26 November

Content Interrupted by Content, aka Book Writing Sucks Time…

 

Drawing, Richie Billing

It’s not that I planned it this way, you know. But two things occurred.

One – A simple photo in a WWII documentary I’ve seen many times. But this time, disembodied male voices called out to me. “Get us out of here.”

Result: I was dumb enough to try. It took me 7 years to complete the literary quest.

Two – So-called experts told me to write a simple pulp fiction series, and I did so, I’d rake in the online dough.

Result: Turns out I don’t know how to write a simple story, or series of simple stories for that matter, that I could write fast enough to rake in said online dough. It took me 4 years to simply complete one not-so-simple story.

Moral of a Multi-Years Tale: Don’t listen to disembodied voices wherever they’re trapped, and never listen to online experts if you want to maintain any kind of online content writing schedule.

I should have known better.

But knowing better is advice I could have given myself since I was a toddler.

11 October

Fear of Deleting Words You Fought to Write...


“Practice makes perfect.”

How many times have you heard your parents say that?

For me, that saying was right up there with, “We’ll do that (exciting thing) one day.”

And “No, we can’t wrap up your uneaten pork chop and send it to Africa to feed the hungry.”

Okay, yeah, I have parental issues.

16 August

Visualize to Maximize Your Writer Words...


Skiing - you head down the slope without thinking about how you will guide your skis around the curves.

Tennis - you head onto the court, not knowing how your racket will meet the ball.

Cooking - you throw a bunch of ingredients in the pan, having no idea what the dish is supposed to be.

I could go on and on, and on, couldn't I? You know me by now. Oh, yes, I can...

Why then, as a teller of tales, would you not at least attempt to visualize the story before you pound the keys or put pen to paper?