New Submission

About to send in a 700 word fiction to a local magazine for possible publication. I usually write in first person based on nonfiction experiences. It's a habit that my fiction was also in first person. After the fourth reading, I changed POV to third person. The change seemed to read better. One more reading, and I'll send it out.

Blog change

I'm blogging at http://jcarlin.blog.com for general writing and painting.

This blog site is for autobiography, but I'm heading off to other avenues. I may return here, but as blogging goes, we'll see.

More writing

Since November of 2008, I've experienced more impulses to write in various modes. At the moment, I'm preparing a screenplay for a workshop I'm attending.

Never having done one before, it's a challenge but increases my experience as a writer.

Blog in the fog

I admit that blogging is vague to me, but I'm gradually getting to know what to do with it. Most importantly, readers need to know how to find my blog. So I'm working on making it easier for everyone...especially me. Therefore, I will be changing my blog address once again. This time, look for it at:

http://jackiepiascarlin.maui.net/.

New blog place

I've switched my blog to myadvertiser.com under the name "mauiwriter". See you there.

Warm Up

Whenever I begin to write, it takes a few minutes to warm up. My thoughts don’t flow well until I’ve jotted down a few paragraphs of nonsense or disconnected ideas.

It’s difficult to concentrate on any idea when you’re staring at that computer expecting the words to appear by themselves. The best thing to do is to start typing…anything.

Allow the words to flow, whether or not they make any sense. Turn off that little critic in your mind that says that every line has to be perfect. Trust your own desires. You’ll soon realize that what you initially wrote develops into something else entirely.

Soon enough, the words come out faster and the first page becomes the third before you know it.

Blogging

It is 5:00 a.m. Hawaiian Standard Time. I am not usually awake this early, but the moon is full and I will be going out for a run within the hour. Posting this now would be up to date for the rest of the day since we are few or more hours behind the rest of the world. Maybe some days it will be later; and depending on my schedule, it might be daily, or maybe weekly.

That is how writing goes. I encourage my classes to write every day. This writing time does not have to focus on the particular project that you are seriously working on. It can be time devoted to a blog, such as this, or your journal. Jotting down a shopping list is also writing. Organize the articles in proximity of where they are, such as the market, hardware store, or cosmetic counter. Then map out the shortest route to take in order to save time and gas. This mapped shopping list also frees your mind while driving.

It sounds anal, but this is a marvelous way to organize your thoughts…as in writing an essay or book. Organization enables the writer to group thoughts together for paragraphs or chapters. Like the shopping trip , organization is a map of ideas-where to go and what to do.