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Les Writing blog, with tips, advice, and my own writing... And Nanowrimo obsession.

Short Fiction - Fictional Worlds

Only Writers Can Understand Writers...

October 25th 2008 16:57
I have many, many different circles in which I travel. About seven different groups in which I hang out on a regular basis, and even more who I talk to online. And I have to say, my favourites are my writer friends.

Why? Because if I tell them I can't make it to something because I'm too busy writing, they understand. When I talk about my binder full of notes on different stories and worlds, they understand. When I talk about my love for words, they get it.

That's something I don't have in any of my other groups (although there is some crossover). My friends from school don't understand why I'd rather spend a weekend writing than spend it partying. My Pagan friends don't understand why I'd rather write than go to rite.


But you know what? I love writing. I love my writing friends, because they understand in a way that nobody else can. They understand my devotion to the art of words, they understand my craziness when it comes to Nanowrimo. And that's what I love about them: that sense of understanding. I feel I can be completely honest and open with them.

It's just that simple-writers understand each other, and they're the only ones that can; because writing is a way of life. Writing is a passion, and one not easily understood by outsiders.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that writers should be united. We should be friends with other writers, because quite simply, they can understand us better than anyone else-no matter what part of the world they come from, words can be the one thing you can understand, the one thing you can share. The one common interest.

So write on, and make friends with other writers-because they're some of the best friends you can ever have.
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When Everything Is Just Too Much

October 4th 2008 23:28
So let me tell you something. School is stressing me out; I'm trying to force myself to go but it isn't working very well. Things at home aren't pleasant either. I'm stressed; so stressed that I've been sick on and off for two weeks now. Nanowrimo is on the horizon.

It's times like these when anybody-writer or otherwise-starts to wonder about all their obligations and if they're worth it. It's times like these when normally I would abandon the blog for weeks at a time; I'm trying not to. It's sort of working. It's times like these when we just want to throw in the towel.

But what do we do? We keep pushing, keep pushing ourselves to the limit every day to do our best no matter how bad we feel. We keep going, doing everything in our power to prove that we are capable people. That we can handle it.


The writer lives this life more than some. We live from paycheck to paycheck in worry; maybe the next one won't exist. Maybe there will be no work. We work hard in competitive markets where we might not make anything. We might just fall on our faces and have to try to pick ourselves up again. It might not even work.

But that is the risk we all take. We all know it's there. And no matter what, we have to keep working. And no matter what, I will keep writing. I will somehow manage 250, 000 words this November. And it will be something to be proud of.

I hope that those of us going through hard times right now-students of any age especially-can push themselves to stay on top of their goals, and to meet them, and to do all the great things, or at least most of the great things that they want to do.
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Website Review: Holly Lisle

September 15th 2008 00:48
I'm sick, my internet access is severely restrained because I stayed out REALLY late watching the Batman movie (which I loved), and I'm just feeling generically exhausted from school and life at the moment.

However, I am posting something. I just got the last lesson in Holly Lisle's newsletter course on creating your own royalties. Although it isn't for me at quite this point, I believe that someday I will be prepared to take better advantage of the course, which is saved in my Gmail. (I'm just going to say this: I love Gmail, there is so much space, you can keep most of your emails. I have dozens that are kept because there is just that much space.)

Link: http://www.hollylisle.com/

I've been reading Holly Lisle's site on and off for three or four years now. I originally found it through a worldbuilding help link on the Nanowrimo forums, and I read through all of her articles.

Although I am a very different person from Holly, especially in my style of outlining and revision, I have found her articles inspirational and helpful. She seems like a good person, dedicated to what she does, and dedicating to helping others. Holly believes in 'Paying forward', in helping other writers to get where she is-living off of her writing.

She may not be able to help you, because everyone is different, and we all have different techniques that work for us. But she has some excellent ideas, and the course I just finished reading is clear, concise, short, simple, and very true. I have heard her words echoed in many places throughout the web, and not necessarily by people who have ever heard of her.

I have never read any of her books, but I have read all of her articles and am deeply interested in her language creation workshop, although again, she is a very different type of writer than I am. I believe that any writer of fiction will benefit from her reading-if only in the way that any of us benefits from knowing how another works.

Kudos to her and her willingness-and attempt-to help other writers.

And link again: http://www.hollylisle.com/
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The Magical Moments

September 10th 2008 08:46
Why do we live life?

For those moments of magic, those moments of beauty and joy and love.
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Conventional English Classes

September 6th 2008 11:22
As I'm waiting for a response from my editor, I'm going to be here today and possibly tomorrow as well. And in the spirit of the start of school, my first post is going to be about the evils of grade nine English.

As some of you may remember, I disappeared for quite a while last year from Orble, as I was stressed out to an extreme level; well, I disappeared from school, too, and as a result I'm retaking all of my grade nine classes (with minor changes) this year. Which means I'm taking English


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Why Do I Write?

September 1st 2008 05:57
I've written about this topic before. But I've been thinking about it a lot lately, so I decided to talk about why I write-not only this blog, but everything else that I write.

I write because without writing, I would be locked away with no outlet to express myself


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Psychological and Physical torture

July 25th 2008 14:16
I'll admit. I torture my characters. Mostly psychologically, although I have been known to delve into the realms of extreme physical pain every once in a while. About, oh, once a year-Nanowrimo is always an ideal time to test out every method in the book, if only because it's tried and true for word count purposes.

The torture method that I am most fond of, though, involves solitary confinement. Or, almost solitary confinement-and the only visitors are violent and take it out on you. Something that leads to utter, and total despair


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Out Of Control Characters!

July 25th 2008 05:18
Meet Nimara. She's the psychopathic mother of one of my RP characters, a vampire, who is getting way out of control. She plans on conquering a world.

And is demanding that I write a story about her. Well I am flat out refusing-I'm mad at her and besides, I have other stories to write. But this isn't the first time a character got out of control


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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

July 24th 2008 07:34
I have no idea who said that first. Nor do I really care. It makes the point I'm trying to get across, and that is the important thing.

Last year I wrote a story, had it critiqued, and edited it a fair bit-almost rewriting it completely. I sent it to seven markets and was rejected by all of them. For a while, I didn't submit it anywhere, because I didn't have any good markets to submit it to


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Website Review: Critique Circle (LINK)

July 23rd 2008 07:06
I so rarely point out any website that isn't Nanowrimo on this blog that I'm not sure if it's more sad, funny, or just plain obsessive. Well, I have another website that's just plain excellence for writers.

Critique Circle is an incredible site. The people there are friendly, and most often return the favour when you give them a crit. (Whenever I'm unable to return a critique, I feel a little bad; I do return them unless the story isn't in a genre I like.) In fact, people are so eager to return the favour that people have actually asked me when I was posting my next story on the site-they wanted to return the favour


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Publishing your books, short stories, and poems...

July 20th 2008 10:19
Publishing is the dream of many, many writers. Including myself. Publication can be difficult; to be a successful writer borders the 'pipe dream' line. It isn't quite a pipe dream-it's doable with enough work, persistence, and talent-but it isn't easy or for the weak of heart.

Take, for example, JK Rowlings. She's an incredible success story, worth billions upon billions of dollars. She was a single mother who submitted to over thirty different publishers. And now she's a rich woman known the world over for her books. I'm not going to comment on their quality; this post isn't ABOUT quality of writing. It's about determination


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AugNoWriMo

July 18th 2008 06:36
By now, everyone who even bothers to read my blog on a sort-of frequent basis must understand that I have a deep, intrinsic love of blogging.

I just realized I've been blogging here for over a year! Nevermind that. We have more important things to talk about. Like writing goals


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Write What You Love...

July 18th 2008 05:35
Some people say 'write what you know'. But if I recall correctly, Stephen King and I have the same belief-that it is best to write what you love.

Because we can all write about what we learned in school, but most of us wouldn't want to. We know it-but we do not love it. And if we are forced to write something we do not love, it is by far a lesser product than what it would be if we loved it


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Fanfiction: Good, Bad, Or Indifferent?

July 15th 2008 04:21
Fanfiction. That which writers of varying quality from all over the web write. That
which all professional writers have extremely varying opinions on. Nobody can deny its existence; it's practically everywhere. And there is fanfic for almost everything.

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