Monday, July 31, 2006

the typing monster strikes!

The rainy season is a great weather to start writing stories to. I suppose it's the gloomy atmosphere and the biting cold that nips ever so slightly inside the marrow of your bones that gives me the extra kick to grab my keyboards and start typing away. Nothing solid yet. I'm still typing and making up my story as I go along.

Tomorrow the "Nanowrimo" exercise of my writing group Cre-W will begin. I don't have a story plotline yet but I'm sure I'll think of something. That's 800+ words a day or a total of 25,000 by the end of the month. I sure hope I reach that!

The good thing about this exercise is I can hone my skills enough to join this November's Nanowrimo event, the Speculative Fiction contest in December and apply it on my ongoing novel. Not to mention the deep impact this will have on my vocabulary skills.

As exciting as all this sounds, I do hope I have enough money to sustain my lifestyle, enough strength for eveything and everyone I love and enough time to fit it all into my schedule.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

tag! you're it!

IF YOU COMMENT ON THIS PAGE YOU WILL BE TAGGED
THE RULES: If you comment on this post, I will..

1. Respond with something random about you
.2. Challenge you to try something.
3. Pick a color that I associate with you.
4. Tell you something I like about you.
5. Tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. Tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. Ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8. Pick a song that reminds me of you.You then must post the same meme and my response in your blog.
==
Here's what jigs has to say about me:

RANDOM
I have the sniffles too!
--i guess there's a bug going around.

CHALLENGE
Go to blogthings.com, answer some surveys and post them!
--i would, if i had the time... :(

COLOR
Blue, the first thing on my mind.
--okaayy... well, i do have a few things in blue.

LIKE
I like your laptop! hehe! Seriously, I like your simple honesty.
-- ohh, shucks! :)

FIRST MEMORY
Same as your first memory. My first ever comment to your blog!
--hehe! :)

ANIMAL
An ostrich. I also dont know why. That was my first thought! LOL!
-- hmm...weird. i thought you'd say cat.

QUESTION
Can insanity really be cured?
--lobotomy is your next bet.

SONG
High by The Speaks. I love this song, hope you like it too!
--i like it too! :)

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

I quit

I quit. Sounds unprofessional, right? But my brain wasn't functioning anymore no matter how hard I pushed myself. I wrote poor quality articles and just kept repeating the basic idea over and over. My creative juices were all dried up. So I had to let it go and quit the copywriting gig. Yes, I am learning something new everytime but I was being redundant.

I have a terminal case of niceness in me. When I know a person depends on me or I can see that they really need my help, I just can't say no at the cost of wearing myself thin. And that's what happened. I overestimated my body's capabilities and I ended up with an unfinished contract, lost income and possibly, a broken friendship.

I really have to work on my assertiveness skills. I must be able to say a statement and stick by it. No excuses.

Sheez! Why does it sound better on print?

Friday, July 07, 2006

what I need...

I needed to awaken my writer's spirit so I went browsing through one of my favorite bookstores. I wanted to see what kind of stories make it to the shelves. So far, I've seen "Confessions of--", Memoirs, Chick Lit, Self-help books, Inspirational books and Humor. There are a lot of historical mystery and romance stories out there too. But as to their marketability, I think the demand is slow. Maybe a fictional story that's controversial enough about our own history might be an interesting plot to explore.

I like going to bookstores. I enjoy seeing the books on sale. I feel inspired to write my own book as well. Problem is when I get home and sit down in front of the computer, my mind goes blank. Everything I was thinking of writing down while inside the bookstore suddenly escapes me everytime I try to solidify it through paper and pen. How will I be able to write my novel and stories this way?

I could use a voice recorder. I've heard other authors use this device to conveniently store ideas or finish chapters at a time. Unfortunately, I feel weird talking to a machine in the middle of a crowd. But it's worth a shot. I will tell you what happens when I actually do this writer trick.

Right now, I feel sorry for my ideas. They are like seeds waiting to be planted. I feel them burning in my hands. They are just itching to be enveloped with rich soil, to grow up and become full-blown flowers. And here I am, closing my fist and putting them back in my pocket. I am ashamed because I don't think I can nurture them to bloom properly.

Someone said, "When you do something, do it right." And that's what I follow through with my writing habits. If I know I can't do the idea justice, I keep it in my notebook until I feel that I am ready to write the story. But then I read somewhere that, "If you don't try, how will you know that you won't succeed?" So I am torn between these two perspectives.

Eventually, I will have to write the stories down. I understand that they choose me to tell their tales and share it with others. I must not disappoint them and my future fans.