#WritersCoffeeClub July 1: What's your greatest weakness as a writer?

This may be a Q better answered by readers or writers besides me, but in my own view, my weakness is I seldom write long. Much of my work is under 2K words, which is often the minimum "short story," shorter being "short shorts."

I've tried to write longer stories and novels at times, but they've been rejected and I've cut them down to shorter stories and flash pieces that have been published.

Working on it, though. 😀

#WritersCoffeeClub June 30: When is a piece of writing done?

It's done when I submit it to a market. If it's rejected, I might revise it or I might submit it to another market if I think it's strong enough as is.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 26: How much of the finished work do you need to have in mind before you start writing?

Only the beginning premise. I need to write to find out the rest. I do different kinds of writing: brainstorming, drafting, and revising.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 24: What’s something you’d like to write, but know you never will?

I'm trying to write everything I'd like to write and leaving room for anything I don't know I'd like to write yet. I don't see how I'd know I'd never write something.

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Much of the learning process is watching YouTube videos on art and drawing and translating them to Inkscape. Apps like Inkscape mitigate my lack of coordination, but still let me shape the art down to the smallest detail.

#ScribesAndMakers June 24

#ScribesAndMakers June 24: Tell us about a time when you pushed yourself outside your comfort zone with your creativity. How did it go?

I've always wanted to draw, but I lack coordination. Recently I've made from-scratch digital art w/ Inkscape b/c I wanted to fully customize my social media profile pics and I was dissatisfied w/ Inkscape's auto-traced output from my photos. It's been frustrating at times, but I'm learning by doing, and it's rewarding b/c the art is all my own, manual work.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 23: Conversely, what’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever encountered?

Advice not to write. It counts as writing advice.yet it leads to no writing, so it's not helpful.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 22: What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever received?

To pick a best, I'd have to get so encompassing, it wouldn't be interesting. Instead I'll pass along some good advice: Describe a subject or activity w/o adjectives. In other words, make your nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc. as vivid as possible so you don't need adjectives. I don't know that I'd apply it to a whole story or novel, but it can help strengthen passages you feel are lacking.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 21: Which facets of your writing only work in the language in which it was written?

I'm not sure. I write in English, but I think I could be translated easily into any language. I've previously posted that I avoid slang, which very often has no equivalents between languages.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 20: Solstice. What’s the most you’ve ever written in a single session? What made that possible?

I've never kept track. Chipping away at projects a little at a time on a regular basis works best for me. That said, I have spent hours pondering projects, made possible by having those hours free at the time.

#ScribesAndMakers June 20: What fictional character do you most closely identify with and why?

I don't identify completely w/ any character, but the closest is Marvel Comics' Matt Murdock. I admire that he worked around his blindness and became a lawyer even before he became Daredevil. I also like that his super abilities don't completely overcome his disability. B/c he's grounded by it, I identify w/ him most of all superheroes.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 19. How would you describe the theme of the whole of your œuvre?

I think the theme that runs through all my work is being disappointed, not winning grand prizes, my/your lifelong dream, yet not despairing, working w/ what I've/you've got and achieving something else I/you didn't expect or plan.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 17: As a writer, how anonymous do you want to be?

In the sense that I want readers to focus on my words and characters much moreso than on who I am, I want to be very anonymous, like Elmore Leonard said, to disappear into the writing.

On the other hand, I write under my real name and for publication b/c I don't mind readers knowing I wrote it. As I said, I'd prefer they not get hung up on my identity, but that's much more on them than on me.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 16: Do you write out accents phonetically/use eye dialects? Why or why not?

I don't. It's most important to me that readers understand what characters say. When real people are earnest, whatever they say they hope others will understand. They don't intentionally speak in ways that will confuse or be ridiculed.

However we may sound to each other, we're trying to say the same things. I reflect that in my writing.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 15: Have you ever challenged yourself to write without editing? What were the results?

I challenge myself to write without editing whenever I start a project. That way I get the basic idea on paper, which is something to edit.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 14: Do you take notes for your WIP? How closely do you follow them?

In the sense of notes from beta readers, as in TV network notes, I don't show my WIP around much, so there's no feedback to take.

I do make my own notes on works in progress and I follow them until it no longer makes sense, i.e. the work has outgrown them.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 13: Do you restrict what you read or watch while working on a WIP? Why or why not?

I don't particularly. Sometimes I read work similar to my WIP b/c I'm aiming for that. Other times I don't want the rhythm of other work to seep into mine. It depends what stage of progress I'm in. In the later stages, the language of my WIP is established and other work doesn't affect it.

If anything I wrote didn't ultimately say what I wanted, I'd have no reason to publish it. I'd publish something else that turned out more to my liking. I don't think anyone can genuinely turn off their brain/tastes.

#WritersCoffeeClub June 12

#WritersCoffeeClub June 12: How much of your ideals are imbued in your work? Give an example.

I try to write about characters very different from me, but I'd say my values present in that stories turn out and characters end up where I think they should.

I try to give characters freedom so they feel like independent ppl, not pieces I control, but ultimately I am trying to say something w/ a story as a whole and I am using characters, setting, situation, and style to help make my point.