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Gingersnaps
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14 Feb 2010, 4:27 pm

I always dreamed of writing nonjudgmental books about the damage of social stigma and isolation on the human soul, hoping to motivate people to compassion and acceptance of people who are different.

I have finally collapsed under the weight of social stigma and lack of compassion so that I could never succeed for my inabilithy to remove judgment from my writing. If I succeeded in teh writing itself, merely mentioning that I am capable of getting a standing ovation from an audience of 1500 (when I have a pre-written script in front of me) moves them to call me a liar.

I have given up on saving myself let alone society. But it doens't remove my need to write. I am going to die from the isolation alone if I don't write. I need some feedback on one of the following questions or just comments in general.


1. How do I start a blog? I know nothing about that, but would feel safer with a (no cost) blog in which I feel reasonably safe from attack from the society who drove me to silence.

2. How do I let go of my need to be heard to write unpublished books without readers in total silence?

3. How do I return to the lack of judgment? How do I care enough about myself to honor myself and need to communicate if nobody else cares or responds to the soul beneath the oddness? How do I give up reaching out?



DemonAbyss10
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14 Feb 2010, 6:46 pm

Gingersnaps wrote:
I always dreamed of writing nonjudgmental books about the damage of social stigma and isolation on the human soul, hoping to motivate people to compassion and acceptance of people who are different.

I have finally collapsed under the weight of social stigma and lack of compassion so that I could never succeed for my inabilithy to remove judgment from my writing. If I succeeded in teh writing itself, merely mentioning that I am capable of getting a standing ovation from an audience of 1500 (when I have a pre-written script in front of me) moves them to call me a liar.

I have given up on saving myself let alone society. But it doens't remove my need to write. I am going to die from the isolation alone if I don't write. I need some feedback on one of the following questions or just comments in general.


1. How do I start a blog? I know nothing about that, but would feel safer with a (no cost) blog in which I feel reasonably safe from attack from the society who drove me to silence.

2. How do I let go of my need to be heard to write unpublished books without readers in total silence?

3. How do I return to the lack of judgment? How do I care enough about myself to honor myself and need to communicate if nobody else cares or responds to the soul beneath the oddness? How do I give up reaching out?



I have a potential answer for number 2. If you want to write, write. Do it simply for the sake of writing. You can then put your writings on various websites. (DeviantArt comes to mind, especially considering most people arent going to be idiots about it.)

I dont think Id be successful myself, and the whole being heard part, but I still write, because I enjoy it. Hell, if you dont want to put it on those sites, you can make a topic in the art, writing, and music section of these very forums, just so you can at least get some of your work out there. That is what I have done, posting sample chapters from a book/series I am writing.


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Gingersnaps
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14 Feb 2010, 7:14 pm

What you are describing is exactly what I want to do. I have held on to the dream of being a published author since I was six--more than half a century. I am having trouble psychologically moving from weiting for an audience to writing for my own healing, writing what I need to, instead of writing what I should.

Ps I don't know where my glasses are--please forgive the typos-Ican barely see the print.



pakled
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14 Feb 2010, 7:38 pm

Any time you have competition, you have judgment. Any time you have more than one piece of writing, you have competition.

Now you can approach this in 2 ways; constructive criticism, or destructive. If it's destructive, ignore it. If someone is trying to help you become better, then that's actually a good thing.

You can approch some people as editors, it's part of any process of getting published (unless you go on Print on Demand, or Vanity Press publishing)

Write for yourself, for enjoyment, for fun...that's all that really matters.


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DemonAbyss10
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14 Feb 2010, 8:34 pm

Gingersnaps wrote:
What you are describing is exactly what I want to do. I have held on to the dream of being a published author since I was six--more than half a century. I am having trouble psychologically moving from weiting for an audience to writing for my own healing, writing what I need to, instead of writing what I should.

Ps I don't know where my glasses are--please forgive the typos-Ican barely see the print.


no prob with the glasses, I am not a spelling whore/grammar nazi.

But yeah, sometimes you just got to force yourself to take that one little step. Over time it should become easier.


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TonyTheTiger
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16 Feb 2010, 7:09 pm

I'm taking an online class and working on a sci-fi novel.



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17 Feb 2010, 11:14 am

I think some of the best advice is to 'just start'.
You've spent enough time thinking and analyzing.
Find a book on the shelf that covers some of the themes you want to write about so you can refer to it for mechanical advice.

By the way, great topic. I'm working in the same vein.


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computerlove
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17 Feb 2010, 10:16 pm

Prof_Pretorius wrote:
I think some of the best advice is to 'just start'.
You've spent enough time thinking and analyzing.
seconded.


great blog platform:
http://www.blogger.com
free


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mjs82
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18 Feb 2010, 3:34 am

Well I don't know if it's just me - but other writers I have met have said similiar - that writing is probably the loneliest profession there is. You need to be comfortable with sitting at a typewriter, notepad or computer with just your fingers and words for long stretches of time. So writing is probably not going to be a cure for loneliness, rather its like a manifestation of it, so you have to be okay with it to a certain degree. Anyhow just my opinion.

The people who've said "just start" are right. If you don't start, you won't start.

I'm not sure if you're writing fiction or non-fiction, but if it's fiction, I'd suggest summarising the theme that you're trying to write into a single sentence and put it over your writing area. Romeo & Juliet - "Great loves defies even death". It's valid for non-fiction too.

Regarding blogs, you can get a free one from wordpress and set user comments to restricted.

But I'll give you one big secret about writing - and most people don't do it - and that is pick an audience. Now I know you're saying about just writing for yourself and forgetting about the adulation part - but that's not what I mean. Alot of writers go "I'm writing this for sci-fi fans ages 15-35" etc. That's not an audience. It's so hard to write for such a sweeping demographic most people get so muddled they try to please everyone and fall flat in the process.

What I'm talking about is writing for a person - just 1 person - a living person, preferably one that you know, or that you know of, that you feel would benefit from the experience of reading your work. And then write it with them in mind.

If you become comfortable with writing for just 1 person, you will find it easier to focus on what you want to say and discover that there are thousands of others who are similar to them.

Just write for 1 and let that 1 be enough.



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18 Feb 2010, 9:31 am

mjs82 wrote:
Well I don't know if it's just me - but other writers I have met have said similiar - that writing is probably the loneliest profession there is. You need to be comfortable with sitting at a typewriter, notepad or computer with just your fingers and words for long stretches of time. So writing is probably not going to be a cure for loneliness, rather its like a manifestation of it, so you have to be okay with it to a certain degree. Anyhow just my opinion.

The people who've said "just start" are right. If you don't start, you won't start.

I'm not sure if you're writing fiction or non-fiction, but if it's fiction, I'd suggest summarising the theme that you're trying to write into a single sentence and put it over your writing area. Romeo & Juliet - "Great loves defies even death". It's valid for non-fiction too.

Regarding blogs, you can get a free one from wordpress and set user comments to restricted.

But I'll give you one big secret about writing - and most people don't do it - and that is pick an audience. Now I know you're saying about just writing for yourself and forgetting about the adulation part - but that's not what I mean. Alot of writers go "I'm writing this for sci-fi fans ages 15-35" etc. That's not an audience. It's so hard to write for such a sweeping demographic most people get so muddled they try to please everyone and fall flat in the process.

What I'm talking about is writing for a person - just 1 person - a living person, preferably one that you know, or that you know of, that you feel would benefit from the experience of reading your work. And then write it with them in mind.

If you become comfortable with writing for just 1 person, you will find it easier to focus on what you want to say and discover that there are thousands of others who are similar to them.

Just write for 1 and let that 1 be enough.



You forget, you can also simply write for yourself, like I am. I could care less if the day comes by and i get my stuff published that it gets lambasted by people, as long as I myself enjoy what I have written.


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