I have decided that I am going to try -- I am making no promises -- to enter the Writer's Digest 78th annual writing competition. I am developing what was to be the prologue of a novel into a short story that will stand by itself. I looked at last year's results, and I was just astonished. Over 17,000 entries and the grand prize winner had already published several things. I'm not anticipating winning the grand prize or anything, but it would sure boost my confidence to place somewhere. Some money would be very nice for my plans to move out to the country and build a cottage.
I have a lot of work ahead of me. I am learning as I go. My lovely wife encourages me but it isn't easy to find time to devote to writing since I have a full time job and a family to care for, a dump truck of daily things that need to be tended to to keep the biz running and to keep all of us provided with the electricity and water we need in out here in the bush.
Right now I am working on personalizing my characters. While there are many things I'm studying that seem to me to be quite elementary, personalization is one that is taking some time for me to feel comfortable with. My main character is already quite different from who I originally pegged him to be. That's good, but I feel sometimes I'm in uncharted territory.
Ahhh, uncharted territory -- makes me grateful for the charted stuff!
J.P.T.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Introduction
Hello and welcome.
I have always loved to write, but always carried around that assumption that people who "just write" are misfits or too lazy to get a real job. Having had several real jobs, I still have this great passion to create art, and that's what writing is.
Something deeper to say about that? Art wasn't meant to be crafted and then tucked away. Art is supposed to be shared, and good art is appreciated when it is shared. I could write whatever I want and I know it would be good - at least to me it would be a work of art. But I want my art to be appreciated. Who wouldn't?
I have several stories in mind, I'm going to let them ferment and develop as I learn this new trade. Yes, having loved to write since before I could write in cursive, I still have much to learn. It is art after all and before an artist displays his art, he should at least become good at it. That is what I am working toward achieving. I was surprised at how many things I have not needed to learn, I apparently learned them naturally. Isn't it nice when that happens? Other things, I found I have had to study, reflect, and play around with. That's how life goes.
J.P.T.
I have always loved to write, but always carried around that assumption that people who "just write" are misfits or too lazy to get a real job. Having had several real jobs, I still have this great passion to create art, and that's what writing is.
Something deeper to say about that? Art wasn't meant to be crafted and then tucked away. Art is supposed to be shared, and good art is appreciated when it is shared. I could write whatever I want and I know it would be good - at least to me it would be a work of art. But I want my art to be appreciated. Who wouldn't?
I have several stories in mind, I'm going to let them ferment and develop as I learn this new trade. Yes, having loved to write since before I could write in cursive, I still have much to learn. It is art after all and before an artist displays his art, he should at least become good at it. That is what I am working toward achieving. I was surprised at how many things I have not needed to learn, I apparently learned them naturally. Isn't it nice when that happens? Other things, I found I have had to study, reflect, and play around with. That's how life goes.
J.P.T.
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