But I'm at the computer... - Nesdoly

This is a poem about my headstrong inner child
rebellious teen, dysfunctional adult.
This is a poem about sneaky ways
to break my own rules.
This is a poem about bribes and bargaining
Work for one hour
and you can check your email.
This is a poem about adult ADHD
fed by email, blog stats, galleries, and Google.
This is a poem about resourcefulness
web searches, and getting sidetracked
on internet ramblings one can call research.
This is a poem about being sneaky –
Just one more click on Facebook
and then I’ll really get to work.
This is a poem about fear.
This is a poem about finally
getting lost in the words
swept away by the ideas
into the zone
living the scene.
This is a poem about the indulgence
of guilt-free blog-reading
when I’ve met my goal.
This is a poem about going
through the whole process again tomorrow.
This is a poem about writing.

© 2011 by Violet Nesdoly


Website: www.violetnesdoly.com

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Free book for free labour? - Denyse O'Leary

On a journalists' blog recently, a question arose about a Canadian newspaper - which shall remain nameless - that was giving out a free book for the prize-winning travel article. And that's it. A free book.

My own comments were:

1. re giving books instead of money: Any retail business that has very little money will try to give inventory instead of money - if they already own the inventory and cannot return it to anyone for money. Chances are, a public relations firm sent the book to the paper.

So there it is on a shelf. But that book could be spun into a free article. Hmmm, making it into a contest means there could be several free articles ... not bad for one little book.

2. No one should pay any attention to claims that a writer should be pleased just to be published because it helps one's reputation.

My local handyman doesn't think like that, you better believe. He has a good reputation and has served me well. But he lives on money, not reputation. So do we all.

It is true that I manage a "free book" contest for blog commenters, but the situation is quite different. Commenters do not make a living from commenting. It is equivalent to offering a free book for "Best Letter to the Editor of the Month."

Yes, newspapers are in bad shape, but this is getting a tad ridiculous.

Denyse O'Leary is co-author of The Spiritual Brain.

Why I DON'T Write -- Payne

Last post I wrote on why I write. Now I want to share with you my thoughts on why I don't write.

Sometimes I fight writing. I know I have a great idea and I’ve even started it inside my mind, but I put the brakes on. I don’t want to transfer it to paper because I’m afraid that if I start and then am interrupted by the telephone, or by a child’s cry, or by the dryer’s buzzer I fear that I may lose it altogether.

Instead of starting, I keep it inside to protect and nurture it until the timing is right to let it loose. But have I lost ideas entirely because of this? I don’t know. I can’t remember. Perhaps blissfully I lose ideas but is this better than knowingly losing ideas?

I’ve never chanced starting to write knowing that I had only 30 minutes to get my idea down. I’ve never risked it. I’m too afraid that if I let the idea loose without completing it, well then, I’d lose it forever.

I don’t know if I could pick up where I had left off. I don’t know if I could get myself back into that frame of mind.

I feel like I move in spurts. There is a period of incubation and formulation. The thought is tossed and turned in my mind. Then the moment comes where the idea bursts forward and splatters in ink on my paper. I cannot stop it and it runs like a locomotive fiercely out of my mind onto the page.

But as the ink dries, the idea dies out. The writer is spent. And once spent, I return to incubation.
Do I unleash the train before it’s ready? Do I dare ever proceed or yank the brake cord just as the train gathers speed?

This is my dilemma as a writer. Do I take my opportunities as they come up, or wait for the ideal moment? Do I write regardless or steal those moments to luxuriate in reading?

As I pose these questions to myself, I already know the answer. A writer writes.
No more excuses. No hiding behind reading. A writer writes when the ideas are there. And when the ideas are not there. A writer writes through the incubation and into the inspiration. A writer writes.

www.kimberleypayne.com