Comment from Pantygynt

Excellent

Hidden behind the wry humour here is some pretty sound advice to writers, artistsb potters or whoever. And the winnowing it is that takes the time. The easy thing then must be to write something like this where you are playing the pedagogue so you won't have to winnow yourself out for if you did there would be nothing left.

Seriously though I enjoyed this witty little article and kept a few gems to ponder on. Thank you for sharing.

 Comment Written 25-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

Thank you for reading it, Pantygynt. Glad you will find something of use in it.

Comment from justafan

Excellent

Dang it!!! I have not only wobbled, I have fallen flat on my face. I need a kick in the pants to get me inspired to finish the story that just jumped out of me. I keep saying I am gonna finish it but. I love this Jay. I love how you work to help others with your writing and your always helpful crits. Thanks hon. :)

Always,
Missy

 Comment Written 25-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

Oh, you are so kind, Missy. I feel we all need to do whatever we can to help hold each others head above water until we all have a strong enough stroke to make it to shore again and again. Don't know where the hell that came from!

Comment from The Mom/DarleneThomson

Excellent

This is very vividly written. Organization is the key. You will have to let me know when you launch that cannonball. What will this fantasy book be about? Just not knowing leaves me to ponder which will make me come back. Excellent artwork also. Kudos.

 Comment Written 25-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

Long story that. I finished the entire trilogy, posted the first two here, was about three-quarters the way through the final book when my computer crashed. Everything but that final 3/4 had been saved on my thumb-drive. Can you imagine what it's like to lose about a hundred pages of writing that is among the best you'd ever written? I don't outline, so I didn't even have that to fall back on. I've been trying to rewrite it from memory, but it just doesn't resonate with me. I know what it should sound like. Anyway, I'm stranded at about page fifty. So... I need to practice a little more of what I preach!

LOL, thanks again for reading this. And for your kindness.

reply by The Mom/DarleneThomson on 26-Jul-2015

Jay,
I know how that feels. I have lost work before and no matter how well the second writing comes out you never believe it is as good as before. I will wish you luck as you try to recoup and rewrite the last of this book. I have faith in you.
Darlene

Comment from Tomes Johnston

Excellent

This is yet another well-written and poignant post that the author has created with this piece of work. I have felt this way about several of my piece's too, but I also realise that there are thousands of budding authors out there.

 Comment Written 25-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

Thanks, Tomes. Hope you were able to take away something of value from it.

reply by Tomes Johnston on 28-Jul-2015

I was indeed

Comment from Annette Gulliver

Excellent

I find it interesting to learn how you can plan your day to include 3 hours of uninterrupted writing, and then mark it off your calendar. You must have a lot of self discipline. I do try to set myself some time to write (after I can shove my husband away from the computer), but I'm afraid I slip off the planet somewhere along the line, and begin to daydream. However, when the spark hits me, I cannot tear myself away from the keyboard. I do spend a lot of time, revising and revising. I never seem to be satisfied.
Annette

 Comment Written 25-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

Thank you for approaching this with intelligence and drive. It's never easy, but the self-discipline, in my case, came FROM the calendar and the decision not to go a day without the 3 hour commitment. It was hard, but it was only after about a couple of weeks of this that my subconscious must have said, he means business, and freed up my better "writer self". I appreciate your crits, Annette!

Comment from --Turtle.

Excellent

I sensed a crisis--not of (spiritual?) faith--nothing could shake her faith in God!
(wondered if it is a crisis of faith, if the 'not of faith' needs a little more clearing of what kind of not of faith, so when the faith that is in crisis is mentioned... I might be overthinking this)

a crisis in confidence-- and it can be especially poignant at year's end.
(Um... I call that Tuesday. Or sometimes Friday. My friend makes fun of me with that all the time. Me: My cousin's car just burst into flames on the freeway, he escaped with minimal burns. Her: So that makes it Tuesday?
Me: I don't think I'm ever going to be good enough to finish my novel.
Her: Is it Tuesday again?

wobbling. And you know it! (I really liked the wobbling explanation... wobbling, wasting time doing anything but. I liked that thought and the way it was presented to me.)

measure--writing before I got to the honest(,)? good and true.

false, in my case, bear the title of Jay Squires, Author.
(so dang humanizingly, humbling, taking us all to the mirror for a revisit.)

it's much too long for commercial publication! Knowing that--and further knowing I want to validate my efforts by getting it published[,](--)(<
Did we ever come back to the crisis of confidence? I'm thinking the phases are the path to allow one to trudge through those moments, as a roadmap tends to help when feeling a little lost. I wasn't sure if there was going to be a follow up mention of that, or maybe you need a transition there somewhere.

This was really nice to read, though. I guess its warming to see others in crisis of confidence. Not cause I want people to be in crisis, but just because where every you are, company is nice. Yikes. I have been in the big oh-oh for ten years. Maybe longer.

 Comment Written 25-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

God, I love your crit! You have some points I will have to check closely, but I'll wait until I have enough time to devote the energy to seriously consider them. Thank you so much, Turtle.

Comment from Spitfire

Excellent

Same old advice but wrapped in a metaphor which will help veterans to plan their attack and carry it through, Thanks for not mentioning the odious outline. I do it, but in my head. Most times, I let my muse take over.

 Comment Written 24-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

I don't outline either. Part of me wishes I could. Thank you, Shari, for taking the time to read this carefully.

Comment from Spiritual Echo

Excellent

Editing always takes me three times longer than writing. Last year Page and Spine published my novel, chapter by chapter, It was painful to edit, and even now that it has been published in this form, I saw errors on the E-zine. It needs another full edit--line by line. I know this and yet, what am I doing instead of investing in what is already a three year project? Writing another book. Imagine, I have written 18K words in less than two weeks.

But my issue is not planning TO write. I can write on demand about almost anything. My problem is my obsessive writing that can see me at the computer for up to 18 hours a day. I NEED to plan when and how to get off and try savouring real life.

Well said. A good nudge for readers and writers alike--don't wobble.

 Comment Written 24-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

This chapter, as I've told Phyllis and others who critted it, is written more for the less-disciplined beginning writer--the one in love with the THOUGHT of being a writer, but lacks the discipline to work through the detritus to get to the gem that exists there.

Thank you so much for reading this and taking away something from it.

Comment from bob cullen

Exceptional

Sir, you have summed it up so well.

I can relate to this having been there often.

Update on Calin Roberts. Jane Dystel asked for the full manuscript but sadly passed on it. She did however reply with a fantastic letter of encouraging comment.

Will be back on Fanstory soon,

Bob

 Comment Written 24-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 24-Jul-2015

Thanks, Bob, for reading and enjoying this segment. And certainly for the six stars!

Well, that is sad, Bob, that she passed on it. Especially when one naturally feels the request for the full manuscript is a sign they liked your style. I for one know your style was sustained throughout. Can you relate what her encouragement was?

reply by bob cullen on 25-Jul-2015

Jay,

Rather than relate my interpretation of her comment, I've forwarded her email to me. I'd be most interested in your read on the reply.
Thanks,
Bob

Dear Robert,



Thank you so much for thinking of me and giving us the opportunity to review CALIN ROBERTS. This is such a creative and captivating premise that made me want to dive in right away. After careful consideration, however, we have decided that we are not the appropriate agents to represent your book.



Fiction, as I am sure you know, is just about the toughest thing to sell in today?s market, and so we must be very selective about the novels we choose to take on. This is a nail-biting, fast paced thriller that gets you thinking about our own government and Calin herself is a great protagonist. In order to properly represent any book, however, we really have to fall in love with it, and although you are a good writer, that just didn?t happen with this one.



I do thank you, again for this chance to read CALIN ROBERTS and I wish you all the best of luck in finding an agent and publisher for it. While we are passing on this particular series, Robert, we really have enjoyed your writing and would welcome any submissions from you in the future.



Best regards,



Jane Dystel

reply by the author on 25-Jul-2015

Well, it was better than any rejects I'd gotten for short stories I submitted.

Reading her thumbnail on the storyline and her take on the protagonist did make me wonder how closely she read it.

Overall, I'd take it as a plus, Bob. What publishing house did she represent? If I were you I would send it out again, right away, without further second-guessing.

Comment from Phyllis Stewart

Excellent

This is verrry interesting, Jay. If for no other reason than to show that each author has his/her own way of writing. I do none of the above. If I were to structure my day to be sure to include writing, I'd end up resenting it and produce crap. I can only write when I feel like it, and then it's easier than anything. All the advice in the world will not make anyone a writer. You either are or you aren't. If you are, nothing will stop you... maybe interrupt, but never stop. You are a good writer, and you do things very differntly than I do. The end result is good in both cases, so "to each his own" is the key. Write the way you are most comfortable, and have faith it will work yet again. :)

 Comment Written 24-Jul-2015

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reply by the author on 24-Jul-2015

Thank you for your candid observation, Phyllis. Like I've told others here, this chapter is not as much for the established writer of proven abilities. This chapter is more for the beginner, the one who loves the thought of being a writer, and of being thought of as a writer, and stops short of the realization that being a good writer means you have to write enough bad, precious, artsy stuff long enough until you recognize your own level of what's good.

Tell most of these people to only write when they feel like it and watch them deflower in their own self-delusion. But tell them to write at least a certain number of hours a day (for me it is three) even when it's crapola, sooner or later they will find out they don't like writing after all, or that they are finding some really good, perhaps glittering, stuff in their detritus and it's enough to sustain them.

All of this presupposes they are reading a ton of very good and very bad stuff and learning to know the difference.

There are those to whom writing comes very easily. I have a hunch you are one of those. It's a joy unlike any other for them to write. They are blessed, and why shouldn't they write only if they feel like it? They're gonna feel like it a lot. Why prod someone who doesn't need a prod?

Quite honestly, Phyllis, I am not one of those people. I need a prod often and stiffly! I need a prod desperately right now. I need to sit myself down and start following the Spartan regimen I'm promulgating here. I've fallen away from it. I haven't found a time in perhaps two years when I could say to myself, "you know, I really feel like writing today."

I am posting this for me and a large number of beginning writers on FanStory who need a program to get them started.

I took the long way around the barn (but you should expect that by now) to tell you I agree with what you said in your crit. And I REALLY, REALLY thank you for laying out your commentary the way you did.

reply by Phyllis Stewart on 24-Jul-2015

I understand, and what you are doing, writing just to be writing, is really very advice for anyone, given the time and comfort. In fact, I put a scene in my novel SPEECHLESS that I think will interest you. It's a scene about a writer trying to get out of his rut, and it uses the technique you advocate. It's long, but I'll try pasting it here:

Ted opened a new MS Word file and sat looking at the empty white box. Ten minutes later it was still empty. He?d moved here to write and now he had nothing to say. His big idea had fizzled out, but he knew that wouldn?t stop a writer. A writer always had a few ideas waiting in the wings. If any were there now, they were doing a damn good job of hiding, he thought. Maybe he?d just fooled himself into thinking he could do more than churn out tales of alien monsters. He?d done that for years without needing to think at all. Now when he tried to think, he couldn?t.

He suddenly remembered something a creative writing professor had told the class once. ?If your mind goes blank, the last thing you want to do is force yourself to think. That?s the time to stop thinking.? He remembered the exercise was to write something, anything. It didn?t have to make any sense. It just had to be. ?Give the mind some words to latch onto and it will find a way to put meaning into them.? At least that was what the teacher had said. He figured it was worth a shot, so he turned off his mind, stared at the white box and told his fingers to start hitting keys. Words appeared:

The box was white and bright, like a square cloud out of place in the sky, at least any sky on Earth. Square clouds were the norm on Xenac though.

Ted stopped typing. That was exactly the thing he was trying to get away from. He tried again.

The room was all white, walls and ceiling and floor. Steven felt the walls for a door, but could find not even a crack in the wall. He could reach the low ceiling, and found nothing there either. How had he got in here, he wondered. Was he born here? Was he to spend his entire life in this small blinding nothingness? What was life, anyway? How did he even know that word? He clapped his hands and they made no sound. Or did he just not hear it? He could feel walls he did not see and see clapping he did not hear. It was disorienting.

Suddenly he shouted as loud as he could. ?Let me out of here! I want out!?

Immediately the box was gone and he was standing in front of a group of men, all applauding. ?Congratulations,? said the one in the purple robe. ?You have passed the test.?

?What test? How?? Steven was still very confused, for even outside the box, nothing made sense.

?You knew what you wanted. That is the most important thing for anyone to know.?

Ted ended it there. It definitely had science fiction elements, but at least now it had a message. He?d written something philosophical, in fact. Of course, it was far from a complete idea, but there was at least a seed of something meaningful there. ?I?ll be damned. I really should have done the homework for that class!?

He prepared to do it again, trying to feel himself sitting there, human, with heartbeats, warm blood and cold fear. Yes, fear. Not of monsters though. What did Ted fear? Failure, for sure. Words again appeared.

It was no use. He had failed, just as his father had predicted. Fifteen years, and what did he have to show for it? How many lives had he saved? Okay, perhaps as a doctor his Dad had saved lives, but Adam had enriched lives, hadn?t he? Didn?t that count for something? No. It was a lie and he knew it. Fact was he hadn?t enriched anything but himself. His bank account was full, but he was empty. He had nothing to offer, nothing but meaningless words and cardboard characters running from monsters that didn?t exist. The truly dangerous monsters, those so terrifying that no one dared speak of them, were not out there in the cabbala trees, but much closer. They could not be scared off or ignored. In fact, they thrived on inattention, growing stronger with each denial. And they were masters of disguise, so you never knew they were there until they destroyed you. There was nothing more dangerous than the monsters within.

Ted stopped typing and read the screen as if he?d never seen the words. They?d come from his fingers, so they?d come from his mind. He knew at once that the words were true, although he?d never actually thought any of this, not consciously at least. Ted had written something profound for the first time in his life, and he?d written it about himself.

reply by Phyllis Stewart on 24-Jul-2015

Well,that didn't work. Ignore it and I'll send as a pm.