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Kiddo Seanchain

Shirtless Heckler

PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:29 pm


(If this isn't placed in the right forum, feel free to move it)

I found my old journal from college the other day. It's a ratty cheap little thing I bought because I had to have one for one of my creative writing classes. I hated keeping a 'diary' at the time and groaned inwardly when we were told to get one for class, buying something that cost less than a buck at the student union. I still have it, decorated with drawings and kept along with the rest of my books. (first entry: 1-15-04... has it really been that long?)

So here is what we're going to do. Go out and get a book to write in. It can be a cheap .99 one like my first one was. Just get something that will be yours. For now until you finish it - write in it. My teacher required at least three sentences every day. I'll ask for every other day, but do make it a habit. Three sentences about anything.

Twice a week - Tuesday and Friday - I'll post a prompt from my journal that my teacher used. I'll be following along and doing the prompts as well. I'll go through until I run out of prompts and then give you my final entry.

You're not required to post anything you've written but you're welcome to. I will probably post some of my old entries and maaaaybe some of my new ones. The prompts won't be terribly personal in some places.

What does this have to do with writing? I can't put that in words. But I think my teacher knew what she was doing and her advice from '04 is truer today than it was then.

Quote:
My advice is to go into the corners of your psyche that you are most afraid of because that is where your best work is.

- written by her in the back of my journal at the end of the year

So let's do that. Go get a journal. Let's write.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:32 pm


Entry 1: copy these quotes in as the first entry. That is all.

Quote:
If you haven't surprised yourself you haven't written. - Endora Welty

Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you are inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice. - Octavia Butler

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. Writers are like that: remembering what we were, what valley we ran through, what the banks were like, the light that was there, and the route back to our original place. It is emotional memory - what the nerves and the skin remember as well as how it appeared. And a rush of imagination is our 'flooding'. - Toni Moinson

Kiddo Seanchain

Shirtless Heckler


II Ele II

PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:41 am


What a fabulous idea biggrin I'm in!

I already have a lovely leather bound journal that I write in when I remember (which is not very often) but I like the idea of making it a regular habit.

I look forward to this <3
PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 2:07 am


Quote:
I've found that the quote on inspiration and habit has really struck a chord with me.

I ended up sharing it as my status on facebook as I felt that, although it was aimed at writers, it's a quote that's relevant to anyone working towards any goal.

Too many people sit around complaining that they don't have the time or motivation and yet, we still get up and brush our teeth, spend time getting dressed, eating, putting on make up, doing chores, and so on.

If we can work writing into those habits, then we're definately onto a winner! Habit truly is the answer.

On that note, 1000 words done so far on my main project today and I'm aiming for more later on.

Thanks for sharing.

II Ele II


Kiddo Seanchain

Shirtless Heckler

PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:11 am


Quote:


But I want my story told, maybe not as my story. I want others to be afraid as I am, to be weak and helpless and tremble and wish to God they could overcome this. And I want to take away that hope and make them hate.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:11 am


Kiddo Seanchain
Quote:


But I want my story told, maybe not as my story. I want others to be afraid as I am, to be weak and helpless and tremble and wish to God they could overcome this. And I want to take away that hope and make them hate.



:O powerful stuff.

II Ele II


Kiddo Seanchain

Shirtless Heckler

PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 2:45 pm


Prompt #2

Quote:
What hurts?
What am I afraid of?
What makes me angry?
What do I want?
PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:13 am


Kiddo Seanchain
Prompt #2

Quote:
What hurts?
What am I afraid of?
What makes me angry?
What do I want?


Very appropriate - I've just broken up with my boyfriend. sweatdrop

II Ele II


II Ele II

PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:21 am


I don't want to post it all but here's some of it:

Quote:
What makes you angry? That he begged me not to leave him, but to be totally honest would have hurt him more than sounding like I had no reasons for leaving.

What do you want? For him to be happy and for him to find someone that will treat him how he deserves and to want the things he wants.


edit: just done almost 300 words based on this.
PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:27 pm


Braver than I am. I can't post any of it. Since I've done these prompts before I'm looking back between now and then and it's like... wow.

My teacher would often say that all emotion and experience can be used to write from. There's something powerful about being able to take a sense of loss like that and turn it into part of your 'toolbox' for writing - even though it hurts, it can still be used to build.

Today's entry in full:
Quote:
It bothers me when people are unneccesarily cruel. What has been gained? How many hours or minutes of worth have we added to our lives? I am no saint - I echo the sentiment "I want to be beautiful and selfish and cruel..!" but I would hope that I stay my ire more often than I let it run wild.

I spent half the day bedridden because I was paralyzed from the waist down. The other half was spent fighting down nameless terror from the medications.

There are so many intolerable things already. I will be beautiful and selfish and cruel and write what I wish. May I not be the only one willing to run like wild horses and trample the rules and pretentions we place upon ourselves.

I do wonder if losing my temper so easily is a warning sign or a symptom. Probably the latter.

Kiddo Seanchain

Shirtless Heckler


II Ele II

PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 1:50 am


Kiddo Seanchain
Braver than I am. I can't post any of it. Since I've done these prompts before I'm looking back between now and then and it's like... wow.

My teacher would often say that all emotion and experience can be used to write from. There's something powerful about being able to take a sense of loss like that and turn it into part of your 'toolbox' for writing - even though it hurts, it can still be used to build.

Today's entry in full:
Quote:
It bothers me when people are unneccesarily cruel. What has been gained? How many hours or minutes of worth have we added to our lives? I am no saint - I echo the sentiment "I want to be beautiful and selfish and cruel..!" but I would hope that I stay my ire more often than I let it run wild.

I spent half the day bedridden because I was paralyzed from the waist down. The other half was spent fighting down nameless terror from the medications.

There are so many intolerable things already. I will be beautiful and selfish and cruel and write what I wish. May I not be the only one willing to run like wild horses and trample the rules and pretentions we place upon ourselves.

I do wonder if losing my temper so easily is a warning sign or a symptom. Probably the latter.


It's true, I guess. To understand how your characters interact or respond, you have to first understand your own feelings and such.

Wow! I think you've truly proved her right. It is a very powerful piece. I hope everything went well from that point on. <3
PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 3:08 am


Extracts from today's entry:

Quote:
I could probably go over the same thoughts from yesterday, over and over. But what does it truly achieve?

I ******** up. But I never said I was perfect. Yes, I'm not responsible for other people's actions but I should have thought how mine would affect others...

I don't want to hurt anyone or make anyone unhappy. If that means pulling back and leaving them to live their lives without my involvement, then that's what I'll do. It'll hurt but that's the consequences of my actions and I need to suck it up and deal with it...

I chose this path and I have to just accept that not everything will be as I want it...

II Ele II


Miss Shelock Holmes

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 2:58 pm


Hmm, I believe I have a spare notebook...-fumbles through her stuff- I shall do this!

Thanks, for the habiting forming(finally not a bad habit!)
PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 10:29 pm


Miss Shelock Holmes
Hmm, I believe I have a spare notebook...-fumbles through her stuff- I shall do this!

Thanks, for the habiting forming(finally not a bad habit!)


It's amazing how quickly you do fall into the habit of writing in it.
I must have done about 20 pages in the last two days in it. :O

II Ele II


Miss Shelock Holmes

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:23 am


elementalWITHIN
Miss Shelock Holmes
Hmm, I believe I have a spare notebook...-fumbles through her stuff- I shall do this!

Thanks, for the habiting forming(finally not a bad habit!)


It's amazing how quickly you do fall into the habit of writing in it.
I must have done about 20 pages in the last two days in it. :O


I don't think I can do 20 pages, but three sentences a day? I can do that. (My sentences are like other people's paragraphs, or so I have been told.
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