#WritersCoffeeClub May 20: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I first tried to write a story at 11 years old, but I must have thought I could before then, some time I watched TV and wanted an episode to continue after it ended or imagined episodes of my own. 4 years old? 4 is the earliest I remember following TV plots.
#HilaryMantel said self-confidence was the most helpful quality a writer can cultivate b/c it gets one past rejection. She didn't say it was the best quality. Ppl are answering the May 19 #WritersCoffeeClub that arrogance is wrong, but imagine your work were rejected and you were humble and thought, "You know? I yield to their wisdom. I give up trying to be a writer." Wouldn't that truly be the wrong move?
I’ve been in this business, writing software professionally, since I started my first software business at 16 in high school on an Apple ][. That’s 45 fucking years. It would never occur to me to steal other people’s code, let alone their likenesses, voices, or art.
Just eject these thieving “AI” companies into the sun. These people, and the VCs that fund them, are a cancer on the software industry.
I need your help ❤️
Over 4-5 days new server- and media storage bills are coming in for this month
Currently I am still over €428 short this month😿😟
For upcoming weekend I have a server migration planned to scale down the costs by another €200 on the main servers but that will only take effect next month
If you can, please help out 🙏
https://paypal.me/stuxOS
https://patreon.com/mstdn
https://ko-fi.com/mstdn
https://liberapay.com/mstdn
https://opencollective.com/mstdn
https://bunq.me/stuxhost
Thank you ❤️
The #poem "The Amityville Horrors" from my 2018 collection of poems Noisesome Ghosts first published in the Ebb & Flourish re-published here at The Poet's Bridge in 2022 #WritingCommunity #PoetryCommunity #ExperimentalPoetry @poetry
#PennedPossibilities 318. What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?
I can write anywhere w/ seating, but in my home office writing space, keeping the walls bare has helped.
I would consider an idea board, but I dislike marker fumes.
I most notice Mantel wasn't talking about best qualities plural but a singular, most helpful quality, self-confidence bordering on arrogance, b/c one would need that much moxie against the rejection writers encounter.
It is arrogant to think the world needs one more writer, yet thinking so is how anyone gets into and stays in the game.
#WritersCoffeeClub May 19
I modified the #WritersCoffeeClub May 19 question in my original reply, fully quoting Mantel, b/c the original Q misspells #HilaryMantel's name and IMO wrongly sums up what Mantel meant. Here's today's WCC prompt as written so you can compare the two:
19. Do you agree with Hillary Mantell, who said the best qualities for writing are self-confidence and a little arrogance?
#WordWeavers May 19: How did you settle on your MC's appearance?
Instead of describing any character's appearance at length, I give only what's necessary to serve the story, leaving a fair amount to readers' imaginations.
I answer, "What does the character look like?" how do they need to look for story purposes?
Have inner confidence, I say, arrogance you keep to yourself and use to fuel yourself. Beyond yourself, have the humility to learn as much as possible from others, enriching your perspective.
#WritersCoffeeClub May 19
#WritersCoffeeClub May 19: Do you agree w/ #HilaryMantel, who said, "The most helpful quality a writer can cultivate is self-confidence – arrogance, if you can manage it. You write to impose yourself on the world, and you have to believe in your own ability when the world shows no sign of agreeing with you.”
Yes. You only try to publish if you believe the world needs to hear what you have to say, yet if you want ppl to be receptive, you have to be receptive to them as well.
#WritersCoffeeClub May 18: Have you written sections where the action occurs against the clock? How did you do it?
For me, the key is to reflect the viewpoint character's feeling hurried, nervous as opposed to just showing the clock ticking down.
"How much should I charge?"
If you're a freelancer, you've anxiously asked yourself that question.
Fortunately, Erin Brenner, author of "The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors," had great advice in our chat this week on the Grammar Girl podcast!
Come for the freelancing advice and stay for all the great editing and writing productivity hacks.
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229
READ: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/brenner/transcript
WATCH: https://youtu.be/HMiBhe2Tusk
#WritersCoffeeClub May 17: . Other than writing, what's your go-to creative outlet?
I enjoy creating web graphics. You can see a bit of how this evolved on my YouTube channel, where I posted weekly videos for the poetry site I ran from 2011 to 2023:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UPfgwVH91c&list=PL21D5D9AC64F6F9AB
#WritersCoffeeClub May 16: What's your target audience? Why?
It depends what genre I'm writing. In general it's readers who have the same taste and interests I do. I think you have to be in or get into the reader's mindset to write for them, and I don't know that I could get into the mindset of readers w/ taste and interests very different from mine. That would be writing work I personally didn't connect w/, work I wouldn't like to read. I have no reason to spend my time on that.
#WordWeavers May 15: Who are your most and least gullible characters?
I'd just say everyone is gullible. We all wish some things were true, and b/c of that, we're susceptible to believing they are. I think it's unfair to say one character or person is more gullible than another. The ruse you have to use to fool someone is the only difference.
#WritersCoffeeClub May 15: Have you ever attended a writer's fair / festival to promote your work? Would you?
I attended #Bouchercon, the World #Mystery Convention, in 2008 to promote a crime-themed #Poetry magazine I co-edited. The con went well and I got to be on a panel about crime and poetry specifically:
https://poemsoncrime.blogspot.com/2008/10/poetry-in-motion-at-bouchercon-2008.html
I've attended Bouchercon as a fan three times since then. Still fun, but unlike having a book to promote.
#WordWeavers May 14: What role do other writers have in your writing life?
They have a huge role in the sense I learned how and what I wanted to write by reading their work. OTOH, I'm not in a writers' group such that members critique and help edit each other's work. In the latter sense I myself have the most say.
#WritersCoffeeClub May 14: Do you have a sense of how much plot you need for how long a manuscript?
I don't have much of a sense of this. A few times I thought I had novel-length ideas, but in the writing they boiled down to short stories and poems.