Becoming better writers, sharing ideas, joys, failures, opportunities, deadends

[moment]

I have been reading about getting work through Barefoot Writers.  I don't know anything about them and I am only a mediocre writer.  So, I am interested in other peoples experiences, in all types of reading and writing adventures, hopes, failures, etc.

Edited August 24, 2020 by moment

[zerostao]

https://www.writingroutines.com/renowned-writers-on-overcoming-rejection/

[liminal_luke]

I am interested in writing.  One thing that I do is collect words.  I have a huge collection of words gathered from readings, television dialog, and more than a few from posts here.  They are broken down into various categories by part of speech and sometimes also by number of syllables.  

 

Here´s a sampling of multisyllabic nouns that made my list: adventuress, buckeroo, charcuterie, didley-squat, evanescence, fuddy-duddy, gobbledygook, heebie-jeebies, imbroglio...

 

Just recently I´ve started to collect memories.  Every day I write down a memory in a special online memory journal.  Today I wrote about the huge toads I occasionally found at night as a kid living in rural northern California.  

 

I try to learn something new every day and am keeping a running list of things I´ve learned.  Today a Bum mentioned longboarding to me.  What´s longboarding?  I´m something of a fuddy-duddy and, like many fuddy-duddies, I know didley-squat about longboarding.  So I looked it up and now I know more.  

Edited August 25, 2020 by liminal_luke

[moment]

8 hours ago, zerostao said:

https://www.writingroutines.com/renowned-writers-on-overcoming-rejection/

 

Much appreciated!

[Encephalon]

Thanks for posting this.  It's triggered all sorts of ideas.

The subject is immense; there's no shortage of resources and advice. 

 

"Becoming a Writer" by Dorothea Brande is a classic and the closest thing you can get to a seasoned professional guiding you along the way.  The process is spiritual and psychological and there's nothing more gratifying than sticking with the practice long enough to see your improvements, to see your own confidence growing, to go from self-doubt to a firm faith that this process can be learned.

 

"Letters to a Young Poet" by R.M. Rilke is a treasure for writers of all abilities but for beginners there's nothing more inspiring and instructive than the first one.  

Doing the "Morning Pages" as described in "The Artist's Way" by Julie Cameron works for a lot of people. 15 minutes of free-writing first thing upon waking, every day.  I've been doing them for over two decades now.  This lights a fuse for greater creativity throughout the day.

 

"Writing as a Way of Healing" by Louise DeSalvo is extremely helpful for personal growth as well as writing.  Apparently, dedicated writing practice can be just as therapeutic as psychoanalysis, and a hell of a lot cheaper.

 

If you can make use of audiobooks I would highly recommend "On Writing" by Stephen King.  I have this on my iphone and listen to it regularly.  You'll save time by internalizing his wisdom.

 

"The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield is The Hot Item for writers and artists of all stripes.  It is freakishly insightful and seems to become more so the more you read it.  I also have the audiobook version and never tire of listening to it when I'm in the car or walking my dog.

 

Christ, I could go on forever with this...