A few weeks ago I decided to give myself the challenge of writing a new piece of flash fiction to get back into the habit of writing after quite a significant break from writing. The task was both relatively easy and quite enjoyable. However now it’s about time that I tackle a far greater foe, a rewrite – or more specifically the rewrite of my screenplay. That is to say the forth…or fifth?…or somethingth rewrite of my screenplay.
Filed under Scribbling a Path
It’s peculiar the relationship that writing and emotion have for me. There has always been a strong connection between misery and writing, for me. Whenever I’m going through a rough period I turn to writing as a means of escape and self-treatment. Conversely, when I’m happy writing doesn’t come as easily, or more correctly, the ideas don’t flow as easily.
Filed under Scribbling a Path
Is blogging a way of publically expressing yourself in lieu of a more traditional form, such as a diary? I’ve written before about the nature of blogging and what blogging has done to the written word. However, the more I blog – I’ve recently had my two year anniversary on WordPress – the more I feel like it’s become some form of literary and public form of writing down thoughts and feelings.
Filed under Observations, Scribbling a Path
I’ve written before about the need to write and the significance of this desire to my life and writing. However, the more I think about it – when I’m not writing – the more I believe that it is almost like a psychosis or (more correctly) the cure for one.
Filed under Observations, Scribbling a Path
I’ve made a few major decisions this week, as I feel awoken from some self-induced trance. I’ve abandoned the alcohol binges that characterised the majority of my adult weekends. This – it would seem – has been the catalyst of those changes. My Sunday’s have been transformed from an alcohol-coated vegetation into a renewal of life. I’ve started learning Spanish – the official language of the country I’ve called home for the past eighteen months. In doing so, I’ve been attempting to eradicate a lifetime of failed attempts towards competently communicating in a foreign tongue. However, the greatest change is related to my novel.
Filed under Scribbling a Path
It’s been a while since I’ve posted and this period can only really be described as a creative hiatus. It would be wrong to call it writer’s block because the problem extended far beyond words on a page. It was more of a shutting down of creative thought. It’s curious that periods like effect more than just my writing and creativity. It – at risk of melodrama – corrodes the very sinews of the soul and chips away at my sense of purpose.
Writing and creating are towards the heart of my sense of being, if they are interrupted I feel lost.
Last year, I wrote an article about creating an artwork from chaos. I went to Tenerife’s Carnaval. It’s an event whose Christian origins are, thankfully, lost in a sea of beer, urine and colourful costumes, storming with the beats of Spanish salsa sounds. I arrived – as before – with a blank canvas, paint and colouring markers intent of creating another piece with the help of the masses.
Waterfall VERSUS 
I begun the unnerving task of writing my first, feature-length screenplay – Downward Mobility – recently. Months of planning, treatments, pitches and character profiles behind me, I now begin at the start line as it were!
The story has been carved out, it just needs a gentle sanding . However, I am now charged with the mammoth, albeit enjoyable, task of communicating that story for producers, actors and directors to interpret. Remarkably, I’m discovering that the most difficult undertaking is capturing the economic-simplicity of a screenplay.
Filed under Scribbling a Path
Is Blogging Devaluing the ‘typed’ word? Part V
I find the easiest way to address this is to quote Melissa’s concise response to my question: ‘At what point do you believe that written work becomes worthy of a monetary value?’ She stated simply, ‘when it is well written.’ (See An Interview With Melissa Foster). In many ways this sums up my research. The ‘word’ will always have an inherent value to it. Whether it be written or typed a value will always be there.
Filed under Scribbling a Path
Is Blogging Devaluing the ‘typed’ word? Part IV
It is difficult to gain any clear-cut evidence to support a claim into whether it has a direct effect on one’s publication chances, my research found. For instance, 62.5% of those I interviewed – who had been published – suggested that blogging had no effect on their chances of publication. With 32.5% claiming that their publication was of a direct or indirect result of their blog. Therefore the evidence, suggests that one cannot simply advocate blogging as a direct link to publication; however, neither can it be dismissed as irrelevant to the process, based on the results that I gained.
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Is Blogging Devaluing the ‘typed’ word? Part III
The question now becomes, does blogging have an effect on one’s chances of becoming published and therefore, increase writer’s monetary wealth in this way? It is at this point that the argument becomes more fluid and simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers really won’t suffice.
Both Luke O’ Neil[1] & Melissa Foster[2] have praised blogging as a method of promotion for writers as have all but one of the writers that I surveyed[3]. Therefore, it can be asserted that blogging isn’t devaluing the written word in this sense. By contrast, it is instead giving value to it as a promotional tool for writers. Nevertheless, it is far too simplistic to simply state that blogging does add value and publication potential to one’s work. However, there are other factors at play, naturally, that need to be looked into deeper for a balanced analysis to be achieved.
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Scribblings and Broken Glass 