only retro geek? Someday, that ever illusive day, I want to make a whole website in just ASCII and ASCII art as illustrations/ graphics. I’ve seen one done in this way. It was very unique looking now. Back in the old days of dinosaur computers it would have been normal, if not cutting edge.

Anyway, this week take a break from fiddling with words and try something new. Play around and look at them in a whole new way. You and your keyboard will never be the same again.

Stop the Blame Game

Do you catch yourself thinking about why you can’t write or why you can’t succeed or why you can’t try for bigger markets? Following that people will tend to look for something or someone to blame. Maybe they hope to find the blame so they can fix the problem. But, I think, the blame game is a waste of time. You may blame yourself, momentarily. Likely you don’t settle there and instead look for someone else who can be at fault. Why bother?

Stop playing the blame game and start making better use of your time. If you want to write more, do it. Set up a writing schedule and stick to it. Let your family and friends know the schedule and that you will not be available. If you feel you aren’t succeeding stop being negative. Instead look at the things you are accomplishing. Make a list and keep it visible where you work at writing. Inspire yourself with the success you have rather than looking at the glass half empty and discouraging yourself. If you want to try bigger markets suck up your courage and just do it. The worst they can do is say "no thanks". If you know you’ve done your best to send them work that is topical for them, work that you have diligently proofread and directed to the right place at the right time, then you have done well. Let it go. Move onto another market goal and send work out to the intermediate markets too. Keep trying and keep your name on the desks of editors and publishers. Someone will say yes if you keep sending them quality work.

So, next time you look for someone to blame for whatever the problem is, stop wasting that time. Put it into doing rather than blaming. Find solutions for problems without stopping to find someone to blame. In the end, what you do and how you do it are in your control.

Deadline

Did that scare you? Well, it scares me. Not to the extent that my hair is turning white… well, not all at once. But enough that I feel the pressure to procrastinate.

How do you procrastinate? I tend to play computer games. At least it keeps me in the right area, if not very focused. Sometimes I snap out of it, grab a hold and tell myself (sternly) that this is not a good thing. Most of the time I begin planning my article around then. Being stern with myself seems to give me inspiration.

I think most of us come to a point where we have to force ourselves to write. For whatever your own personal reasons, its not easy to create something out of an idea and a blank page. You aren’t going to feel that orgasm of inspiration and lust to write for each and every article you work on. Or you might reach a point where you don’t have more to say about a topic you write about frequently.

How do you get new ideas, new angles? Try procrastinating, but in a good way. Read the newspaper, take a walk outside and see what you come up with. Sometimes all it really takes in combining ideas. While you are outside you see a few birds and think about how birds often fly into buildings. Could that be a new article for your architecture column? Or a new fiction story about what drives birds or doesn’t drive them? Its up to you to twist things around and put them into print. Just don’t procrastinate too long, you’ve got that blood thirsty deadline, remember?

Get a Bit More Ambitious

You decided you want to write. So you wrote, you have manuscripts, articles and short stories tucked away. Maybe you sent a few out but got discouraged. Or, maybe you’ve had some published, you’ve had a couple of bylines. Good! Better even if you’ve worked and achieved bigger goals and taken scarier risks.

Now get a bit more ambitious. Take another step. Push an envelope onto another desk, another publisher, a different editor, or your own desk. Could you put together a web zine? Could you run an email list about a topic you write about, know about? Could you try something you wanted to do before but put off for some reason?

If you are someone who has written stories and kept them in a drawer, pull them out. Look them over, do they need some tightening up, a little proofreading? Once they’re spiffed up send them in somewhere. Try it.

I’m getting a bit more ambitious this week. I’m going to put my foot out and see if I trip myself or not. I’m taking steps to really have a writing business, not just someone who submits content, articles, resumes, etc and hopes for the best. I’m going to be one of those home business, self employed people who make cold calls (something which I definitely have butterflies about). But, I’m doing it. I’ve got plans for networking, notes for a business plan and I’ve discovered that you really do have to do more than say you have a business, to have a business.

My new mantra is: take yourself seriously and take action. It could work for you too. Don’t fluff off your work and your ambitions to write. Take yourself seriously and do something about it.

Best wishes.

Get Your Attitude Grrls!

I read this from a Harlequin Flipside romance writer. At the time I read it I scoffed and thought "how lame"! Now, I’ve had time to re-think while the idea has simmered on the back burner of my brain. Here it is…

I used to give advice to my university students – all aspiring writers. On the first day of class I would tell them to give me a good Elvis snarl, growl, then say "I can do that!" Surprisingly, I got a lot of resistance, but after a couple of minutes of good, solid growling I explained how that pit bull attitude is the start of achieving anything they want. It’s all about the attitude.

My friend Toni had that "can do" attitude. An immigrant from Italy, she went after what she wanted. Her dream was to be an attorney and later, a criminal court judge. She snarled, growled and she did it! And you can do that too! So let me hear that snarl, hear that growl and say "I can do that!"

Dianne Drake

Go get your pit bull and tackle something that’s been intimidating you! You go Grrrl!

(You too boys).

Frankenstein with Words

I was downstairs, getting some cereal and looking at the breakfast dishes my Mom left when my brother came to take her to the airport this morning. I was thinking how we imbue (there’s a 20$ word for you) inanimate objects with feelings, thoughts and ideas. I mean, it was just a coffee cup, but it made me feel a twinge of sadness. Funny how that cup is still exactly where she left it, as if waiting for her to finish her coffee. Meanwhile, she is on the plane, flying back down to Florida, right now.

Anyway, that’s how the idea started. It got me thinking that we do the same thing when we write. After all, words are just flat letters on a flat page or computer screen. Whatever life they have, whatever feelings they have, are life and feelings that we give them. Not just in fiction writing where you have to make readers care or have an interest in reading about your characters. But, in non-fiction too where you appeal to reader’s curiousity, make them read on, hear what you have to say. Make them want to read about and consider your ideas.

So, writing is in fact like being Dr. Frankenstein – giving life to inanimate objects. Though the writing isn’t a dead thing being brought back to life it does compare as the same words and letters have been used over and over for so many generations of writers and read by so many generations of readers. Words can be a dead thing if no one gives them that spark of life.

That spark is what lifts writing off the page.

Is your Meter Running?

Meter is one of those words with several meanings. It’s a measurement of size, though we spell it metre in Canada. It’s a device like a parking meter, measuring time. It’s also measurement of rhythm and pace.

According to my Funk & Wagnalls dictionary, a meter is: "A measured rhythm constituting one of the chief characteristics of verse."

Meter isn’t just for poetry. There is some form of poetry in our fiction and nonfiction writing. The words you choose, how you arrange them and how they sound when they come together, are all part of writing something people will want to read more of. Think about it.

Recently in the BackWash message boards PussNBoots, one of the Adult columnist’s said:

"Every writer searches for their own "voice." The best way to find it is to write. Also, pay attention to the voices of writers you admire. Read their work out loud to hear the rhythm and meter. Listen to why they chose particular words."

I thought that was brilliant. Reading your work out loud is the best way to check it’s meter, the rhythm of your words. That doesn’t mean you need to make your writing longer or chop it down, just choose different words or arrange them differently. See how your words flow, does the rhythm change or get monotonous? Is it dramatic and fast paced when you write about action? Or are the sentences you use kind of long and clunky? Do you tend to start sentences with the same pattern or rhythm? Vary your sentence structure.

"Tom went to the market, at Guildwood, everyday" Could be "Everyday, Tom would go to Guildwood’s market." Not great examples but you get the idea, I hope.

Not Knowing Where You’re Going

"At a moment of heightened awareness there is a confrontation of image and idea. Words come together in a flow, seeking out their own order, their own rhythm; lines measure themselves into a given form; words you didn’t think you knew or had long forgotten suddenly cojoin to tell you what you are feeling, seeking out insight and revelation. In that first flow, all you know is that you are in mid-air between elation and fear. "Keep going, just keep going!" you tell yourself, not knowing where that first line will lead." – Shulamis Yelin.

That’s how I start writing. I’m not a planner. I don’t have a schedule, a format or any real idea of where I’m going once the idea has germinated from my brain onto the physical plane of my computer screen.

Sometimes the seeds never get past the germination stage. They become part of the cluster of ideas in a folder on my computer. The ‘Idea Folder’ is full of half planted ideas. Now and then I go back and rescue one, add some root hormone, whatever it takes. But, most of them just get kind of sad and pot bound. I forgive myself for letting them stagnate into infinity. You have to forgive yourself. Each idea is like a little soul and you are the only one who can give it the bloom of life. I do feel guilt for not taking those ideas into fruition.

Enough garden terminology?

I read the above quote in an article about writing poetry. As a writer of any style of wordage you should read about all kinds of writing. How to write or better still ‘how I write’ articles and books can be really inspirational. Not just for the art of writing but the craft too. The technique in putting a spin on your words. The ideas about the ideas. You can never have too many ideas. Well, except for those really weird ideas we keep in the closet or swept under some rug or other. I won’t tell if you don’t tell.

Dealing with Disappointment and Rejection

How do you deal with disappointment or rejection? As writers we are going to get some of each, as long as you keep sticking your foot in the door and sending out your work. Which, of course, you are doing, right? Right?!!

Anyway, I skimmed a magazine article this morning and really liked two of the points they made. One was to immerse yourself in something new and the other was to take a reality check. The third was wrap your mind around it. But, that sounds a bit too much like dwelling on it to me. If you dwell on it that cancels out the other two.

Still, I really like the two ideas. Don’t you feel better when you start something new. You’re learning and researching new ideas and have the satisfaction of stepping away and keeping going. So they didn’t like your great idea. You can keep it around for another try with another market or you can change your point of view or your angle on it. You can even toss it completely and work on something totally new. Develop a new passion.

Taking a reality check is great too. So they didn’t buy it. Does that mean you’re doomed to failure as a writer? No, of course not. You just had one editor that turned you down. It’s disappointing but not the end of the world. Move along, nothing much to see here. But, now you can implement something new, as above. These two things work together so well.

Next time you need to get over disappointment remember reality checks and new passions. That should keep you busy, motivated and writing.

Writing is Erotic

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.