Your writing process

[WIREMAN]

and just what is ur process of writing....do u write it out on paper and then type it in the box?......how often do u just let it flow into the box?.....when u jam?....u got me wondering bout how everybody writes into this here puter thing...mines an ipad actually....cant get your audio posts...no flash...i can get youtube and soundcloud though....but im getting offtrack.....i do write in little notebooks...notes n sketches.....i edit some, i guess because i hate to spell wrong, unless i wanna spell it wrong....i think "my bad" is a better way to say sorry.....ur statement about just writing into the box kinda intrigues me, cause in jamming thats what i always do....thought everybody did....my bad!

[Doreen Peri]

Mark,

I usually write spontaneously in an .rtf text file, editing as I write. Sometimes I write spontaneously directly into the posting window, which is how I wrote this and how I write in the GO forum or when we have a jam. But then, I try to remember to go back and copy and save everything I wrote directly into the posting window and save them in .rtf text files (using TextEdit for Mac). Sometimes I forget. I lost a LOT of work when Litkicks closed their boards. I wrote many poems on that site for many years and rarely saved any of it. I learned a lesson to save everything after that happened.

I also write by hand sometimes. I have journals, notebooks, and also illustration journals. Most of them are half filled, then I go onto another one. This is similar to how I read books. I read 3-4 books at the same time and often only read half of them, then go onto another one.

As I've gotten older, my penmanship has gotten even worse (it's always been scribble scrabble, hard to read).... so I really prefer writing on the computer. But when I go on trips, especially (rare occasions these days), I bring notebooks with me and draw what I see and write in the margins.... inspired by Danny Gregory's books of illustration with writing journals.

[Doreen Peri]

Oh yeah... writing in my head... I do that, too. Some line or image comes to me or some concept for a poem and I HAVE to carry around pens with me and sometimes scrounge for a piece of paper to jot down notes or lines or concepts. Sometimes I write them on the envelopes of the bills I'm scared to open 'cause I can't afford to pay them. Haha.. Sometimes I write notes like this in the margins of letters or bills I've received. I USED to be very organized and collect together all those notes and lines and concepts, all hand-written, and come back to my computer to add them to my "works in progress" folder. Then on days when the muse isn't hitting me, I'll access the notes and get inspired from one of the lines I jotted down.

One GREAT place I enjoy writing is when traveling in an airplane. I don't know why, but flying brings out metaphors in my head. I don't travel much, so usually the trips I take when I fly are for some important event so maybe that's why the muse hits me when I'm up in the air. Then, when I get home, I type up the poems I wrote by hand on my trip.

[Doreen Peri]

Mark.... about audio files I upload and not having Flash, go here to download Flash onto your device... https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

[Doreen Peri]

I separated these posts about the "writing process" discussion from a poetry thread and moved it to the Discussions forum for further discussion.

[WIREMAN]

....thats what im trying to tell u....ipad does not have flash....

[Doreen Peri]

What the heck was Apple thinking? iPad can't use Flash? I've been a mac user since 1992.... I can't believe they'd be so stupid! *shaking my head* ... maybe they'll have an operating system upgrade for the iPad soon to correct this grave error. It's ridiculous! If Steve Jobs were still alive, this never would have happened.

Can you access soundcloud files? Just curious. I have a soundcloud page. Maybe I can link to the ones I've uploaded there. Sighh... How frustrating. Damn modern technology.