Sharing Is Overrated.

I had a conversation with a friend that got me thinking. We were talking shop, and he mentioned that he'd always been interested in writing. My brain immediately did a little dance at the prospect of another writing compatriot. He said that he never made good on the endeavor because he had grammar and punctuation issues . Bah, mere mechanics, easily fixable. Just write the story and worry about that in editing. The mastery comes with practice. Then he got this sheepish look and admitted that another reason was that he was afraid that his friends wouldn't want to be his friends anymore upon reading anything he wrote. I smiled and welcomed him to the club; we meet every time we set pen to paper. :)

That feeling is no small obstacle to overcome. It's terrifying prospect, especially when you're first starting out and everyone's threshold is different. For years the only thing that I would let anyone read was the stuff I had to write for school. It was easier to let people read the compulsory created work rather than the labors of love. I'm a lot better about it now, but I think the anxiousness never truly goes away.

So what is it about the idea of having those in your inner circle read your work that bothers so many of us?

Maybe it's the stranger factor? It's very easy to not care all that much about a random person's opinion. Less so when you're related to them. The insight angle? Perhaps a project is working through some personal issues or problems skillfully disguised as a post-apocalyptic action story (hey, I'm not here to judge issues). The chance of it being recognized for what it is may cause more trouble than you're prepared to deal with. At the very least, you may have to sleep on the couch or the promise of helping them move for the rest of your life. Or maybe, just maybe, it's the image issue? Nothing shakes the foundation of the image of a self-described scary chick than accidentally writing a kinda romance. *cough, cough* Not that I'd know anything about that type of thing.

The most important thing, though, is realizing that you can work on those issues while you're busy writing away. And the great thing is that you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Whether you want to write stories for you and keep them under lock and key, great;or keep them among family and friends, also great; or pursue publication, that, too, is great. You see the theme? :)

Like everything about writing, what you do with it depends on what you want out of it, and it's all great.

*Blink, Blink*

Okay, I started today thinking about discussing editing. But then I checked in on my writing group's page and that just flew out the window. One of the ladies is on a lot of lists, most of the time, the lists are really cool and/or useful.

Today, however, someone sent her a very...okay, I'm just going to say "niche" market: Zombie Erotica.

Let that just sink in for a second.

Now, the particular link stated it began as a joke, and I can support that idea. But, alas, that is not the only call for this genre, and the only one begun in jest. I'm just at a loss for words.

Recharged.

The past few weeks have been rather stressful and have taken a toll on productivity. A few sentences here and there is not acceptable output, especially when my brain feels like jello.

It's amazing how much a positive day can recharge you. A single upbeat day and, lo-and-behold, I have over three pages of plot points written and planned.

My husband and I took a drive in order to visit a mutual friend and her daughter. We delivered a quilt that was initially a recovery gift for the little one that is now a "YAY, no surgery quilt." Good stuff.

After that, we visited our second family, where I got back the rough draft of my current project. Positive feedback and a request for more is always a good thing. :)

So now I think that my mental fog is moving on and leaving me in the clear. And if it decides to reappear before the weekend, it's in trouble; we have weather in the 80s a fleet of watercraft. The fog doesn't stand a chance. :)

Sigh.

Okay, this really irritates me. We shouldn't be advocating the purposeful move to make our language nothing more than internet-speak.

Marginally Evil Update.

Ok, so maybe the sock monkey isn't all that evil, and the tattoo is just a way for him to stand out in his sock monkey family. But it did inspire an evil craft idea brainstorming session, and so I'm counting the whole endeavor as evil. :) I'm still trying to hammer out the pattern to that Lord of Darkness doll.

Perspective Issues.

One of my favorite books is Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson. It's a fabulous read. The main character is bi-racial (black and Korean by way of Japan(if I recall correctly)). A group of my friends and I were discussing the book when one of my friends said that they had issues with the main character because he was such a "weeabo." Now, to save you a trip to Urban Dictionary, a "weeabo" is someone that is unhealthily obsessed with and woefully misinformed about Japanese culture to the exclusion of their own. It's a term I don't like to use(hence the quotation marks).

But I digress. I thought the interpretation was very strange and it got me to thinking about why they would feel that way. I don't think that the confusion was with the character development; it's pretty straight forward and integral to the story.

Which left it as a reader interpretation issue. That's not a dig. It's just something to think about. Our programming automatically goes to what is familiar to us. Readers immerse themselves into the story, and thus, will take on what the reader knows. That includes race and ethnicity.

Not that that's a bad thing. Unless, of course, it's vitally important that certain characters identify as another box on the census. :)

But then you run the risk of of writing from a perspective about which you have no clue, or accidentally offending an entire segment of the world's population. It's enough to drive you mad.

Evil Arts and Crafts.

I don't know why I've never done it before, or even thought about translating my brand of insanity to the fertile ground of the handicraft community. It took a singularly twisted and awesome project called "Sunbonnet Cthulu" for the concept to take root. I think maybe a Lord of Darkness plush doll is calling to be created. :D Hehe.