Writing for The Sake of Writing

I wonder about what would motivate others to take up a pen and paper to write a note or letter or some other writing instead of relying heavily on texting and email communications.  In some forums even getting someone to talk to you on the phone is becoming less important. 

I recently gave my school mentee a diary so that she can explore writing.  I am encouraging her to write something each day or even each week in her diary.  Only time will tell how that works out. 

I have send cards and mail but most responses have been in the form of phone calls or emails.  So it's just really hard to get some others to be enthusiastic about writing.  

I didn't have time to write much this week because I have been on the road quite a bit and today I am feeling a bit under the weather and tired from the running around.  I will look for inspiration for next week's topic. 

Choosing Your Genre

I didn't sit down to find out what kind of genre I would like to write.  I had to delve into my psyche to find out what kind of writings I really enjoyed doing and did well.  I believe it is an easy task to decide once you reflect back to what really gives you great enjoyment to write.  I would think that is the path to pursue.  I can only imagine that if you try to force your writing into a particular genre that you are not sure would inspire your writing that would be very difficult.  I can't imagine writing contracts would be inspirational to me in a way that gets my creative juices flowing.  I'm sure I could do a few but not on a longterm basis. 

Perhaps it might be a good idea to write all the genres down and then figure out how long you would be able to write for that category and whether it would really inspire your creativity.

Journalizing

Recently I started wondering how many people still keep a diary/journal.  As it pertains to kids it's probably more important to say "diary" and as for adults it's more important to say "journal."  Whichever way is preferred I wonder how many keep a daily or as close to daily account in writing of what they are feeling, ideas that come to mind or what is important to notate  in the account of one's life.  When I was growing up and still in school I did keep a diary.  As an adult I didn't continue to keep a daily account of the goings on in my life.  I don't feel that I missed anything by not doing it as I didn't feel it was a natural part of the transition into adulthood.  Therefore, the diary/journal didn't come with the territory.

I am mentoring a 5th grader at a local school.  I can't recall what made me think of it but I asked her if she has a diary.  She was baffled.  She had no clue at all about a diary.  That is why I decided to do this topic for this week.  I had to explain to her what it is and the purpose it serves.  I then wondered how many other children today do not know what a diary is and what it means.  I have been searching for a gift since her birthday is coming up later this month.  Now I have found the perfect gift.

I've found one bookstore nearby that has at least 2 different styles to choose from that come with a lock and keys.  I was a little worried that I would have a rather difficult time finding one.  I was pleased to see, although the supply is limited, that diaries haven't been completely fazed out as other favorite products have in the marketplace that we live in these days.   I could write a continuing series on favorite products that really worked that are no longer available, but I won't go down that road here.

When I present this diary to my mentee I do hope she will be able to dive right into the concept of keeping her daily life experiences and thoughts on paper.  I will help her by getting her to write something down right away after she receives it.  I hope it takes hold like a vine and continues to be an enjoyable part of her growth to adulthood as it was for me.

The Worth of Writing

Sometime ago before I stopped writing for years I had done some research to see how I could get credit for my writing so that I could build my writing resume.  This topic came to mind as I recently had to write a resume.  This is something that I hadn't done in more than 15 years because of a career path I undertook in a particular work sector.  Long time ago there was a saying that "the pen is mightier than the sword".  I wonder even now what happened to the high value placed on the mite of words in the freelance writing industry.

I remembered taking all kinds of time formulating a resume on Elance, Craig's List and Daily Variety.  I also had access to jobs that were posted by entities who paid for freelance writing.  This was no easy task.  It took lots of time and research in looking at what the job entailed and finding out the history of the entity who requested the work. When I felt that a job request was one that I could fulfill proficiently I would post my bid for  the job.  I did this although not consistently or diligently for about 6 months.  It seemed that when I thought that I gave a bid that was a reasonable one for the job at hand I would always be outbid by what I would consider a consortium.  I gathered that there were organized groups that were quite successful in getting the jobs and doing the work for almost peanuts.  That is my estimation as I believe I valued my writing appropriately and I was not willing to value it less just to get an assignment.  It seems that there was a very large contingency of requests for jobs and because of the bidding process they were very happy to have pay for extensive writings with very precise requirements for next to nothing.

This was an eyeopener and it was a very valuable learning experience.  As a writer I had to know how much my writing was worth.  I believe I possess the talents and the abilities to give a well written product.  I believe I have high standards and would expect that anyone I worked for would have the same.  Note that some of the job requests did entail finishing unfinished projects or redoing work that was done poorly.  I believe there is a saying that "you get what you pay for".  I don't envision giving my writing away for free even though there were people bold enough to submit requests with a caveat that there was no money available to compensate the writer.  I am quite happy to wait until I can find a writing project that will offer compensation commensurate to the requirements of the requester.  We all must know how much our writing is worth.   Let's not sell ourselves short.  Let's value our writing assets appropriately.    

A Failure To Capture

Last week I had a moment of inspiration for the topic of my next post which is for today.  However because I was out somewhere I didn't jot down my musings so that I could further develop the idea.  Naturally I can't remember what I came up with now that it is 4 days later.  This is not the first time that this has happened to me. I'm hoping that it is the last time.  I can't help but remember what I read in Stephen King's book "On Writing".  I recall that he went to many lengths to find a piece of paper regardless of what kind of paper to write down his idea then and there so that he wouldn't have to rattle his brain trying to remember.   He spoke about writing notes on napkins on the airplane, tearing off pieces of paper from here and there to jot down what came to mind.

I should have had the drive to do something like this when the idea came into my head.  It was clear to me at the time that this was necessary.  I told myself that I was close to home and would remember the idea.  That was a mistake.  I took Stephen King's words to heart back when I read them and kept a little note pad in my purse for those ideas that pop up on the spur of the moment.  So now that it has been more than 3 years ago and I'm back in the mode of writing extensively I can't fathom why I didn't take the time to write the idea down on paper or even type it into the notes section of my android phone.   

This failure has definitely identified another problem that I need to overcome as I move forward with my writing.  I must re-establish the good habits that I learned about 3 years ago.  I need to do that quickly in order to feel that I have made some progress as I continue to write in the future.

I can't help but want to pinch myself for missing this opportunity.  Every thought or idea that excites and inspires the mind brings forth an opportunity.  Failure to write it down somewhere for further development leads to a missed opportunity.  I hope that I have learned from this missed opportunity and will take the necessary steps to capitalize upon future opportunities.