Favorite book(s) on craft
I read Writing Down the Bones years ago, but I still remember it like yesterday. In fact, I should probably read it again as it might help motivate me.
More recently, I read Cameron’s book and, although I didn’t follow it exactly as suggested, I found it one of the most useful books of the craft I’ve read yet.
So, for the prompt I couldn’t choose just one. π
~T π
Favorite writing podcast
Despite the many podcasts I listen to, the only thing they have in common with my writing is that they are true – true crime.
I have tried podcasts on different topics like Paleo or health or yoga and I soon get distracted from them except on long car rides.
So, I have not tried any podcasts on writing. Maybe through this prompt I will get some recommendations to try from others. π
~T π
Favorite music to write to
Most of the time, I prefer to work and write in silence or to the buzz of people around me.
Yet, there are times when I need a bit of focus and for some reason I am most productive when I listen to country music.
For years I have loved country music, though admitting it freely only came in the past decade or so when the fear of people’s judgement disappeared.
However, there is something comforting about the simple lyrics and tunes. Perhaps it is because it reminds me of my childhood listening to it with my father on drives or while out working on the farm. Perhaps it is my romantic notions about life. Perhaps it is my yearning at times for a simpler life on so many levels.
Mostly, I love the stories that country music tells. Some pop music achieves this, but not much. I also love rap and R&B, though not the best to write to.
Unfortunately, classical music puts me to sleep when I want to concentrate. Every genre has a time and purpose.
For writing, I choose country. Judge away! π
~T π
Describe your writing style in three words.
Although I could say ‘creative, nonfiction, stories’ or something like that, I also think that most of my published writing has elements of comedy – because life is.
So, these are the three words that describe my writing style as I try to show the realities of life, which is funny! π
Nothing more to say about that!
~T π
What are you currently reading?
I have two books on the go at the moment.
To diversify my listening material from true crime podcasts, I’ve started listening to audiobooks. So, I am nearly finished with the amazing memoir of Tara Westover.
More slowly, I’m reading before bed Sapiens, which is interesting in understanding humans more.
My 2019 reading list is long, so I’m enjoying the input so far. π
~T π
Favorite quote from a female writer:
We are each responsible for all of our experiences.
Louise Hay
I’m not actually a quote kind of person. I used to look in awe at professors at university and graduate school who could just quote a Shakespearean line or two or three off the top of their heads.
In school, we used to have to memorize a poem or something that ‘inspired’ us. Yet, I always struggled.
It’s not that I am forgetful because I can remember birthdays or numbers or other things that I deem worthy of remembering just fine. However, I’m not a name-dropper and I don’t quote.
One reason is that I am not a sycophant in any way. In fact, I’m probably too cynical for my own good that I do just about anything I can to avoid being a cliche or a juice-drinker of trends whether in words, thoughts, products, etc.
I like to think that it’s what makes me unique, but lately this is something I’m contemplating and perhaps a more in-depth post is to come from it.
For now, this is the quote that suits me well. It encompasses taking responsibility for your own actions and consequences – whether positive or negative – in those actions.
~T π
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
