December 17…and nothing to write about ‘Writing’…

so… I’ll borrow: from Best Colleges Online…

From poetry to lengthy prose, creative writing can be a great way to express yourself. Of course, even the best students and writers can use a few tips, a little inspiration and a whole lot of help getting their work out there. These blogs offer all of that and more. From blogs that focus on writers still trying to make it in the publishing world to those providing updates from best selling authors, you’ll find all kinds of information geared towards improving and informing your creative writing.

A few from the section Aspiring Authors

1. The Desperate Writer: This writer and cosmetologist shares her stories on this blog, both personal and creative.
2. Incurable Disease of Writing: Blogger Missy is getting her degree in creative writing and posts about her experiences on this site.
3. Emerging Writers Network: If you’re just getting started in your writing career, check out this site to learn about the ins and outs of writing and about other writers working towards success.
4. Ficticity: Check out this site to find posted stories, writing tips and even a few book reviews.
5. Authors’ Blogs: This isn’t just one blog, but a collection of numerous aspiring writers sites, so you can take your pick of reading material.
6. Plot Monkeys: These four bloggers talk about everything from their everyday lives to the books they love.
7. Maternal Spark: Moms who love to write or create on the side

a few from the section Improving Your Craft

1. Men With Pens: Whether you’re a writer freelancing or just writing for fun, you’ll find tips on how to do it better on this blog.
2. Write a Better Novel: Make sure whatever you’re writing will get the attention it deserves when time comes to get it published. This blog provides all kinds of information on creating a better novel, no matter the subject.
3. Write Better: Here you’ll find a wide range of writing tips to get your creative writing in top shape.
4. Clear Writing with Mr. Clarity: Learn to get to the point and write clearly and concisely whether you’re writing a letter at work or working on a book.
5. Mike’s Writing Workshop: This blogger is all about posting things that can help writers get better and get inspired.
6. Kim’s Craft Blog: Learn about writing fiction, memoirs and other creative writing from this writer who teaches courses at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

a few from the section Grammar and Editing

1. GrammarBlog: Laugh at the grammar and spelling errors of others while getting tips on improving your own skills on this blog.
2. Evil Editor: This editor might be evil, but the tips provided on this blog can really help you refine your stories.
3. Blue Pencil Editing: This blog is both a good resource for working editors and and writers in search of a little guidance.
4. Editing and Proofreading Hints and Tips: Get simple tips on improving your editing process from this blog.
5. Headsup: the blog: Here you’ll find posts about the sometimes frustrating world of editing and learn what not to do.
6. Grammarphobia: This site offers readers the chance to ask their own grammar and language questions and get answers.
7. Apostrophe Abuse: Think you know how to use the apostrophe? This blog might teach you otherwise.
8. Daily Writing Tips: Get some daily advice on how to improve the basics of your writing.

Yeah, I know what a lazy bum I am – but guys – my head is empty, hollow, bare, dead, echoing with the sounds of uninspired SILENCE.

And I still have to come up with a piece on Honor for the 12 Days of Yule Blog Party…

Let the Story surprise you…

There was a post in the NaNoWriMo Forums which I got inspired by.

“One subject that keeps resurfacing on this forum is the idea that characters are somehow able to make their own choices. While this is a cute idea, it sounds like it is derailing some would-be authors. Rather than try and address this misunderstanding on a case-by-case basis, I thought it might be a good idea for us to explore why some people feel this way and what the harm of it is. […] The big pitfall of believing your characters are actual, sentient beings is that you lose the ability to tell the best possible story with them. Grow too attached and you’ll always find a way to keep bad things from happening to the character. You’ll enhance their traits until they’re the embodiment of everything you want to be. You’ll give them unrealistic rewards, or become blind to their faults. You’ll stop using them to serve the needs of the story, and they will become a parody of excellence that you may adore, but no one else will want to read.

Nah, I don’t believe that my characters are People (well they are people in the story, like any third person I see and describe the actions or words of in life), nor do I think that my characters ‘hijack’ my story/stories. But I do believe that my ‘storyteller some times comes up with twists and turns, concepts and ideas, that was not present in my mind when I started out writing. That is not the doing of my characters, that is the doing of ‘the story’. I had one of those ‘incidents the other day – I was plodding along in cavern full of possibly dangerous creatures (that was planned) when “Mr Bright Idea” started hollering from somewhere in my word counting brain that I absotively NEEDED an order of cloistered monks! I could not let go of this idea, every other word that my mind produced had to do with cloistered monks. Now the Monks are in the story, and they work fine there – but it was a twist in the story I had not anticipated. I don’t believe any story is a slave to me. I feel that part of telling a story is in the ability to let it surprise me, as it possibly will those who read.

Some ideas and twists might have to wait for later in the story – for me the ART of writing and the CRAFT of writing are not mutually exclusive, on the contrary, when my mind comes up with an idea that ‘absotively’ has to get ‘in there’, it is a test of my ability to get the story where it is supposed to go despite the unexpected twist.