Reading About Writing

Recently, I’ve read two books on writing: “2k to 10k” by Rachel Aaron and “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott. I am glad that I’ve read them in that order. Rachel Aaron shows you how to write good stuff, shows you how to take everything step by step and how to get unstuck, plus some easy ways to edit your work. Gold advice, I say. Anne Lamott’s book says about the same things, but in a more subtle and emotional way. However, is just as good book as the other one because you can relate to other writers. It comforts you to know that not all writers write as easy as Rachel, even she was deep in despair before she discovered the way of writing. It’s not just you who can’t put down an idea or even if you manage to write something, it’s not that good. Knowing only that, lifts your spirit till the space stations and say hello to the astronauts. One book talks mostly about the struggles of being a writer and the other gives simple solutions to those struggles. Personally, it helped me that I read the one before the other, because otherwise I would give up writing. I have a lot of emotional struggles and being an emotional wreck writer is not what I wanted. Rachel Aaron showed me that is possible to be a happy writer and writing is simple if you know what you’re gonna write. Anne Lamott showed me that not all writers are as happy as Rachel Aaron and is ok to get stuck and advises you to take it easy, step by step, which in combination with Aaron’s advice, gives me hope.

I started reading books about writing because I wanted to write good blog posts. Awhile ago, I vented my frustration about not being able to put my thoughts in words and even if I manage to squeeze out an idea, the way I write depresses me. I wouldn’t read a blog written the way I wrote mine. Now, I want to write other stuff too. I don’t want to scare myself with plans for a novel, but I would be happy if I could write short stories. Beside good blog, short stories seem like a nice thing to accomplish. As far as I learned about writing is that I don’t have to write from the start as the experienced writers do. Chances are that even most of those writers didn’t write those articles in one go, they probably edited them several times before posting. So, all I have to do is to jot down ideas, images, thoughts that fly into my mind, without worrying that they don’t make much sense. After I’ve put down everything, try to figure out how to connect them, or maybe what to leave out too. Not everything must go in one place. That’s it. Take it easy on myself. Writers are people with things to say. Good writers are just people who figured out the best way to say it. The good news is, good writing is achievable, it just requires practice and patience.

I hope this is my last post on the subject of writing, tips about writing are not the things I have to say, although I understand people who feel the need to share them. It’s just exciting  to discover that what felt as scary as climbing a steep rock is not that difficult to do after all if you have the right equipment and you want to share with the world your discoveries because you want to help other people out there that may be in tough situation too.

I mentioned briefly in my previous post that I decided to become a writer. I am a bit scared of talking about it because I don’t want to jinx it. I have experience in being excited about something and telling people about my dreams and plans, only to have them crushed by those well-meaning people. That’s how the Reality Checkers post came out. Though, I still remain true to my decision to keep plans to myself in real life.

Hobbies

I mentioned in a list of things that make me feel good that forest landscape, especially hardwood forests, are my thing. Well, this is what I had in my mind. Not only make better landscape shots than coniferous forests, but when fall comes, the scenery is stunning with all the different shades of yellow, oranges, reds and browns. Plus, I have a fascination with leaves, I used to collect them in the autumn, based on their color when they fell on the ground. Such fun times, it used to be my hobby.

Speaking of hobby, back then I used to think that listening to music, watching movies, traveling were the “proper” hobbies. When asked (in those oracles we used to fill), those were the hobbies people mentioned. I usually didn’t do much of any of the above and I remember feeling like a boring person. But I had plenty of hobbies back then. Beside collecting leaves, I also was collecting flowers and various plants for herbarium, collected potted plants, collected stones and various other stuff. I was a collector. Then I came across some astrology stuff that said that cancers are collectors because they cling onto the past. That insulted me and I decided to stop collecting. Actually I decided to become the opposite that cancers was said to be. Well, not liking children was actually a good thing to master, but collecting stuff is a nice hobby to have. Oh, another reason why I stopped collecting was because when I was looking at things, I was remembering past events and a pang of pain went trough my heart. Also, one more reason was because I never had a fixed home, even in my childhood, my parents separation always felt like waiting around the corner. After they finally separated, I moved a ton and packing was always a pain in the ass. Actually, after so much moving, I developed a habit to throw away stuff that I don’t use regularly. When I’ll settle in my own house, I might start collecting again.

Another hobby of mine when I was a child was to draw. I used to draw a lot and I was better at it than almost all the other kids.But I stopped that too. It was a general mindset that drawing is what kids do. Grown-ups didn’t draw, parents in particular didn’t draw. So I got rusty. Is not that I don’t have the talent anymore, but is just more difficult to sit down and draw. Back then the ideas came easily. I was putting a piece of paper in front of me and without much thinking, things came out under my pencil. Now there’s a weird feeling, even painful, to think of something to draw. I can’t decide what to draw. Maybe the things that waited to be born on paper all these years are battling in my head for priority.

I always had a great imagination, but I suspect that it was polished by reading books. I used to read a lot when I was a kid. My summers were spent reading. I am sure that in my childhood, I read the most compared with the other kids in my school. I still read a lot, but the genre of the books changed. I don’t read fantasy any more. I was not big on poetry, but there were certain poems that I liked and generated mystical worlds in my head. I am trying to bring back that imagination, not that it died, but is not as strong as it used to be, and now I decided to be a writer, therefore that imagination is needed.

Growing up, I fixed a lot of bad traits, but I also lost the good, these that made me special and made me lovable. I’m working on bringing them back again.

Leechers

I need help!

How do you meet people who like you and want to be with you?

Because, my life is something like this:

-Friend upset with me that I am not calling, but when I’m calling all they do is vent and complain about their problems, criticize me, criticize everyone

-Friend… no, activist VEGAN friend talking about meat eaters and how everyone are just heartless bastards

-Sister who every time we talked was asking money and now is upset because I haven’t talked with her in a long time

-Sister that criticize everything of me and is just trying to use me in whatever she can, but when I don’t give in she gets upset

-That one dude that I showed interest and he got it, but doesn’t seem to give a damn and I wonder what kind of standards does he have for friends

 

How do you find people to have an interest in you and not treat you like a target of mean jokes or that don’t want to get maximum use of you? Everyone is just looking to leech something from me.

I am not asking for anyone to use in my turn, but at least I want someone to not demand anything from me.

I Want To Write

I want to write things. I want to talk about the stuff that make my head go round and round. But the problem is that I am bad at putting my thoughts in words. This is the main reason why I want to write and not to talk with someone.

Life Truths Are In The Right Books

” The Idea that you can do anything is terrifying.” ~Austin Kleon, Steal Like An Artist

I wish I read this book sooner.

3 years ago, I realized that I am able to do whatever I choose to do. I realized that I can be what I choose to be. Unlike people around me that refused to believe me, I knew I was able to do whatever I put my mind to it.

People Don’t Believe You When The Truth is Not What They Expected

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of books about the mentally deranged. 

At first, I started reading because I wanted to know what’s in those people’s minds, why are they feared and judged and how do they differ from the rest of the world, but later I read because I felt speechless at the delusion that ‘normal’ people live in.

I could not believe how people lie to themselves and how they refuse to believe the truth. I felt perplexed at the fact

Tv Shows That Are More Than Story Telling

And by that, I mean those that are not just about something that just happened, but about human relationships, emotions and thoughts. Actually, I believe there isn’t such a thing as a show that will not reveal you anything about the characters’ inner world, but there are some that reveal you little and some that is just an abundance of information about human nature.

 

I’ll start with the one that I watched recently:

But Inside I’m Screaming – Thoughts

 

But Inside I’m Screaming by Elizabeth Flock – Goodreads

 

Rating: ★★★★☆

 

The story is not something ground-breaking. It talks about specific things and I don’t expect extravagant plot twists. I didn’t even expect it to, that’s not why I decided to read this book. I started reading it because I wanted some insight into the mind of the mentally ill people who are admitted in that mental institution. I wanted to know what they think, how they see themselves and the world around them.I wanted to know at least about the protagonist, but the book delivers more. You can figure out the other patients too. It actually fascinated me.

SPOILERS!

Life… With No Breaks by Nick Spalding

 

Life… with no breaks on Goodreads

 

 

Rating: ★★★☆☆

I found it difficult to rate this book, because it’s not…a book. It’s more like multiple blog posts put together in a book. I get that in the past, some blogs got published as books, but I really don’t get the idea. Anyway, some people obviously like the idea, so who I am to judge?

Back to Spalding’s ‘book’. It would make a good blog, one that I would repeatedly go back and read. He writes in an easy manner, easy for the eye and brain to read. The stories are entertaining.At least, I found them entertaining.However, as I said, I don’t like the idea of blog-book. As a book, it was not great. I gave it 3 stars because I was not left with a bad taste after finishing it. It was more like a 2 stars for content as a book, but I didn’t force myself to read it.

Bottom line, if you want something to read on an afternoon, instead of a magazine, pick this up.

Something That Describes Me Well

I took THIS character test and it’s surprisingly point on. My character type seems to be INTJ .