Category: Blogging
Writer Olympics
Let’s be honest with ourselves: writing is not very physical. Heaving the laptop/notebook to the cafe is probably the most active a writer gets when they are working, or pacing the room and tearing your hair out while threatening your Muse to show up. Not that I’m saying all writers neglect exercise, some make the best exercisers. Yours truly loves her gym, belly dancing and core-strength vinyasa yoga with Sadie Nardini (not necessarily in that order…) 4-5 times a week and Murakami wrote a book on long-distance running.
But I’m sure you are an athlete in your mind (otherwise you won’t be insane enough to be a writer.) you train yourself everyday to bang out those words on paper. You can create a team of characters in the time it takes to run 100m! Your plotting strategy is worthy of field sports! You run multiple marathon writing sessions! You tell yourself mental exhaustion/burnout is for amateurs!
Citius, Altius, Fortius! Pay tribute to the highest manifestation of human athletic ability the Winter Olympics, by taking the following quiz, inspired by the Guardian guide to Winter Olympics
Which Winter Olympics Sport Matches your Writing Style?
1. You prefer to___
a)Work alone
b)Work with a friend/ buddy
c)Write and then present work to a group for critque
d)Write as part of a group for the competition
2. Once started on a piece, you___
a) Stick to it and block out outside intrusions – its gonna be a long hard slog.
b) Contact your friend/buddy regularly
c) Need a nudge or a push from your team (friends, family) to get you going
d)Brace yourself against all odds.
3. Which best describes your progress?
a) Slow and steady. With scheduled breaks
b) A sustained effort as long as your friend/buddy performs well.
c) A hard fast start but with a tendency to get sidetracked.
d) A furious intensive session. Other people have to referee on your behalf
4. Which response best describes your response to writer’s block?
a) Take a break and resume writing when recovered.
b) It’s their problem too!
c) Should’ve seen that coming!
d) Head on. With a long stick and body armour
5)How do you react to unjustified negative criticism?
a) Shrug it off.No one said it was going to be easy when you’re alone.
b) Smile at each other. All judges are biased anyway.
c) Blame your equipment (“@#$%ing spellcheck!”)
d) Pick a fistfight, it never hurts to entertain your audience too….
If you chose:
Mostly As:
Cross Country Skiing
Endurance and tenacity are your main strengths. But know when to pace yourself.
Mostly Bs:
Figure Skating
Something genuinely beautiful can emerge from collaborations if you can both master your egos.
Mostly Cs:
Bobsleigh
Your team are behind you all the way but you are driving your bobsleigh, and have to figure out the best way along your personal track. Maintain control and don’t lose it
Mostly Ds:
Ice Hockey
You play fast, and score goal after goal. Writing feels like a full contact sport and you tell yourself you thrive on challenge. Beware of mid-career burnout and play nice with the other team.
Post your results in the Comments section
The Hardest 1000 Words of My Career (so far….)
People have lauded me for this article, which I acknowledge with heartfelt thanks. But writing this article was *hard* and I mean ‘constipated-with-no-access-to-prunes-and-enemas’ type of hard.
No facetiousness intended; that scatological reference is just to purely express my relief (no pun intended too….) at a job well done .
Enjoy reading it…
The Rough Guide to Modern Malaysian Science Fiction and Fantasy
Bloggers, Account!
A great post over at Elana Johnson’s blog “What Do I Blog About?” asks a very good question: What gives voice to your online presence?
You can only account for yours and I can only account for mine.
I have deleted five blogs over the last two years – the first three blogs were like online diaries whereas the last two were attempts at a weekly humour digest. Some of these posts were funny but puerile. I’ve kept one of them here as a reminder. I had zero visits to my then-blog, which I couldn’t understand; surely the internet is a great place for juvenile humour? Where were the other like-minded bloggers?
The search for an audience led me to other important discoveries: I learned about platforms, blog templates (fiddling with HTML code for the first time was like safe-cracking) widgets and social media tools. At the same time I was learning how to write fiction like a professional and holding down a 6 day a week job. Sheer difficulty at first but I discovered that the best lessons in creative-writing are the ones that you learn yourself.
Those lessons are what I blog about on this site. (See my Blog Manifesto)
