Forum: Author Hangout

I'm retired, but most of my work for the last couple of decades of work was writing the specialized fiction known as Government Financial Reports

A) I own a real estate company.

B) I'm the boss...

I realise that Stephen King (in 'On Writing') will sprout lines of Grade-A 100% Organic Bullshyte™ like "If you're really a writer, you'll make the time" but then again he can say that now since he swims in a monogrammed money bin filled with airport-novel-best-seller-automatic-nine-reprint-I-killed-a-hooker-no-problem-cash-money. As I recall, he was a high-level alcoholic and his wife didn't leave him, so his predilection for escaping to the laundry of their trailer with a typewriter balanced on his knees was probably preferable for her as opposed to another sixer of whatever pisswater he was swilling.

Whatever one's opinion of the quality of his writing---I think King has always acknowledged, with pride, that he's sort of middle-brow---I imagine he'd have the same reply James Patterson (who is up around 2.5 bazillion books sold) made to a critic or other author who criticized his work: "How many books has he sold?"

Yeah, yeah, we all know that's not the only measure of success or quality.

That said, in fairness to old Stephen, he claims to have worked some pretty crappy jobs in the beginning and wrote at lunch or after work or whenever. So, yeah, "make time to write" is kind of like saying, "if you want to lose the weight just lose it," and about as useful. In King's case, however, he did it before he made his first gazillion sales.

I thought On Writing was very useful and, equally important for me, very funny. The writing advice was pretty generic, no question, but his retelling of his early years very engaging.

bb

Electrical subject matter expert for a major pipeline.

Sometimes I write when I'm far from home in one of the five (sometimes more) states that I cover across the South.

Quite often I go over and come up with story ideas while driving. Eleven hours behind the wheel with an iPod's worth of good music allows the mind to wonder.

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In my case, I'm lucky (???) in that I'm disabled, exist on a set income which isn't taxable, and I can earn up to $25,000 a year on my writing before I ever have to bother filing a income tax report on it.

However, with little else to do with my time, writing gives definition to my life.

In fairness to Mr. King, I've noticed that writing regularly is essential, in that it keeps your writing 'fresh'. Whenever I don't do creative writing--say while I'm editing my book--the changes I make to the story sound forced and awkward. Simply writing notes, shopping lists and ditties seems to be enough to maintain your writing skills. Otherwise, it'll often take 3 months to get back into writing.

Even now, I've seen sick with the flu for the past week, and I'm already having trouble writing from being away from it for so long.

That doesn't really answer you question, but it again emphasizes the 'just write', even if it's utter crap. It doesn't matter whether you keep any of it. It's the practice that counts. A decent alternative is to sit with an open notebook and writing observations of the people you encounter--like artists making sketches in the park. You may never use those bits, but then again, if you need a character for a story, you can always draw on all those notes to flesh them out with some real-world details.

I'd also suggest that, if you're spending all day typing on a computer, that you don't jump on another to write. Instead, I'd suggest you write freehand. It's different enough, and it'll force you to transition from 'work' to 'creative thought about writing'. It's also much slower, but if you aren't writing much either way, I'm guessing it'll get you back into writing a little sooner.

Hope that helps, though I suspect you'll find it as useful as 'just make the time, damn it!'.

I retired early, over 12 years ago. Before that I ran a worldwide Data organization for a Fortune 50 company, you know, responsible for the database design, security, backup/recovery, performance, data standardization, etc. Mostly on mainframes, IMS and then DB2. After the company's downsizing where they got rid of over 100 of 113 VPs and Directors, I mostly managed groups that did Data Warehousing on client/server platforms. But I was never happy doing that so that's why I retired young.

So I have all the time in the world to write, and I used to write a lot. But lately I don't enjoy it as much so I don't write as much. My wife will be retiring this September so I'll see if I'll have less time or more time. I built a new house with a studio for her to do her fused glass art. I got a feeling she's going to be busy doing that which will give me plenty of time to write or do something else, like Candy Crush and FreeCell LOL.

Disability retired here (COPD) so I have plenty of time to write. Problem is that my Muse is a fickle bitch. That's why I only have two completed short stories on SOL and a dozen or so story outlines/first chapters in my 'Writings & Ramblings' documents folder. I spend my days reading new stories from SOL that interest me and looking for good (and cheap or free) Fantasy/Sci-Fi e-books on Amazon.

you start with these:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons cold water*

and do this:

COMBINE flour and salt in medium bowl; cut in vegetable shortening with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle with water; blend until mixture holds together.

SHAPE dough into ball; place on lightly floured surface. Roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Line pie plate with pastry. Turn edge under; crimp as desired.

for a good crust.

I love wrting. In fact, I'm addicted to writing.

I have a big, ground stacked PA system and provide audio production services. I also do second engineer audio work with a friend of mine who has a system bigger than mine when he needs help and my system isn't booked.

When I take out my system, I usually do the front-of-house mix for music festivals, weekly summer in-the-park concerts, corporate employee parties, meet the candidates nights, and things like that. My doing bar bands is long over; they can't afford my pricing structure.

The work is mostly seasonal. Even the day of a show I can usually squeeze in two or three hours writing. Doing one to two shows a week in the summer, I can, in a three to four week cycle, I write between 25,000 to 37,000 words. Fewer shows, more writing.

However, this afternoon going up to check the mail, I found the first morel mushroom of the season, so I guess my daily walks will include a lot of looking down as I walk through the woods and a little less writing.

My first story I wrote almost exclusively while on airplanes (generally business trips four times a year), on the theory that it was the only place I was with my laptop but without internet. This meant it took a long time to write, but I was in no particular hurry.

After that was actually finished and published, I decided I didn't want to be a one-hit-wonder and should do more stories, and with a release schedule that wouldn't leave people wondering if I'd died. Lately I've been pretty good at enforcing an average of an hour per week of work (writing or proofreading), plus those airplane trips.

Given the fact that I write only as a hobby and the nature of most of my short stories (stroke) I wasn't sure I'm qualified to address a serious topic like this, but since this advice was passed on to me by a friend who did manage to get published commercially I thought it might be worth repeating here. He stated creative writing is like a religion, it's something that's in you. And like all religions there are different levels of dedication; some go the church occasionally, others regularly. Some go further and become elders and deacon, and some study for the ministry/priesthood. And yet others join monasteries or go off into the wilderness living a life of sackcloth and ashes to suffer for their art. No one way is right for everybody. Part time writers have had success and great novels have been written in the wilderness and died there for lack of a sponsor. As far as the time we spend, that all depends on how much we're willing to risk on a gamble. It's an individual thing. On a lighter note, remember Chevy Chase in "Funny Farm"; the professional sports writer who couldn't get his novel started while his wife had a hit with a children's book. I hope this was relevant.

I'm currently a lift (elevator) technician in New Zealand. I write during my dinner break and occasionally on an evening.

Can't say I care much for Stephen King novels or stories.

I have spent over fifty years in the field of Quality Assurance. Currently I perform audits to the ISO standards. Writing fiction is a wonderful release from those dreary reports.