So You think You can Write?

[sooZen]

Well, do you?

My high school English teacher thought I could, my Mom and Dad always told me I could, my mate thinks I can...

What makes a good write or writer? Is it innate, a talent born like a savant or is it just hard work and interest?

Are all writers/poets doomed to write? Are they compelled? Is it a leisurely pursuit, a hobby like gardening?

Must one be witty or clever to write well? What makes a genius at the keyboard, someone you read, over and over again?

Do writers all have a muse? Is there someone or something that stimulates their creativity...sets them on the path, the flow, the stream of write?

Expression in words. Write right? Right wrongs? Write on, right?

I was just wondering...

[Nazz]

Are all writers/poets doomed to write?

Well put.

Yeah, need to cool out, I think. For a while. Got a big burst of summer writing done. Just rocked it out. Summer is when my energies are at their highest. But I'm a little burnt on the cyber-writing scene in general, as I told Cecil recently. The communities do mean a lot to me. They're just a little slow these days (though I haven't tried the Balto scene). And sometimes it's the same people who react with each other repeatedly. Not that it's a "bad" thing; a certain amount of that is to be expected, I guess. Maybe I just got so spoiled when I first stumbled onto the cyber-lit-bloggin' scene, all jazzed by the wild and wooly Lit-K, back in the day. That was an exciting action poetry lit rocket ride of reactivity funkativity, no doubt. Anyway, ramblin', I see. All for now.

[Barry]

Here's what I know about writing...It's way more than just the writing. Anyone can write. Anyone who can read, that is. But only those with discipline become writers in the sense of doing it for a living. I have written for 28 years. I do it like going to the bathroom: if I don't do it regularly, I become dis-eased. But I still haven't managed to do it for a living because I lack discipline. To be a writer you gotta not only write the stuff, you gotta be able to produce it, too, and then sell what you have produced. Some might call this selling your soul and not be far from the truth. What you write not only comes from your soul, it is your soul...on paper. And having the discipline to turn that into a marketable product and then sell it is a whole other thing from just writing it. Anyone can write. Writers know how to sell their soul and somehow hold onto it at the same time. Good ones, at least. Or so this is my opinion. I still think of myself as a writer in the sense that I'm someone who writes. What I really always wanted to be was a writer in the sense of someone who does it for a living, someone who basically gets up in the morning, goes down for their morning coffee, takes a sip and says, "Well, what do I want to do today?" then does just that. Then at noon they go out to the mailbox and there's a check there for something they wanted to do one day six months ago or more.
Forty-five years old and I still haven't managed it yet. It takes a huge amount of discipline. But I keep trying.

Peace,
Barry

[sooZen]

Nazz, know exactly what you mean...

And sometimes it's the same people who react with each other repeatedly

and your also right that it is not always a bad thing as I too like the folks I interact with (mostly) on the sites and appreciate their suggestions, critiques, and banter. But, it would be nice to have a rotating bunch of people with a new slant...to keep it all fresh.

I am a fall person and spring to life when the weather starts to cool in the desert. Then the writing juices flow and ripen like the pomegranates in the yard.

Barry, Right off, I would say you need a good editor. All those sentences stuck together makes it hard to follow the "point." I found myself getting lost a bit and had to start over (senior moment or something.)

Writing is an art that even good readers sometimes can't develop, in my opinion.

Anyone can write. Anyone who can read, that is. But only those with discipline become writers in the sense of doing it for a living.

I teach beadwork/wirework/jewelry making and have found that there are just some folks, no matter the patience exerted by moi, are just not going to get it or have the passion or aptitude for it.

Doing it for a living does take discipline and you are dead on there. It takes time, discipline and aptitude. Hard work, all this stuff to get you where you want to be or go. And a good editor is key for not all writers can spell or know where the marks go...

This is my opinion and experience speaking. I know bunches of published peeps and all of them work every day at it, it is their life's work.

You, my friend, have the aptitude, the art of writing is in you. All you need is the time and discipline, I'm thinking. Set yer mind toit, and everything else follows... (Weenies and scardy cats need not apply.)

[Doreen Peri]

I used to not only *think* I could write, I actually DID write. Every day. Now, I write something maybe once every couple or weeks. I've been painting every day instead.

Do I think I can write well? Do I think I can write clearly? Do I think my writing has merit and value? Do I think it holds the reader's attention? Do I think I'm a skilled writer? I believe this is what you're asking.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. (to all those questions)

But yanno what? I'm seriously going to submit some poetry to the New Yorker. I've decided to start at the top.

[Arcadia]

in more or less literary-like way? yes!: when I´m in the mood for that, I don´t think too much about, it just happens most of the time (sometimes! ). Of course that doesn´t sound too much professional, but it´s not in my expectations to be professional about it!

[Doreen Peri]

I forgot to answer some of your questions. I was hung up on the title of the post.

What makes a good write or writer? Is it innate, a talent born like a savant or is it just hard work and interest?

Even with innate talent, it takes work.... and doing it every day.

Are all writers/poets doomed to write? Are they compelled? Is it a leisurely pursuit, a hobby like gardening?

I think most writers are compelled to write.

Must one be witty or clever to write well? What makes a genius at the keyboard, someone you read, over and over again?

If you're going to write humorous stuff, sure would help to be witty and clever.

Geniuses aren't made, they're born.

Do writers all have a muse? Is there someone or something that stimulates their creativity...sets them on the path, the flow, the stream of write?

Sure is easier to write when your Muse is tapping you on the shoulder and sneaking into your dreams. But professional writers need to write every day, force themselves to do the work, with or without the muse.

[sooZen]

Hi Dor, Hi Arcadia,

Thanks for taking the time to satisfy my curiosity.

Yeah, start at the top Doreen! Not sure if you are serious or not but after all, you have been writing for a good long while and I for one, believe writing well. So why not? Go fer it!

As for painting every day, that is kewl as I know my passions and interests continue to evolve and I never know where they may take me. I started out as a weaver and now I make jewelry so one never knows where one will go. Blame the muse.

I agree with all your insights into writing. But I also don't strive to BE a writer so it is just fun and growth oriented for me and not a job that I want to work at every day. My journaling is pretty much the large extent of it and that is therapy.

Like you inferred, good writers go to the "office" every day and work hard, establish contacts, look for editors and publishers and make it real. Otherwise, like me, it is just an outlet for expression.

Arcadia, your attitude on writing sounds pretty much like mine! When I am in the mood I write too. No expectations of being a professional writer here either.

I am enjoying hearing all of the different takes. Thanks all.

[Barry]

Well, do you?

Yes, I guess I can, according to you at least. And thank you for that kudo.

What makes a good write or writer? Is it innate, a talent born like a savant or is it just hard work and interest?

The short answer is...both. But it's more than that. It's paying attention. Paying attention for a looong time. Your whole life, in fact. You've gotta pay attention the whole time, to all of it, everything. And then you gotta be able to transcribe that...in a way that's universal, so everyone who reads you gets it. And you gotta be okay with it when everyone doesn't. Because they never will. But if one person does, then you've achieved the most you can hope to achieve. And beyond that, you gotta be willing and able to do the hard work. The hard work to get it out there. Because if you aren't or don't...who gives a rip? The Story, by Brandi Carlisle, speaks to this for me..."...because these stories don't mean anything/when you got no one to tell them to. It's true..." So the story ain't everything. The hard work is something, too.

Are all writers/poets doomed to write? Are they compelled? Is it a leisurely pursuit, a hobby like gardening?

Fist question...Yes. Second question...Yes. Third question...Yes, for some.

Must one be witty or clever to write well? What makes a genius at the keyboard, someone you read, over and over again?

First question...Depends on what they're writing. If they're writing humor, God help them if they're not. Secend question...Someone who pays attention, in my opinion. Paying attention gives your writing that universality that's necessary to garner that "over and over" read. It has to extend beyond your own personal frame of reference. If it doesn't, your audience it limited at best. You have to be able to empathize, even when it is outside your own experience, in order to have your writing carry that universal appeal.

Do writers all have a muse? Is there someone or something that stimulates their creativity...sets them on the path, the flow, the stream of write?

This is the Big Question, is it not? Who can answer? Who knows? I know that I read a book about Tolkien once, long ago, in which he described in a letter toa friend how he had no idea where Sam and Frodo were, what was up with them, how they would survive the travel through Mordor, what would transpire. Stephen King, in On Writing, says he has know idea howit happens, where it comes from, who's doing it. He says only that it feels, while he's writing, like it's not him doing it, like it's coming through him but not from him. This hit a chord with me when I read it. It's like that for me, too. I have even described it as rape. Like someone is raping me, using me, forcing me to do something not so much painful, but unsavory at times. It doesn't always feel good. But I do it anyway. Because I have to.

Write right? Right wrongs? Write on, right?

Right. Because anything less would be like...like death.
To not write words is to die.

Manuscript
Man-u-script
Man You Write
The written man.
Word.

Peace,
Barry

[sooZen]

Right. Because anything less would be like...like death.
To not write words is to die.

Yeah, death is a killer.

This is totally off the subject that I started but because we are unable to see across that door or even know if it is a door (speaking generally) we fear death more than any other (well, unless you are suffering greatly.) We humans tend to think it is the worst thing to happen to us.

I have experienced the deaths and been at the dying of quite a few (long story) and it just seems pretty much like births, tramatic at times and then relief. Not what you were getting at concerning not being able to write, I know but it got me to thinking.

I guess I am too literal!

And I guess I should'a started a new topic on the Philosophy Now forum.

[stilltrucking]

All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know." So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut the scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written. - Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

I like Hemingway.
I am just interested in suicide. I have been since I was eight years old and tried to hang myself. Maybe just a childhood game that went wrong. Or maybe I was a precocious child.
I been compared to Bukowski.
I would rather be Camus.
But Bukowski, Hemingway, and Camus are all dead. So I would rather be me.

[Barry]

hemingway said if you can write one true sentence everything after that is easy. hemingway also said his typewriter was his therapist. but in the end he decided to consult with his shot gun instead

Yeah, ain't that the truth. Dead babies, naked and sprawled out on the page...

I was compared to Hemmingway once...I did not consider it a compliment.

Peace,
Barry

[stilltrucking]

All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know." So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut the scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written. - Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

I like Hemingway.
I am just interested in suicide. I have been since I was eight years old and tried to hang myself. Maybe just a childhood game that went wrong. Or maybe I was a precocious child.
I been compared to Bukowski.
I would rather be Camus.