Share your view.
Usually my writing view is of a coffee cup or people bustling around in a cafe, but I thought I’d share this view that is on my desk at work because it makes me happy to see some spring life in the office.
I look at it and daydream of another universe where I’d be writing my novel instead. π
~T π
Who are your writing bffs? Tag them.
For me, writing is a solo activity.
Over the years I wrote on writing boards for feedback and sharing or joined meet up groups for writing circles. However, nothing really ever clicked for me.
As a nomad in life, I struggle to find friends to hang out with let alone those with whom I’d want to share my writing.
While I appreciate getting feedback and tips to improve my stories, I’m better at doing this process with those whom I don’t know at all.
So, my writing BFFs are my journal, computer, pen and the unknown readers who may or may not send me comments and feedback. π
~T π
What’s the first thing you remember writing βοΈ?
Aside from starting my journal π at age eight, I first began writing stories through school assignments.
My first memory of having an effective style was through some shared activity where we randomly shared our short pieces analyzing advertisements on TV πΊ and I wrote about the Colgate toothbrush commercial. My class considered it funny and well-written, so I became interested in writing more.
After that, I wrote various stories for school in hopes of entertaining my classmates and dreamed of doing it for a living.
However, ‘real-life’ got in the way and so writing became a hobby more than a way of life. Still, dreams don’t die and I have maintained writing for publications as well as for myself with more to come!
~T π
If you could be writing anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Initially, I thought that it wasn’t about a place in the world as long as it was a cafΓ© like I wrote in Day 3 and Day 4 of this #whyshewriteschallenge .
However, after a bit more contemplation and digging deeper into my mind, I recalled my lifelong dream of sitting in a Paris cafΓ© on a sunny day with a cup of coffee and writing as people passed by.
Perhaps it is writers like Hemingway (as the picture above represents) that romanticized the idea of this kind of scene for writing. Now, it might even be a bit clichΓ©, but still it is dreamy to imagine myself at one of these tables with my notebook and pen absorbing the atmosphere and letting the real and imagined weave their way into a creative nonfiction piece that includes elements of the bustling people around me.
Despite my lackluster feeling for Paris, I still dream of doing this one day. Admittedly, I visited Paris in the cold grey November time and though I did go to a cafe, it was not at all as I had envisioned. Therefore, I shall have to try again when the sun promises to shine and the people are enjoying an outdoor cafΓ© way of life.
Je veux Γ©crire dans un cafΓ© dans les rues de Paris! π«π·
~T π
Describe your writing routine
At the moment, I would say I don’t have an actual routine for writing, but I am trying to work on that – thus this challenge.
However, I do write ‘morning pages’ as soon as I wake up almost every morning. I keep my journal by my pillow so that I don’t have to make much effort to pick up my pen.
When I do want to do a proper writing session, then I hunt for an ideal cafe. After ordering my cup of inspirationβοΈ, I soak in the bustling noises to center my mind on the writing and let me mind go.
I often am best able to write and focus when there are distractions as being in silence tends to make space for my own mind to drift. Blocking out noise gives the busy back part of my mind something to do so that I can get the words out. This is has been my way for studying and working throughout my life.
So, while I should probably find a better routine, this one seems to be working. However, I’m looking forward to reading what others do.
~T π
What is the first/worst job you ever had?
My first ‘real-world’ job was also my worst job. π€£
Growing up, my parents and I always had an agreement that I did not need an outside job as long as I kept up my grades and worked on the family blueberry farm during the summers. I got an allowance and the arrangement suited us all. π€
However, the summer before I headed off to university, for some reason I decided to try something different. π€·π½ββοΈ
Since ‘N’ was my favorite place to shop, I thought it might be fun to work there as well. So, I applied for a position knowing that they often needed extra help during the anniversary sales.
After successfully gaining employment and undergoing high-quality training as they liked to remind us regularly throughout, πͺπ½ I was placed in one of the two coveted departments – lingerie – as a sales associate.
This department along with shoes were supposed to be the best to work in since commission was always high for any sales made due to the product prices. However, what training did not cover was how to deal with the cutthroat nature of the senior sales associates.
Additionally, no amount of training can change the spots of an introverted leopard.
Therefore, I lasted less than two months, π π½ββοΈ claiming I needed to prepare for going to university. I didn’t make it to the anniversary sales period and it never occurred to me to transfer to another department or to continue at another branch closer to my university once I moved.
Instead, I wisely deemed it my first, last and only sales position to ever enter my work history and have continued to be thankful that my career took me down a different path.
I am in awe of people who can do that kind of work regularly and enjoy it. It’s just another example of how we all have our different strengths and weaknesses. We just need to learn how to harness what we are best at and go forward in that direction. ππ₯°
~T π
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
So… I had never heard the term ‘pantser’ before this prompt, π€·π½ββοΈ but a quick search clarified this for me.
Along with the definition came the option of a ‘plantser’, which is a combination of the two and my answer. ππ½
Despite being a plotter in every other aspect of my life with a minimum of 15 alarms throughout the week to guide my daily activities, π€¦π½ββοΈ my writing is the one area where I do not plan or even pretend to plan. ππ€
I suppose that if I were to actually plot out my stories that I might successfully finish a full one enough to an acceptable ending. π However, life is an unfinished tale and so I struggle with forcing a story into a predetermined plot even though I know that is indeed how stories get told.
So, I go in this circle of plot or pant. π
One thing I do know is that being a pantser tends to require more editing than a plotter might need, but I’m quite comfortable with just writing βοΈ when the mood hits me and the words flow.
Thus, the short answer is ‘plantser’. π€©
~T π
Share your writing genre
I dare to say that if I have one, my genre is creative nonfiction.
Most of my published works, whether creatively or professionally, would likely be considered nonfiction.
Although a piece I’ve been working on for many years is fictional, it is loosely based on truth.
However, all of my other writing is the telling of experiences – either mine or others. The types of stories I like to read these days also fall into this genre.
In my younger days, I reveled in the fantasy worlds and escaped to fictional realities so far removed from my own. Yet, as I have defined myself and traversed the world π absorbing not only my own stories, but those whom I have met, it has become clearer that humans are tellers of stories.
The more stories I hear, the truer the sayings are that ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ or ‘sometimes you just can’t make sh@t up’.
So, while I continue to respect and consume those who can make fiction come alive, I am drawn to creatively writing the true stories of this crazy life. π
Who is a woman writer who inspires you?
My favorite authors are generally male.
Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Patterson, Chaucer, Shakespeare, etc. are some of my favorites.
However, along similar lines I have loved female writers like Bronte, Alcott, Austen, Tartt, Atwood, Morrison, Rand, and more.
The female authors I prefer tend to be more contemporary or modern reads rather than the classics.
Still, to choose one author would be basically impossible let alone a female one.
I suppose that I could admit that I once wrote Danielle Steele an email expressing my youthful enjoyment of her novels with strong female characters and asking for advice on how to become a writer – which I never fully followed. :/
Recently, I wrote about Michelle Obama’s book that inspired me, which is a rare occurrence.
However, no one particular person comes to mind as I’ve read so many amazing writers male and female.
Mostly, I am inspired by the strength of those who can and are willing to share their stories whether fiction or non. π
~T π
Today’s prompt:
What’s your writing snack?
Interesting question and not sure I have a writing food. However, a good cup of coffee is a must for my writing sessions.
Something about the scent of coffee helps me focus my mind to write. Without it, I feel as if a writing session is incomplete. π
~T π
