Woman As Art
We writers, at least the audience of this blog, are not simply just writers. Most of us are not even full-time writers. We are what I like to call the “slash” people: computer programmer/writers, baker/writers, teacher/writers, student/writers, coach/writers, homemaker/writers, caregiver/writers and yes even bum/writers.
The Old Soldier is a retiree/writer.
So, balancing life with creativity can sometimes be a real problem for many of us. (Even the bum/writer has to put in time panhandling and moving from shelter to shelter–I was homeless once, but that’s another story.)
When do we find time to write?
Because we also have to attend certain required events, clean our homes, cook and eat, do laundry, use the bathroom, put in quality time with family, friends and significant others. Oh, I forgot sleep.
When do we find time to write?
The Old Soldier may be retired, but he doesn’t have a butler or a maid and he has to put in a lot of time being proactive with his personal finances because when you’re a senior citizen, a veteran and of low-income you are eligible for a lot of programs that will lower your expenditures and even increase your income but you have to dig and fight for what you’re eligible for because no one is going to knock on your door with the information. (That last sentence, my friends, is known as a run on sentence.) The search for the information is a part-time job in itself. Then add dealing with Medicare, Medicaid and AARP…I’m not complaining. I’m just saying.
When do we find time to write?
Well, my brother and sister writers, there is no easy solution to balancing life and creativity. Just know that a writer must do what he or she must do to survive in order to get the words down and to send them out.
The Old Soldier is here for you. We’re all in this together.
*****
English: Jack Kerouac by photographer Tom Palumbo, circa 1956 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Commitment To Write
I know that in a recent post I condemned the blindly, self-destructive lifestyle of writers like Jack Kerouac. His attitude seemed to be that his writing was more important than anything and anybody. It’s the self-destruction and the destructive impact that he had on so many people around him, and they on him, that I was raging against.
But I do admire his talent and his all-consuming commitment to get his work done no matter what.
*****
How To Write Great Flash Fiction
Here’s something that may help you to write your flash fiction.
Think of the action that takes place in your story as being representative of a much longer story. Think of your flash fiction story as the distillation of events that happened before the story began and as a hint of what will happen after the story ends.
Poverty (Photo credit: Teo’s photo)
If you can do this your story will have echos of the past and future in it. You won’t always be able to capture this echo; and sometimes the echo will be loud in some stories and soft in others. But when the echo is there the reader will hear it.
Because in the best flash fiction, the reader is very much a part of the creative process.
*****
This is the Old Soldier reporting from Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is a blog for writers.
- Writers, Don’t Give Up On Yourself (pittsburghflashfictiongazette.com)
Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: blog for writers, creative process, happy balance, how to, Jack Kerouac, life and creativity, Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, Writers | 4 Comments »
Writers, That Happy Balance Between Life And Creativity
Woman As Art
We writers, at least the audience of this blog, are not simply just writers. Most of us are not even full-time writers. We are what I like to call the “slash” people: computer programmer/writers, baker/writers, teacher/writers, student/writers, coach/writers, homemaker/writers, caregiver/writers and yes even bum/writers.
The Old Soldier is a retiree/writer.
So, balancing life with creativity can sometimes be a real problem for many of us. (Even the bum/writer has to put in time panhandling and moving from shelter to shelter–I was homeless once, but that’s another story.)
When do we find time to write?
Because we also have to attend certain required events, clean our homes, cook and eat, do laundry, use the bathroom, put in quality time with family, friends and significant others. Oh, I forgot sleep.
When do we find time to write?
The Old Soldier may be retired, but he doesn’t have a butler or a maid and he has to put in a lot of time being proactive with his personal finances because when you’re a senior citizen, a veteran and of low-income you are eligible for a lot of programs that will lower your expenditures and even increase your income but you have to dig and fight for what you’re eligible for because no one is going to knock on your door with the information. (That last sentence, my friends, is known as a run on sentence.) The search for the information is a part-time job in itself. Then add dealing with Medicare, Medicaid and AARP…I’m not complaining. I’m just saying.
When do we find time to write?
Well, my brother and sister writers, there is no easy solution to balancing life and creativity. Just know that a writer must do what he or she must do to survive in order to get the words down and to send them out.
The Old Soldier is here for you. We’re all in this together.
*****
English: Jack Kerouac by photographer Tom Palumbo, circa 1956 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Commitment To Write
I know that in a recent post I condemned the blindly, self-destructive lifestyle of writers like Jack Kerouac. His attitude seemed to be that his writing was more important than anything and anybody. It’s the self-destruction and the destructive impact that he had on so many people around him, and they on him, that I was raging against.
But I do admire his talent and his all-consuming commitment to get his work done no matter what.
*****
How To Write Great Flash Fiction
Here’s something that may help you to write your flash fiction.
Think of the action that takes place in your story as being representative of a much longer story. Think of your flash fiction story as the distillation of events that happened before the story began and as a hint of what will happen after the story ends.
Poverty (Photo credit: Teo’s photo)
If you can do this your story will have echos of the past and future in it. You won’t always be able to capture this echo; and sometimes the echo will be loud in some stories and soft in others. But when the echo is there the reader will hear it.
Because in the best flash fiction, the reader is very much a part of the creative process.
*****
This is the Old Soldier reporting from Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is a blog for writers.
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Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: blog for writers, creative process, happy balance, how to, Jack Kerouac, life and creativity, Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, Writers | 4 Comments »