My favorite place to write is not my desk. It's when Luna and I are curled up together, and she's actually quiet and curled up and all cute-like, like one of those motivational kitten posters, and I can have my notebook in front of me and just. Write in it with nothing in the world bothering me.
This kind of perfect writing time happens maybe once every few months. And on these days I usually spend so much time marveling about how everything seemed to come together so darn well that. I end up not writing as much as I should. Just laying there like an idiot until I fall asleep or Luna smacks me.
Things are pretty much always going to be busy. Your mind and body are rarely going to be in that perfect: 'let's do it!' mode. And stuff in life is going to happen whenever the hell it pleases. You have to accept all that, and you have to accept that if you want to write, you have to learn to just... do it.
Yes, there are times when I think to myself "well I can't write because I just got an arrow to the face" or "I can't write because giant bugs just molested and ate parts of me." But really, when I'm laying in bed sulking and trying to heal up, what the hell else should I be doing? Just sulking isn't productive. And yes, it's hard to start writing when you're in pain or distracted, but... you know what? It often helps.
Sometimes I think to myself, things were too busy to write. But really? So every moment of the entire day was used up by me doing something that left me no time to work on anything whatsoever? I never had a single moment of time where I was just.. laying on my face somewhere, or Luna and I were wasting time, or I was just lounging around, not really working on anything?
You can always find a moment to write. It's just that lack of motivation again, that... very natural desire to procrastinate or wait for a better moment or when you're not feeling tired or crappy or braindead. But as I've found out a lot of life is. Kind of being about crappy and braindead and learning to push through that and get things done all the time. I mean, if you really want to write, don't just say it... write. Even if it's not fun, well. Writing's not about fun, not all the time. Sometimes it's going to suck. Sometimes it's going to be a pain in the ass. Sometimes it's going to keep you up at night and sometimes it's going to keep you from doing all the stuff you want to do. But... write anyway. Because often the story at the end of the day is worth it.
~Scrivener Blooms
Friday 28 June 2013
Friday 21 June 2013
Mean Things People Have Said To Me
Sometimes, as a writer, it's good to look back on where you've come from. To remind yourself both where you began, and the mistakes you made along the way, so you'll remember to treat other writers with respect and dignity... and also so you can look back at all the people who didn't believe in you along the way and really revel in that nasty little sense of accomplishing something everyone said you could never do.
So let's take a look at some of things people who never believed in me said. And some of my responses, because I'm just that kind of guy.
> "You're a failure who will never amount to anything."
Actually my net cost to maintain even as a slave was a hundred and fifteen bits annually. So there.
> "I hate your writing."
I hate my writing too. Let's be friends~
(Sidenote: using a tilde in any textual response makes you 10% more of an asshole)
> "u r the wrost writer i have ever seen u suk"
Have you looked in the mirror lately? If not, I wouldn't recommend it. You may be forced to face certain facts about yourself you might not want to.
> "This poem was devoid of real feeling and content and instead followed an overly-cliche rhetorical analysis trope that failed to coexist with the symbolism inferred."
I can use big words too, you fallacious, pedantic ninnyhammer. Or I can say 'u r 2 dum to get it.' The latter will probably make you more frustrated so let's go with that.
> "you probably live in your mother's basement with your boyfriend"
My mother would never have allowed me to have a boyfriend in her basement.
(Sidenote: ambiguity is your friend. It frustrates people even more and often causes them to try dumb follow-ups that you can wholeheartedly abuse)
> "so you live in his mother's basement"
No, I live in your mother's basement. Because I'm doing her. Every single night.
> "You're a reject. You'll never amount to anything. Just stop writing and give up forever. No one changes, so go back to where you came from."
If no one changes, then you're always going to be stupid and ugly and a coward hiding at a distance behind a thin veil of letters, and me? I'm always going to be that guy in the corner, trying to write. By your own logic, I can't stop writing. And by your own logic, you can't stop being an asshole. I think I'd rather be a writer than an asshole.
> "this was great :D"
YOU LIAR. YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW.
> "Don't quit your day job."
This is my day job, so I'll take that as a compliment. Glad you so clearly approve!
(Sidenote: exclamation marks also can make you a jerk)
> "If you ever get so much as a nod from a real publisher, I'll eat my horseshoes."
Don't do that. Here, I've enclosed one of mine and a signed copy of a magazine I was published in. Bon appetit.
> "you should rite happyer poems"
You should go read happyer poems.
> "i don't get it."
Read the poem, and don't try to understand it. Just close your eyes afterwards, and keep them closed until you see an image form. Then see if you get it or not.
(Sidenote: I don't believe honestly confused people should be clumped in with jerks. Try and be nice to them. Frustrating as it can be)
Getting to be a better writer doesn't mean these people are all going to go away. It also doesn't mean you sudden have a greater like-to-dislike ratio. But when you start feeling like you've come a long way, when you start looking at your work and seeing what accomplishments you've managed... don't be afraid to go back, and look at what people used to say. Likewise, don't be afraid to look at what people are saying now.
Something important to remember is that someone who doesn't like your work isn't automatically your enemy. You're not going to please anyone. The people you should work to ignore, to overpower, are the people who are purely destructive: these are the people you can gain a victory over. And it's not by being a smartass like me, but by refusing to become destructive yourself: by continuing to create instead of letting them drag you down to the point where you give up, and just go out there, picking on other 'not as good' writers and trying to destroy them, too.
I believe everyone is capable of good writing, given time and patience... and a little help along the way. Remember what you overcome to get here. And if you had it, remember the help that other people gave you, and to thank them every now and then. I know I wouldn't be half the writer I am without my soulmate by my side.
~Scrivener Blooms
So let's take a look at some of things people who never believed in me said. And some of my responses, because I'm just that kind of guy.
> "You're a failure who will never amount to anything."
Actually my net cost to maintain even as a slave was a hundred and fifteen bits annually. So there.
> "I hate your writing."
I hate my writing too. Let's be friends~
(Sidenote: using a tilde in any textual response makes you 10% more of an asshole)
> "u r the wrost writer i have ever seen u suk"
Have you looked in the mirror lately? If not, I wouldn't recommend it. You may be forced to face certain facts about yourself you might not want to.
> "This poem was devoid of real feeling and content and instead followed an overly-cliche rhetorical analysis trope that failed to coexist with the symbolism inferred."
I can use big words too, you fallacious, pedantic ninnyhammer. Or I can say 'u r 2 dum to get it.' The latter will probably make you more frustrated so let's go with that.
> "you probably live in your mother's basement with your boyfriend"
My mother would never have allowed me to have a boyfriend in her basement.
(Sidenote: ambiguity is your friend. It frustrates people even more and often causes them to try dumb follow-ups that you can wholeheartedly abuse)
> "so you live in his mother's basement"
No, I live in your mother's basement. Because I'm doing her. Every single night.
> "You're a reject. You'll never amount to anything. Just stop writing and give up forever. No one changes, so go back to where you came from."
If no one changes, then you're always going to be stupid and ugly and a coward hiding at a distance behind a thin veil of letters, and me? I'm always going to be that guy in the corner, trying to write. By your own logic, I can't stop writing. And by your own logic, you can't stop being an asshole. I think I'd rather be a writer than an asshole.
> "this was great :D"
YOU LIAR. YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW.
> "Don't quit your day job."
This is my day job, so I'll take that as a compliment. Glad you so clearly approve!
(Sidenote: exclamation marks also can make you a jerk)
> "If you ever get so much as a nod from a real publisher, I'll eat my horseshoes."
Don't do that. Here, I've enclosed one of mine and a signed copy of a magazine I was published in. Bon appetit.
> "you should rite happyer poems"
You should go read happyer poems.
> "i don't get it."
Read the poem, and don't try to understand it. Just close your eyes afterwards, and keep them closed until you see an image form. Then see if you get it or not.
(Sidenote: I don't believe honestly confused people should be clumped in with jerks. Try and be nice to them. Frustrating as it can be)
Getting to be a better writer doesn't mean these people are all going to go away. It also doesn't mean you sudden have a greater like-to-dislike ratio. But when you start feeling like you've come a long way, when you start looking at your work and seeing what accomplishments you've managed... don't be afraid to go back, and look at what people used to say. Likewise, don't be afraid to look at what people are saying now.
Something important to remember is that someone who doesn't like your work isn't automatically your enemy. You're not going to please anyone. The people you should work to ignore, to overpower, are the people who are purely destructive: these are the people you can gain a victory over. And it's not by being a smartass like me, but by refusing to become destructive yourself: by continuing to create instead of letting them drag you down to the point where you give up, and just go out there, picking on other 'not as good' writers and trying to destroy them, too.
I believe everyone is capable of good writing, given time and patience... and a little help along the way. Remember what you overcome to get here. And if you had it, remember the help that other people gave you, and to thank them every now and then. I know I wouldn't be half the writer I am without my soulmate by my side.
~Scrivener Blooms
Friday 14 June 2013
Weird.
So okay, that was a weird poem that popped up. Well, whatever, I'm sure it's nothing important. It's probably Luna or one of her creepy... well, okay, we don't have a lot of friend-friends. Not friends who can just come along and poke at our home whenever. And the ones who can, well, you probably wouldn't want to meet them anywhere.
Moving on. I have absolutely nothing useful to say this week. So I'm going to talk about what I did over the course of said week. You know, I found out that bears really aren't all that bad. Some of them, anyway. It helps that Luna's always there to lightning them if something goes horribly wrong but all the same, I chased one off completely by myself.
We saw a deer. I'm not going to mention what Luna wanted to do to it. The deer around here seem to be different from the deer in other places of Equestria, though... maybe it's the effect of having lived in the Everfree for so long, I dunno. They're animal, wilder, like the birds and beasts around here, they don't seem to have the same intelligent... not even the same body structure, really.
Luna says a lot of animals used to be eaten. Can you believe that? Ponies eating other animals. Although of course, in the old days, Equestria had a lot more than pony running around, and I suppose their stomachs were a lot tougher. I mean, today there's all these cooking preparations and stuff that Luna just doesn't understand and gets mad at me for because I really don't want some horrible bacteria crawling around in my stomach.
Uh, what else... oh, right. Luna insisted on teaching me more about armor and equipment and... beating other people up. I still don't get how I'm supposed to learn all this, though... I mean, if you're going to be some elite warrior, you're supposed to be trained in it from birth or something, or born with that innate talent. Me, I'm just a poet. Even though Luna says poets are monstrous things, I don't really think that's true. Still, though... I dunno. It feels weird, thinking that something actually bad might happen any day now, you know?
Anyway, that's enough for now. Luna wants to teach me something about... preparing food. I'm a little scared of what that means, considering Luna is. Luna.
~Scrivener Blooms
Moving on. I have absolutely nothing useful to say this week. So I'm going to talk about what I did over the course of said week. You know, I found out that bears really aren't all that bad. Some of them, anyway. It helps that Luna's always there to lightning them if something goes horribly wrong but all the same, I chased one off completely by myself.
We saw a deer. I'm not going to mention what Luna wanted to do to it. The deer around here seem to be different from the deer in other places of Equestria, though... maybe it's the effect of having lived in the Everfree for so long, I dunno. They're animal, wilder, like the birds and beasts around here, they don't seem to have the same intelligent... not even the same body structure, really.
Luna says a lot of animals used to be eaten. Can you believe that? Ponies eating other animals. Although of course, in the old days, Equestria had a lot more than pony running around, and I suppose their stomachs were a lot tougher. I mean, today there's all these cooking preparations and stuff that Luna just doesn't understand and gets mad at me for because I really don't want some horrible bacteria crawling around in my stomach.
Uh, what else... oh, right. Luna insisted on teaching me more about armor and equipment and... beating other people up. I still don't get how I'm supposed to learn all this, though... I mean, if you're going to be some elite warrior, you're supposed to be trained in it from birth or something, or born with that innate talent. Me, I'm just a poet. Even though Luna says poets are monstrous things, I don't really think that's true. Still, though... I dunno. It feels weird, thinking that something actually bad might happen any day now, you know?
Anyway, that's enough for now. Luna wants to teach me something about... preparing food. I'm a little scared of what that means, considering Luna is. Luna.
~Scrivener Blooms
Friday 7 June 2013
Prophecy
And if there is a KING
Let him raise his CROWN high
and GLORY BE GLORY BE
SCEPTER held towards the sky!
Let his BLUE HEART glow
for he is the TENTH to be CROWNED
DARKNESS reigns and DARKNESS rains
and the SKY shall fall upon the GROUND!
KING OF NOTHING he stands high
through hatred he plans to SAVE us all
and when HEAVEN has bled dry
then GOTTERDAMMERUNG will fall!
So PRAY with the heart of the PIOUS
as MOON, STAR and ROSE race upon high
HELL rising to save DEAD PARADISE
From the claws of the KING that will not die!
Let him raise his CROWN high
and GLORY BE GLORY BE
SCEPTER held towards the sky!
Let his BLUE HEART glow
for he is the TENTH to be CROWNED
DARKNESS reigns and DARKNESS rains
and the SKY shall fall upon the GROUND!
KING OF NOTHING he stands high
through hatred he plans to SAVE us all
and when HEAVEN has bled dry
then GOTTERDAMMERUNG will fall!
So PRAY with the heart of the PIOUS
as MOON, STAR and ROSE race upon high
HELL rising to save DEAD PARADISE
From the claws of the KING that will not die!
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