Art in Writing

I remember when I went to elementary school and I took an art class. It was a lot of fun, but one thing the teacher told us has always stuck with me. She said that every artist puts a little bit of themselves in every project. I found myself thinking about that recently and it hasn't ever been more true for me than it is now. I find myself relating to the characters that I write more than ever. I wrote one who worked in a shoe store at the time that I was working in a shoe store with the same inner thoughts as I had. I also just started writing about a character who distances herself from most people, someone I find that we can all relate to. No, I don't think the average person is anti social and ignores others, but I think we've all faced times where we've felt alone. The character that I am writing now is a werewolf named Anyssa, she's someone that I find myself relating to more than I've ever related to any of my other characters. She's been through a bad relationship and does her best to avoid getting into a new one, but sometimes things just happen. Although it's not a romance, it has elements in there like a love interest. A good story is more complex than just going from point A to point B. The reader has to enjoy the ride or they won't pick up anything else that you've written. In a way, your reader knows you better than anyone. They are reading something you put time and effort into, something some people might say is part of you.

Why I decided to write about one of the worst things that ever happened to me

I came across an article recently asking for personal essays that involved any stage of romance, and since I am not doing so well financially, I decided to write an essay. I sat for awhile, just staring at a black screen. Anyone who's written anything in their life can relate to that, and also how annoyed they get writing the first sentence and deleting it over and over. I usually write fiction since my life isn't that interesting. Finally I thought of something, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to go there. I wasn't sure if I was healed enough to write that particular article. Would anyone even want to read what I had to say, or would they think that I was just trying to shame my ex? I thought about some of my favorite authors and started to write the article. In the past I had cried whenever I thought about the event, but this time I didn't. This time I flew through writing the article, even finding things to add when I was finished. When I was completely done I sat there, staring at my computer and thinking about what I had written. Should I submit it under a pen name?After some debating I decided to submit it under my name. While I hated what he had done to me, I knew that he had only made me stronger. I'm not sure if the magazine will publish me or reject me, but I really hope that it publishes me. If it doesn't I plan to revise the article and try again.

Comic books and angry women who don't understand them

Normally I wouldn't bring attention to something like this, but I am so annoyed with this video and many others on this woman's youtube channel. I wish I could just write her a quick comment getting my point across, but she has her comments disabled. I'm talking about this woman:

She clearly doesn't read comic books, but feels ok talking about them because she's seen someone else's youtube video. Oh, and she says Fable 2 is a video game in which you are forced to play as a male getting revenge for the death of a female family member. The funny thing about that is that I have that video game and I play it as a FEMALE character. In this video she talks about all comic books being so awful to woman because a lot of females die in the comics. Well a lot of males die too, and not only that both male and female characters frequently come back from the dead, most of the time stronger. Jean Grey is the perfect example of this, since she comes back as the Dark Phoenix. Gwen Stacey is back as Spider Gwen. This woman also keeps referencing the Killing Joke and Barbara Gordon being shot by the Joker. Yes, she does get shot by the Joker, and she does later become the Oracle (which many people look up to as a strong female character), but she also later gets to walk again and even takes up the mantle of Batgirl again. What about comics where female characters don't die? Does this woman even know there are comic writers who are FEMALE? This woman also claims that many of the male characters who died went down fighting and the female characters did not. Elecktra dies by fighting Bullseye. Just about every female who died in the Walking Dead died fighting, and I know a lot of bad things happened to some of the women in that book, but I believe that the Walking Dead portrays violence very accurately. These are things that actually could happen to people if they were in the same situation. There are many others who have, and yes some woman in comics were killed in very unfair ways, but there are many different genres of comic books and to just group them all into one genre is unfair. One of my dreams is to create a comic book. Sorry for the rant, but it's clear this woman was just looking for something to be angry about. If she happens to stumble upon my blog I would like to advise her to do research next time before posting an angry video.

Casual Friday: My Christmas wish

It's only November 14th, and there are already Christmas decorations everywhere. I'm not complaining, since I love Christmas and it is more lively than Thanksgiving, but there is something that's been on my mind. I've been dreading the holiday season. Why? Well, I work retail for the time being. I'm not looking forward to hunting for a parking spot that's all the way on the other side of the mall, or being pushed around by the crowd. I'm not looking forward to the long lines in the food court, or the lack of places to sit in the food court. I'm not looking forward to staying late so the customers can have extra time in the store, even staying after the store is closed in some cases. I'm not writing this blog to complain, since I am grateful that I have a job, but I do feel that I have to address my Christmas wish. My Christmas wish is that people would be nicer to those who work in the retail stores, or waitress, because you never know when they had a break, or got to eat. You don't know how long they've been standing in uncomfortable shoes, or how long they've been waiting for a bathroom break. You also don't know their situation. Some people pick up an extra job for additional Christmas money, but some pick one up to feed their families.

Casual Friday: My future plans

I post a lot about my plans as a writer, but I don't really post about my plans for myself. Right now I'm going to school for journalism. I was going for billing and coding before, but I don't really have a passion for that. I couldn't really see myself doing the same thing over and over. I need something different. Right now my job is the same thing over and over, and the days pass slowly. I'm grateful that I have a job, but I know I can do better. Journalism is something that I was drawn to. I already love writing, working for a newspaper or blog site would be great. I'm also looking into tv journalism, which means a job like the evening news. I'm not sure how I would like being on tv, but I know the job wouldn't be boring.





By the way, I made a few edits to the books page. Nothing big, just a brief synopsis.

Blogging is a great tool that I don't know how to use.

I'm sure this translates through the current state of my blog, but I don't know how to blog. I don't know anything about layouts or what content I should include. I have no idea how much I should share. It's hard for me to share information with people I know offline, which makes it even harder to share with people I've never met. Not that anyone is reading this blog. I'd be surprised if anyone looked past the boring layout at all. Most of the traffic I get is probably from people browsing through blogs. This is all my fault. I could devote more time to researching layouts and what content I should include. Blogging is a great tool and can help me reach lots of readers, if I include the right content.

Early writing mistakes

I've always wanted to be a writer, it seemed like my calling since I wrote my first non school story in second grade. I stopped writing for awhile when I was a teenager. I wish I had kept writing, it would have only helped me improve. I picked writing up again when I was about twenty three or twenty two. I'm not sure why I picked it back up, my only guess is the stories that were in my head begging to be written wouldn't go away. It's been a rough journey for me. I have trouble finishing projects, although the one I'm working on now just needs another glance over. I was often broke when I was writing these stories, and I actually tried to sell books after just writing the first draft of whatever I was working on. That turned out as well as you can expect, and I know it wasn't good for my writing career. The only reason I rushed through the first chapter and sent it off was because I was poor, I was struggling to pay for gas to get back and forth to work. My situation improved a little when I got a job that was closer to home, and so did my outlook on writing. I decided that I didn't want to sell my book to a publishing company, I wanted to self publish. I wanted to live all the ups and downs of my journey. I know it's going to be hard, probably harder than I could ever dream, but I decided this is the path for me. I haven't sent off what I'm working on to a literary agent, at this point I don't want one. Maybe one day that will change, but for now I want to see what this is like. In fact, I hope to soon, maybe late this month or early next month. Another mistake I've made is letting other things get in the way. When I get home from work, it seems like I'm too tired to think. Maybe I should take naps and write when I wake up. I've also allowed other things to get in my way, like getting a new video game or book. Things that I shouldn't put before my writing. I know I need a break sometimes, but a break shouldn't turn into me catching all 150, or however many pokemon they have now. I've made a lot of mistakes, and I know I'm going to make more, but that's my journey to take.

The job I want vs. the job I need

I can't recall a time where I applied for a job because I wanted it, and not because I was in need of a job or a bigger paycheck. As a result, I have grown unhappy with every job I've had in a matter of months. I always feel like I'm stuck and I need to get out there and find something better. I don't know how to explain it, just a feeling like I should be doing better. I know I could do better, but I've never been sure how to approach getting a job I actually want. To be honest, I'm not even sure I know what job I actually want. I had to pick a major when I attended college, but the major I picked isn't something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life. The only thing I can see myself doing for the rest of my life is writing, and I'm frustrated with myself for putting my writing off. I have a ebook that's already written, I just have to edit it, but I keep letting things get in the way. From work to my own laziness. I managed to beat the new pokemon game this month, but haven't put in any real time writing. I guess I feel like if I had a job that I actually enjoyed everything else would fall into place.