focus, hmmnmm, focus

[hmmnmm]

Once upon a time, I was quite active here and enjoyed it more than I realized then. It was a great if sometimes tedious time and place for enjoyment and learning. Made a few friends, did a little flirting, nursed a bunch of 1 star stings and reveled in the occasional 5 star pat-on-the-behind. Labored over long ones and found happy times with poetry. Killing time on the forums. Trying to steer clear of the brawls.

And up until around 2008-9 this was all done on dial-up... Then along came wireless and then a multitude of extracurricular options (or awareness of them): wordpress, tumblr, Amazon, youtube, facebook, getting a tablet and downloading a bunch of artsy apps....

Now after these wandering years I got to wondering if the energies got spread too thin and it might be a good time to come back home and rebuild or appreciate a restricted focus. Except there is a slight problem: when I sit down to try to write.... nothing.

I see they've got a brand new submission/control panel. Wanna use it. But can't come up with a damn thing.

 

[NotWise]

Once upon a time, I was quite active here and enjoyed it more than I realized then. It was a great if sometimes tedious time and place for enjoyment and learning. Made a few friends, did a little flirting, nursed a bunch of 1 star stings and reveled in the occasional 5 star pat-on-the-behind. Labored over long ones and found happy times with poetry. Killing time on the forums. Trying to steer clear of the brawls.

And up until around 2008-9 this was all done on dial-up... Then along came wireless and then a multitude of extracurricular options (or awareness of them): wordpress, tumblr, Amazon, youtube, facebook, getting a tablet and downloading a bunch of artsy apps....

Now after these wandering years I got to wondering if the energies got spread too thin and it might be a good time to come back home and rebuild or appreciate a restricted focus. Except there is a slight problem: when I sit down to try to write.... nothing.

I see they've got a brand new submission/control panel. Wanna use it. But can't come up with a damn thing.

Welcome back, and good luck with the writers block. Maybe some conversations will bring something to mind.

 

[oggbashan]

Welcome back, and good luck with the writers block. Maybe some conversations will bring something to mind.

Good luck with the new authors' page too. You can still switch back to the old for a while.

Cure for writer's block - just write anything even if it is just a string of complaints about writer's block.

 

[hmmnmm]

Welcome back, and good luck with the writers block. Maybe some conversations will bring something to mind.

Speaking of the ease in taking Lit for granted. Topics here can be what they dare not be elsewhere. Something to be said for being where the general theme itself speeds the pulse just a few notches. Stir the stew.

 

[hmmnmm]

Good luck with the new authors' page too. You can still switch back to the old for a while.

Cure for writer's block - just write anything even if it is just a string of complaints about writer's block.

The new author page definitely threw me for a little loop.
But it has a very inviting feel, like a blog.

 

[kcRollins]

The new author page definitely threw me for a little loop.
But it has a very inviting feel, like a blog.

Welcome back to self-imposed deadlines. I know people have been talking about all this new stuff. When I log in I see only the old stuff. *shrugs*

Hope your creative juices start flowing freely.

 

[hmmnmm]

Welcome back to self-imposed deadlines. I know people have been talking about all this new stuff. When I log in I see only the old stuff. *shrugs*

Hope your creative juices start flowing freely.

Aw well I hope you get your new stuff and anything else you may want and as soon as it suits you.

And I'm pretty sure what I'm feeling is something flowing more than it was.

 

[jehoram]

Cure for writer's block - just write anything even if it is just a string of complaints about writer's block.

That's a good hint. Another is to dust off one of your old stories and re-write it somewhat, maybe from a different character's viewpoint. Or, if all else fails, just re-type the story, or type somebody else's story that you like. Sometimes that's all it needs to prime the pump.

"Prime the Pump." That's another metaphor that most younger people won't understand, like "putting him through the wringer." On the farm I grew up on, there was a pump that always had a bucket of water next to it. You had to pour some of the water down the tube of the pump before it would seal sufficiently to start working. (And the first thing you did, once the water got flowing, was to fill the bucket again.) There must be hundreds of such metaphors that are no longer understood.

 

[PrrnSexy4Papi]

Hello!

Most definitely welcome back home, there is nothing better than when we go back to our roots.

I'm currently facing the same dilemma, not sure what to write about, but I am making a slight progress.

What I did was find a word and just feel it and then just try to picture a way that I would express it and then from there a massive brainstorm cut loose. Maybe give it a try and see what happens. (;

 

[hmmnmm]

That's a good hint. Another is to dust off one of your old stories and re-write it somewhat, maybe from a different character's viewpoint. Or, if all else fails, just re-type the story, or type somebody else's story that you like. Sometimes that's all it needs to prime the pump.

"Prime the Pump." That's another metaphor that most younger people won't understand, like "putting him through the wringer." On the farm I grew up on, there was a pump that always had a bucket of water next to it. You had to pour some of the water down the tube of the pump before it would seal sufficiently to start working. (And the first thing you did, once the water got flowing, was to fill the bucket again.) There must be hundreds of such metaphors that are no longer understood.

all good pointers - as they say, it's pretty much all rewriting anyway.
pump priming - know exactly what you're talking about.

 

[hmmnmm]

Hello!

Most definitely welcome back home, there is nothing better than when we go back to our roots.

I'm currently facing the same dilemma, not sure what to write about, but I am making a slight progress.

What I did was find a word and just feel it and then just try to picture a way that I would express it and then from there a massive brainstorm cut loose. Maybe give it a try and see what happens. (;

I love the One Word exercise.

Just to add: there is the one little problem of the present RL circumstances, which to a paranoid sort might look as though it is an intentional attempt to hinder what wants to happen.

Flow! That's the word. Creative Flow. The desire to get in it is high. But the strength to do it in this time and place has never felt stretched to such limits.

A word. Hm. A word. Feel for a word. Hm.

Twins?

 

[yukonnights]

I just recently returned after a long hiatus. I have found that it is taking up more of my time than I'm sure I want to invest...but, the reason for that is because it is enjoyable to spend time here and get to "know" some new friendly people.

Probably come summer, I'll find other things to do...so I better quit visiting and get the two stories I'm working on finished

 

[hmmnmm]

I just recently returned after a long hiatus. I have found that it is taking up more of my time than I'm sure I want to invest...but, the reason for that is because it is enjoyable to spend time here and get to "know" some new friendly people.

Probably come summer, I'll find other things to do...so I better quit visiting and get the two stories I'm working on finished

I guess it might take a few tough lessons to realize Lit is a great home base. It's where I started out trying to learn to write the sexy stuff and became enamored with poetry. This was the place to be and to stay put. Then I guess like the farm boy who wants to see what else is out there, takes off and hops around to a bunch of new climates, so many different places to put the stuff (blogging, amazon, etc (can't help but wonder if Tumblr didn't come along just to assist Lit writers with easy visual assistance)). I mean I'm glad it all exists - the more the merrier - but it seems energies can get spread somewhat thin and little really gets accomplished. Not that I'm much of a role model for accomplishing things.

Hey don't you have stories to work on?

Right now I'll be happy to catch a good feel for about half a short one.

 

[sharingfantasies]

I guess it might take a few tough lessons to realize Lit is a great home base. It's where I started out trying to learn to write the sexy stuff and became enamored with poetry. This was the place to be and to stay put. Then I guess like the farm boy who wants to see what else is out there, takes off and hops around to a bunch of new climates, so many different places to put the stuff (blogging, amazon, etc (can't help but wonder if Tumblr didn't come along just to assist Lit writers with easy visual assistance)). I mean I'm glad it all exists - the more the merrier - but it seems energies can get spread somewhat thin and little really gets accomplished. Not that I'm much of a role model for accomplishing things.

Hey don't you have stories to work on?

Right now I'll be happy to catch a good feel for about half a short one.

I am not a writer, I am a reader, but it seems to me like there are some ideas in what you just wrote:

Someone that leaves home looking for greener pastures and ends up back at home again.

Someone who gets overwhelmed by all the stuff on the internet and realizes that simple is better.

A writer who can't write goes on a journey to find a story and ends up finding it in the last place he expected.

Writing about farm life and introducing someone to a simpler yet harder life style.

A story about living life using a wringer washer and a water pump. Perhaps an icebox and a wood burning kitchen stove?

There are lots of ideas in your own posts. You are just thinking too hard.

 

[hmmnmm]

I am not a writer, I am a reader, but it seems to me like there are some ideas in what you just wrote:

Someone that leaves home looking for greener pastures and ends up back at home again.

Someone who gets overwhelmed by all the stuff on the internet and realizes that simple is better.

A writer who can't write goes on a journey to find a story and ends up finding it in the last place he expected.

Writing about farm life and introducing someone to a simpler yet harder life style.

A story about living life using a wringer washer and a water pump. Perhaps an icebox and a wood burning kitchen stove?

There are lots of ideas in your own posts. You are just thinking too hard.

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.

someone who yearns to be free from thinking too hard

 

[Kimikimidoll]

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.

someone who yearns to be free from thinking too hard

How long were you thinking? There's a certain coziness about it, I know.

 

[hmmnmm]

How long were you thinking? There's a certain coziness about it, I know.

Funny you'd come along with a reply at this time. Because it was just last night that I had a series of those legendary enlightenment spurts. As always they helped me to see everything from a completely different perspective, the sole snag being the impossibility of applying it retroactively. It goes something like: do it because it is fun. End of story. The doing, the making, the learning.... the thinking.... from and through the creation of a world to the arrangement of words, commas, periods, etc. There should be a huge party going on in a huge funhouse in a huge amusement park in a huge world that ain't much like this one, and it should be nonstop. Wish there was a way to install a little gauge or something that begins bleeping when the fun levels begin dropping, and at a certain point an automatic alert goes out to search for whatever crept in that caused this fall in the fun. Something like that.

 

[hmmnmm]

Dude. Deja vu. Bigtime deja vu.

 

[Kimikimidoll]

Dude. Deja vu. Bigtime deja vu.

Damn bruh...thinking does stuff to you...

 

[yukonnights]

Damn bruh...thinking does stuff to you...

Dayum! Now I'm starting to worry...is it bad stuff

 

[hmmnmm]

Dayum! Now I'm starting to worry...is it bad stuff

nah it ain't that bad
it just depends on the lens
that's all - just depends on the lens

 

[Kimikimidoll]

nah it ain't that bad
it just depends on the lens
that's all - just depends on the lens

You've got a kaleidoscope on, I see.

 

[hmmnmm]

You've got a kaleidoscope on, I see.

you have some killer work

 

[hmmnmm]

and then, after finally finding some focus, sketching out a short one, just to get things rolling... rejection, with reminder that somewhere in the tale it must be clear and specific that all involved are at least eighteen. Shouldn't be too hard to fix. "It all started after they turned eighteen."
Something like that?

 

[hmmnmm]

then all of a sudden...

All of a sudden a whole new batch of problems blossom. But they are all just different names for the one that is the bitch about bringing the long ones to a satisfactory ending. Or, you know, finishing some damn thing.

This why there is the allure of chapters - because anything can offer multiple points for branching off. Go along with it for a few episodes until another idea pops up, go and mess with that one - meanwhile the other doesn't get finished. Before long there's two then three and four or more sorta novella-length things that act like they want to be novel-length, but they still lack an ending.

I recall recently reading a thread about stories that never get finished. It's a legit gripe. But some of us just have a hard time with both the short stuff without taking it in other directions as well as the long stuff due to the simple matter of expending a large block of time on one project. Cuz, y'know, poetry calls too.