The Writer's Block

mirrani:
Here is the picture for today. Go here if you want to read the story behind this or the ones I posted earlier.

mirrani:
I realize it's tomorrow already, but I wanted to get this done before I do the one for today. As always, you can go to my journal to see the stories for today.

mirrani:
Yesterday I said I was filling your poxes, I meant BOXES, of course. Still, I think you were doing happy dances. Not happening today, there are two pictures.

mirrani:
The entries for today are at my page, if you would like to read what happens in the picture. No second picture today, sorry. Or maybe everyone whose pox is filling up with pictures not behind cuts are pleased about this. I imagine some of you doing happy dances. ;)

mirrani:
If you want to read what was part of today's entry, go to my page, as usual...

mirrani:
The stories for today's pictures are on my page, as usual... In case you want to write something based on them.
July 6

mirrani:
There are two days posted today because yesterday I was at a funeral for most of the day and didn't get around to posting. Sorry about that. The stories are back at my page.
July 4

July 5

mirrani:
Today there are two pictures. And no, I didn't change the color. The orange-looking snake in the picture really is that color in the book, even though the story back at my page says he's pink.

mirrani:

There is only one today, the other book doesn't have one picture for each short story. To read the stories, click here.

mirrani:

This place has been going unnoticed and unused. Part of that is my fault for totally ignoring it because life got so stressful. I'm trying to change all of that.

This month I will make a new post every day. For my reasons why, go here and read my post explaining this whole thing in detail.

There you will also be able to access the /true/ story behind the image that is posted here.

Obviously, because of the nature of this community, I encourage you to try and write a little before you read, but if you would rather /expand/ on an element in the story than write about the image, I'm okay with that too.

Images for today:

Have fun. And no, you do not need to reply /today/ to participate.

cedargrove:

Take a look at the image below and freewrite. Enjoy yourself. What does the image mean to you?

cedargrove:

All right, so it's been a couple of years since anyone posted on this journal, so lets get this show on the road again. I know there are a lot of writing journals and websites and everything out there in the cyber-office/studio (or wherever else you find yourself writing), but the more the merrier I say. Let's keep this going, especially with November coming up, and we all know what happens in November, right?

beaconeer:

As writers, have you ever found yourself hunting down the middle ground? What I mean is, there is the background of your ideas of who these people are that you are writing about, how you are expecting these situations to work out, and the themes you want to come through in your writing, and there is the foreground that is the action and that is the description of the environs of the scene and all the scene encounters including the appearance and style of the characters. Or vice versa, depending on what you concentrate on as a writer. But the middle ground seems to be the real writing, the mesh of it all together and natural but highly skilled. Is this all Greek to you or do you understand what I mean? How do you best reach your middle ground?

beaconeer:

This may sound like a really strange question but have any of you ever noticed yourself getting sleepy after half an hour or so writing, even if you have had plenty of sleep and are not over tired? Is it the relaxation of writing your thoughts out? Is it avoiding the tough spots? What the heck is it?! And am I alone in ever having experienced this?

beaconeer:

Here I am sitting, at the allotted time for the planning for my writing program, wanting to hurry it up so that I can watch a netflix that just came in. I was excited about the prospect of this new endeavor, when it first occurred to me, that it was something I would accomplish and looking forward to discoveries about myself and my writing I might uncover in the process. The truth is, I love to write. The fact is, no matter how many ideas I have, I am excrutiatingly slow at getting them on paper. The great mystery, for me, is within that contradiction. I have encountered all manner of advice from fellow writers at writers' conferences, friends who write, articles in writing magazines, and even therapists. I have been at a loss, since few people have seemed to really understand that I never run out of ideas, I simply can't force myself to move any faster than a snail's pace at constructing them. Perhaps I never slow down enough in my usual routine to give myself a chance to step into that inspiration flow. Perhaps the aging process scares me, how it was so very much easier when I was a child with few responsibilities. Talent is not reliable. Diligence always pays off in one way or another. At the moment, the urge to hurry is also the urge to fill up the empty page, make it amiable and less forbidding, create something out of nothing and hopefully leave a trace of me behind.
I have, however, digressed. The mystery may have many facets, but the problem is simple. I need to find the best way for me to work. I need to satisfy the inquiry within myself as to whether or not I have truly followed through with the advice I have been given. So, month by month, I shall try various different methods in the art of writing, reporting first on my concerns about them and concluding with my findings as to how, when, and why they work or how, when, and why they don't work, for me. I expect that through these exercises, I will be able to tailor the most effective methods to my specific needs, with the strong background of a structured try. I will also require to be held accountable, and so I will report here throughout each month.

These are the methods I have singled out to try for a specific time everyday:

o September: Writing by Prompts, one prompt or project at a time.
o October: Freewriting first, again working on one project at a time AFTER freewriting for 15 minutes.
o November: Writing so many words/day, to strive for the Novel in a Month project. (approx. 1,700)
Also, outlining my plot first.
o December: Multi-tasking…working on many projects at once, within an allotted time.

The special concern I have for September, is once I get going with something, sometimes I like to combine everything I'm working on together, which equals a plot mess. I always think of sorting the mess as apart of the creative process, but its not always easy for me to decide and stick to my decisions about what part of the script is going where. I think this is often a stumbling block for me because I like to keep in mind what Im doing with the project, the whole project, while Im working on it, and yet I change things all the time.

jazminebel:

I had this picture:

and wrote this: ( Cut in case you want to write something of your own )

I haven't worked on it in ages. I feel bad. At the time I was very inspired... now... well, I just hope it might inspire someone.

vegawriters:

reading my mom's poetry. she's very talented, and right now the poems mostly center on getting better - remembering what it was like to have feeling in her hands, remembering the simple tasks of baking cookies or writing in her day planner ... it's a side of my mother that I only get a rare glimpse of - the side that is frustrated, that wants it to be like it once was. And yet, these poems show the side of her that is moving on, moving through this. She'll never be completely okay again, and she's somehow okay with that.

As her daughter, it's beautiful. When I was little, there was nothing that my mother couldn't do. Now, even with her limitations - even seeing the true humanity that is there - I think that maybe, there is still nothing she cannot do.

wintressanna:

I'd just like to throw out this idea...Im not sure myself if it would help or compound the problem of too many small dead writers' communities on Lj and too many too large and too active to serve the creative needs of their members. It seemed to me that what is needed is some sort of linking community. For example, a community solely devoted to placing applicants to the right community for them. Sounds like a large thankless project for someone but it might spur us all to be better supporters of each other if we each had a place in a small community in which we can get to know each other and we share interests in similar aspects of writing. I dont think it would necessarily be a good idea to limit each other by genre or even stylistic preferences, except in cases of extreme incompatibility, and I also think it would be necessary to avoid prejudice, especially on basis of age, religious affiliation, and socio-economic status which all seems to come up from time to time. I certainly dont think such linking community should be the only means by which one becomes admitted into one writing community or another, but it might help for those who have become frustrated with the search. What do you all think?

cedargrove:

I won't comment - I'll just post it, (if I can get the html right).

vegawriters:
Hey guys,

Just an FYI, my fanfic site www.geocities.com/vegawriters has been updated with a new commentary on the state of TV as we know it. This piece is going to be submitted eventually, so I don't know how long it's going to be up, but I thought I'd share.

~Shauna