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JayneWonders

JayneWonders

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In the last couple of years, I've started writing.

I think a few of you write too, some probably for a long time, so this thread is to share our experiences, opportunities, and questions or wisdom
 
My recent writing started with a FB post from @DaisyJane which was an invitation to join a writing gathering via Zoom. Held once a week, it would use the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) method. It was DaisyJane, so i had a high level of trust already, and after reading about the method I was intrigued. I joined.

Of course, I had been writing for always.
Some posts on wondercafe were more than just random thoughts
Posts regarding my cancer journey on facebook were composed.
i loved to write as a child, loving structuring sentences and sharing imagery.

Since that first series using AWA, I have participated in more. I have also attended writing days
I am feeling out what to write about, but, primarily I am doing memoir.
I am learning how to put dialogue and specifics in my writing. I am exploring deeper. Humour finds its way in.

I find that it is good for my mental state. It is a break.

Sometimes I process items. A recent concent triggered "what ifs", and that turned into a writing.
 
I, of course, am primarily a fiction writer with the odd foray into poetry. For a long time, Storiespace has been my site of choice (there's another that's not WC2-friendly) but the forums there have basically fizzled out as far as serious writing discussion and stories are dropping, too. My productivity has been low though I am writing pretty consistently, just not getting stuff to completion. It's almost more a way to get the bugs out than actually produce anything.

For me to really get involved in something more serious will probably take retirement. Between a 37.4 hour work week and house and family stuff, I don't really have a lot of time for other things still. One of my stories this year only got out because I took my laptop on a cruise that had plenty of sea days. My next cruise has several, too, but not as many. Haven't decided about packing the laptop along yet. I am starting to take a week off here and there (since HR is getting sticky about vacation carryover) just to write which helps.
 
I am retired, and find I don't have the time I want to write. Writing is a joy to me. I've tried fiction (not good at it), some poetry (I like it but not sure that it is marketable) and memoir. The on-line group I joined is part of the teaching sorority I belong to. There is a published author who does a lot of the teaching. They post some story starter ideas, and I have used them in non-typical ways. The ideas might spark my own idea and off I go. I sent one piece to the editor of the magazine associated with this international sorority (subject was at her request) and she said she will publish it sometime this year. I considered it high praise from her that she liked it because the little bit of writing I heard from her at the beginning of this group was brilliant.

I write reflections, children's stories and prayers for at least one church service a month, sometimes two. So that keeps me busy. I tend to spend a lot of time thinking, researching, writing and editing those. My other stories are typically less polished. I just want to write and save it to my computer to peruse sometime in the distant future.
 
Writing to me is a psychological release. The problem is people almost never wish to hear good news no bad news or whines ... thus parable, anachronism and other forms of reciprocal expression to cover up real collective difficulties. Is this new? It appears to be so old that very few recognize the themes that hide virtue any more.
This was evident in a funeral today where a high Anglican Priest mentioned the deceased love for such satire (satyr) and sarcasm carried by a donkey as a friend in low places. I was identified by a Professor of English Literature of having a grasp and skill in it's use that baffled him allowing the theme to reach places dark, unseen and innate. Some say the core of the great unknown ...
Is this true? I am nowhere close to the sense of certainty that some are in their intoxicating religion. Everything is toxic at certain levels and unless we are prepared for some of it ... well enough said ... the pain of empathy is wasted ...
At times the lost understanding of foul belief makes me ill ... and wonder about verses about wine and bread and what a little whine does for ailments of body, soul and spirit. If these understandings are lost ... god knows where we will encounter them negatively ... thus reason for understanding such expression as seemingly silent eruptions ... from people as found in the bottom of deeply injured vales ... dead even ...
Likely misunderstood and thus shed like water off a ducks back ... it is complex!
If you ever studied Finnegan;s Wake you may grasp a bit of the great unknown. One professor said it was written in 65 alien languages to hide the primal them that God was in a Machiavellian mood and decided to stand down ... because of the corruption in his children.

SIXTY-FIVE ... echos of the beginning of a song about a drunken situation of green gourds (watermelon wine) old dogs and children.

In ancient wisdom wolves/dogs have a meaning as well as watermelon as an old Egyptian icon of spirit-soul complexity ...

There is quite a hidden/Gnostic Missal! Then the burning of Sam McGee ... the thawing of a soul ... as kings despised soul and intelligence ... and intelligence reciprocates and declares "no kings." Bathsheba is hunting David for a reason ... one dark lady!

Alien literature? I'd bet ... on rotten tomatoes ... but never declare I'm sure because of the complex layers of backstory that could draw tears like onionskin ... brutal!
Re-evaluating Halloween thread: is an example; imagine spirits that haunt after the fact!
 
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When dealing with literary devices does one have a duality in their hands that can cause events to go either of two ways around:
  • Manipulation,
  • Control, avarice
or just the opposite depending on the state of mind receiving? It could be laid out or stoic upright as in et'hic condition from Gnostical factors ... pro- or dia- in which one is involved with analysis and study ... tutelage of intellect or the other extreme ... Machiavellian activity? Said to be dark and shady as Macha with an edge ... machete? Imagine what you could do with that ... heads roll ... chaos and Din ... stimulating all kinds ...
 
Most of my writing experience has been in writing sermons and other such things for churches. I'm now slowly getting started in writing for my Yt channel.

Great idea for a thread :) :coffee:
 
I belong to a group right now that meets every Tuesday for 2 hrs via zoom. It's a group new to me, and the goal is to get a short piece (1000 word) ready for publication. I didn't realize that last bit when i first joined.

Currently, we've been working with prompts, but, now getting to the point where we should be selecting a writing to be tuned.
ugh.
I like first draft writing. I also like editing to make things smoother.
I'm not sure about editing for publication.
 
JayneWonders said:
I'm not sure about editing for publication.
Click to expand...
I am anal as all hell, often editing a piece that length (1000 words is Flash Fiction and common in the competitions I enter) for far longer than I took to write it. And I still find mistakes after hitting Submit. :cautious: Spelling and grammar checkers help with technical stuff, of course, but I am talking about getting this sentence just right to make its point or realizing that the event in this paragraph here should have happened four paragraphs earlier and that sort of thing. One of the benefits I have heard about groups is having other pairs of eyes on your work can help with things like that.
 
Articles of imperfection have been popular for millennia ... read old texts of BS! A test of a sort when considering the transpositions of S's, C's and X's in old linguistics ... it generates a field of what seems to be non sense ... and love is like that ... personality disturbance?
 
Jaebius said:
Most of my writing experience has been in writing sermons and other such things for churches.
Click to expand...
I am funny with sermons, though to be fair I haven't done one in quite a while. I used to write them in full, but found I was improvising changes anyhow (that editing thing again) so I ended up just doing a point form outline with only quotes I was using in full and then just preaching from that. Worked quite well but I doubt it would work for everyone.
 
Mendalla said:
I am funny with sermons, though to be fair I haven't done one in quite a while. I used to write them in full, but found I was improvising changes anyhow (that editing thing again) so I ended up just doing a point form outline with only quotes I was using in full and then just preaching from that. Worked quite well but I doubt it would work for everyone.
Click to expand...
That worked for me. For the first few years, I wrote the message out in full; after awhile I just did an 'outline' of thoughts. If I had quotations, they were written out, so I'd keep the wording, otherwise I would just improvise based on my notes.

Not sure how that approach would work for writing stories, though...
 
Redbaron said:
That worked for me. For the first few years, I wrote the message out in full; after awhile I just did an 'outline' of thoughts. If I had quotations, they were written out, so I'd keep the wording, otherwise I would just improvise based on my notes.

Not sure how that approach would work for writing stories, though...
Click to expand...
I did the same thing for my seminars that were often of very complicated content ... like bible literature that is not just a simple story! Given the time span (and linguistics) implication ... no simplicity! Can make for some interesting and satyr-like presentations! Diabolic ... is metaphoric ...
 
I like writing. I've done quite a lot of it - in various contexts & styles over the decades - medical chart notes & reports; published peer reviewed journal article; presentations & posters for conferences; fun writing with kids; writing stories from life moments; and a bit with Writers Collective of Canada which uses the methodology Jayne mentioned. I was really impressed with WCC & seriously considered becoming a facilitator before going in a different direction with my community involvement.

A writing highlight was a week long workshop I organized at my church - "Gifting Stores to Grandchildren" - led by Mike Patterson - yes the kiwi Mike P from original WonderCafe! It was a wonderful week of learning & fellowship with a few elders of my congregation - listening to their intriguing life stories that I would otherwise NEVER have known about them. We actually carried it on as monthly ministry gathering for a couple of years after the workshop.

I'm soon going out to Whistler for a long overdue visit & I'll also be attending a session or two at the annual Whistler Writers Festival - which should be super interesting.
 
Mendalla said:
I am funny with sermons, though to be fair I haven't done one in quite a while. I used to write them in full, but found I was improvising changes anyhow (that editing thing again) so I ended up just doing a point form outline with only quotes I was using in full and then just preaching from that. Worked quite well but I doubt it would work for everyone.
Click to expand...
Think it's wonderful if you can do that Mendalla. I've always written the sermon out as a manuscript and then converted it to notes before preaching. I find the process of changing it into notes helps me in remembering and grasping the sermon
 
Jaebius said:
Think it's wonderful if you can do that Mendalla. I've always written the sermon out as a manuscript and then converted it to notes before preaching. I find the process of changing it into notes helps me in remembering and grasping the sermon
Click to expand...
I preach it in my head as I'm putting it together, and sometimes practice out loud.
 
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