Just as I was wondering about what to blog about next, Eileen Shuh tagged me in "7 Things..."
The first thing I did was go to her blog eileenschuh.blogspot.com to find out what the heck she was talking about. It gave me the information I needed and a desire to visit "West Ed's" theme rooms. I was also a bit jealous that I didn't get "themes" as a theme. I could have waxed poetic about death, grief, folklore, moral philosophy, point of view, commitment issues and coffee.
Instead, I have to have to come up with "7 great things about writing". As I write this I wonder if Eileen's real challenge is to get myself to stop at seven.
1. You can write anywhere... and I have.
I once wrote a letter to a friend in a stall in the "Ladies' Lavatory" at a British National Historical site. Toilet paper in England is notoriously stiff - probably the cause of the "stiff upper lip" - though it has improved since I was a teen. This stuff was like a roll of tracing paper. Every square was imprinted with HRH's seal, meaning it was Queen Elizabeth's property I was about to deface. So I wrote about my dilemma to my best friend and used a tissue from my pocket for the other business. (My father would travel with half a suitcase of Facelle Royale which would be replaced by a couple of bottles of Scotch on the trip home.)
2. You can write about anything... and I have.
My professional writing career started in 1991 when my cousin Hilary asked "What do you write?"
Up until then I had primarily written stories only friends and family ever read and two novel -- one of which I write when I was supposed to be writing notes in Nutrition and I lost in a third floor washroom at Ryerson. I had also written marketing copy and designed ads for the store I managed.
What I answered was, "What do you want written?"
Since then I have had the pleasure and challenge of writing on a variety of topics I had no clue about until given the assignment to write about them. Writing for other people - especially people who are experts in their fields but not experts in mine - has become a continuing education program.Which brings me to...
3 Writing expands your horizons.
For the sake of writing assignments I have researched a myriad of topics from becoming a change agent in your organization to getting rid of squirrels in your attic. No surprise then that I do a lot of research for my own stories. Whether I am creating a fantastic new world or making sure I know the difference between Scene of Crime Officers and Forensic Identification Services, I do a lot of back ground work. Sometimes my stories are inspired by research done for a commercial client. For instance, the setting of my Carmedy and Garrett series grew out of an interview with our then new (and now moved on) Chief of Police about the future of community policing.
4 Everything you do is grist for the writing mill.
If I ever make enough money to get away with it, I'll write-off every holiday as a business expense because every place I go is a potential setting for a story. (I wonder if that's what Anthony Bidulka does?)
When I was in a car accident, and they thought I might have broken my neck, I consoled myself with the knowledge that some day I'd be able to recount with accuracy what it felt like to be strapped to a backboard and how black the sky is when that's all you can see as you're wheeled away.
5 Writing is an emotional outlet
When I was in my teens, writing was a way of releasing the anger, frustration, sexual tension and general angst that is a teenager's lot in life. None of that stops as we get older, we just get better at handling it and, more often than not, the stakes get higher.
6 Writing is an escape
When I sister was fighting a losing battle against cancer, I created another world that we could escape into. Joey edited my novel as it was written and we'd hash out the details of plot, character and grammar in a world of vampires, demons, ghosts and the fledgling superheroes who dealt with them.
It wasn't the first time I used my writing as an escape from reality, but it was perhaps the most profound.
7 Writing is fun
It's also damned hard work sometimes but if I didn't love it, I'd do something more practical with my life like manage a store, or work in an office or be the chief assistant to the assistant chief ... wait I've done all those things and still kept writing. It's what I do.
That and drink coffee.
So, now I have to tag four other people...
Authors:
Cathy Astolfo: http://katywords.blogspot.com
Tony Bidulka: http://anthonybidulka.com/blog
Jennifer L. Hart http://jenniferlhart.blogspot.com
and comic artist
John Macleod: http://johncomic.livejournal.com