Tag: Writing

  • I’m on a Hiatus

    July has been a busy month for me. I’ve been traveling, completing home improvement projects, and ring Summer tour guide for my kid.

    I guess what I am saying is that I’m taking a hiatus in the month of July. I’m not shutting down the blog, or stopping writing. I know that my out put is going to be infrequent until the start of August.

    So, I’m taking the pressure off my shoulders as I uphold my commitments and promises I made to my family, and especially my daughter.

    I’ll be back in about a week, and I’ll talk to the four of you loyal readers then.

  • ODDS and ENDS: New Schedule, Rewriting, and August 6th

    (I do less before 9am, than most people do all day.)

    The kid is out of school for summer which means that stay-at-home-dad’s school year schedule has been thrown out the window. I know it isn’t my job to “entertain” the kid every moment of the day, but it does mean that I am her go to person for questions, and just about everything else. The quandary I find myself in is when do I write? I was knocking out blogs in the morning, but as of this week, the time is hard to find. I might have to write at night and publish in the morning. Or, whatever. I’ll figure out the new schedule.

     While I was on vacation, I didn’t do much writing, though I did spend a bit of time thinking about it. What I came up with is that I have to rewrite a story. And it’s a story that I have rewritten three times already. And it’s a story that I have submitted to four different lit journals. Not that it matters, as the chance of it getting published, even if it is rewritten, are slim at best. I just can’t stop tinkering with it. On one hand, I want to get it right, and on the other hand, I wonder if I keep messing with it as a form of procrastination?

    Premiere League starts up on August 6th. Well, that’s when Tottenham’s first match is.

  • I Took A Break From Blogging

    I took a break from blogging because I was on vacation. I think I tipped my hand to this fact when my last post was about the airlines and being at an airport. But, I actually had every intention of writing and posting while I was away. I had even set time aside in my schedule.

    But, clearly, I didn’t post anything. I felt bad about it on the first day, and then I tried to write something on the second day which never materialized, and on the third day I reminded myself I was on vacation and forgot about writing. I took two afternoons to journal, but that was it.

    Now that I am back home, I need to start up again, keep the habit going. And I was ready this morning. I had my computer open, WORD doc ready to capture the magic.

    And then I watched The Drew Barrymore Show.

    The kitchen was kind of dirty, so I cleaned it.

    I went to the drug store because we were sort of low on toilet paper, and really, nothing is worse than running out of toilet paper.

    Then it was lunchtime.

    And I promised the kid we’d go to the park after lunch.

    While at the park, I finished reading Second Place by Rachel Cusk, and I thought I should write about that. But that would take some time and I should do that at home.

    So, I wrote this. On my phone. While kids are running by me at the playground, screaming with joy and throwing water balloons. (It is a pleasant though hot Summer afternoon.) This isn’t a particular important post, but it is the post where I’m stretching out my legs, so to speak. Like a pre-season game, or a friendly match.

    Just getting back into the habit, you know.

    (Say! If this blog tickled your fancy, please consider a gracious act of liking, commenting, or sharing this post. I can’t promise anything, but the last person who did that had five years of good luck.)

  • English Language Rules

    You know what I am very bad at? Knowing when to use “maybe” and “may be.”

    I suck at grammar. This blog is filled with type-o’s from here till dawn, and until I get an editor, it will continue to function in this improper manner. God bless the people out there who can remember all the rules and know how to follow them. And in the same breath, you can fuck right off all of you people who use grammar as some sort of cudgel to make people feel ignorant and uncultured.

    Sadly, everyone, even really smart grammar-nazi people, has an innate desire to kick someone around to make themselves feel better. I wish people weren’t like that, but we are.

    If grammar people were honest, they would admit that the rules to the English language are arbitrary at best, and change often. Samuel Johnson, who wrote the first English dictionary, wanted to have a manual of the authoritative rules of the English language. Where did he find these rules? He made them up. The rules were based on his preferences, and for almost 300 years we have been following or breaking them ever since.

    As I am sure you can tell, I don’t like people who use the language as some sort of litmus test of a person’s intelligence. Whenever I hear “proper way to speak” or “proper way to write” it is like finger nails on the chalk board. The word “proper” when used in the context of language, is never meant as a signal that one is have difficulty discerning the meaning from the use of the language. No, when “proper” shows up in the contextual discussion of language, it is meant to signify that one use the of the language is “good” and another is “bad.”

    For that reason, I wish the English language, spoken and written, were treated more like a musical instrument that conveys emotion and understanding, regardless of how it is “played.” The sole question that should be ask is only, “Did you understand the intent and render a meaning?” If the answer is yes, then the language was used correctly.

    Maybe if we accepted more understanding, we would have a better understanding.

    (Say! If you like what you have read, please like, share, and leave a comment. It would help justify my existence.)

  • Read the Guidelines!

    I don’t think it’s a secret that I am trying to get one of my stories published in a lit magazine. I don’t know if this is the right way to start a career writing fiction, or if there is a better way to go about it, or if there is no right way and you just got to figure it out. (I think it’s the last option.) Either way, I write and then I send the stories out to magazines, then wait to see what sticks to the wall.

    Almost every magazine says two things; please read an issue of their magazine before you submit, and please follow the submission guidelines. I have started reading some of these magazines, and I have enjoyed discovering new writers and new ideas on how to tell a story. As for following the guidelines… yeah, I still suck at that.

    In fact, I was rejected yesterday for that exact reason, even though the form letter that was sent to me never mentioned that I had failed to follow their guidelines. I thought that it was very polite of them not to mention my complete inability to follow the most basic rule they set forth. I know I was rejected for not following the guidelines because the magazine stated that it could take three months for them to respond, and they rejected me in three days. I went back to read the submission post, and that’s when I reread the rules, and realized that I didn’t follow them. Oops…

    And I know what happened. I found this magazine, and got impatient, and wanted to send out right away as it was on my mind right now!

    I feel a little silly. I should have known better. I should have slowed down, taken my time.

    Remember people, read the guidelines.

    (Say, don’t forget to like this post, or share it, or leave a comment. I got bills to pay, you know.)