Michael Newberry wrote: "Writing is wonderful and kind of addicting…have to be careful of that if you want to pay your bills!"
Well, in theory, if you get paid for writing, then being addicted to writing helps pay the bills. Of course, writing for SOLO does not pay any bills. So, the statement is true: addictive writing causes poverty. I write here and on a few other forums. I wrote much more for The WELL, the old Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, 20 years old now. For me, this is practice, like scales and etudes -- or perhaps something else. I think of myself as a professional, classical musician, who, on Thursday nights, puts on old clothes and an old hat and takes an old guitar and a bottle wine down to the park to jam with the old boys.
MN: "I thought I would offer my two cents about writing from someone who was never present during classes that were not studio art related and someone who never read a book until college."
You were doing so well up until that point. Then you had to go and ruin it by reading a book. I got a D in studio art and an A in art history. I know the theory, I just can't do the work. Identifying talent is one thing; having it is another. Books are overrated. There are some good ones. Which ones those are is a matter of opinion. (In the "Incredible Mystics" thread of the Articles forum, Robert Bidinotto explains why.)
MN: For lecturing David Kelley simply recommended to give “lots of examples!” I think that carriers over to writing. "
I am not sure. I agree that it is great advice for lecturing because the presentation is temporal. The audience cannot rewind you. So, you have to give them examples to help them understand abstractions. Simulated perceptions reinforce the point you are making. With writing, you can state an abstract principle and present a case at that level, without any examples, really. In fact, I find that examples can be distracting. Analogies fail. Von Mises said that no one argues the facts of economics, only the meaning of the facts. (Perhaps that was an example of what I mean.)
MN: "I think that sincerity goes for a great deal..."
In sales, enthusiasm counts for more than product knowledge. Sincerity is open and honest. Nothing is more convincing. It is true that we can recognize when someone is sincere, but wrong. Even so, right or wrong, empassioned writing is better.
MN: "... professionalism meant an cynical indifference to the subject!"
From another medium entirely, my wife and I enjoyed listened to Lynne V. Cheney, the wife of the Vice President, being interviewed by Terri Gross on "Fresh Air" a public radio show. Of course, it was hostile. Mrs. Cheney was stellar. Terri Gross is often unprepared. She knocks out the shows one after the other and the clock ends the shows, good or bad, and she gets paid the same. I must confess, speaking of writing, that when I worked for a newspaper and had to write three to five features each of 1200 to 2000 words every week, week after week , it got to be work. My writing was less inspired. One cure for that was spending more time in the archives,finding the interesting angle, making the story interesting for myself first.
MN: None of you will know this but I started writing erotica online ..."
I did not start that way, but I have done it. One thing about erorica is that it is visceral. Good writing should be that way. I have had projects where my heart raced while writing, but not enough. Perhaps there could be a SOLO Erotica conference.
MN: "When I started writing articles in earnest I had a wonderful copy editor, an eccentric English gypsy that landed in Rhodes, Greece, she did not change my thought but only made sure it was grammatical. That enabled me to submit work without being embarrassed. But I have never managed to write a whole page grammatically!"
My problem is typographical errors because I am not a typist. My wife is a proofreader, in fact, but I keep her away from my work. We tried it once and I lost interest in arguing editorial content and artistic style. "Your writing is too choppy," she said. "You read English murder mysteries," I replied. "I read cyberpunk."
MN: "I apologize to the real writers out there who love the art of writing!"
Why? What did I miss? I mean, there are very few real writers here. Most of the participants just write for themselves, when they are not writing for SOLO. As far as I know, I am the only freelance writer on SOLO. I suppose you could count Barbara Branden, of course. Even writers like Dr. Tibor Machan write as means to an end. Do not confuse a commuter with a taxicab driver. When the editor of magazine gives me an assignment, I have some choice, but basically, they just got in back and told me to take them someplace, so I throw the flag and pull out. More to the point, you seem to love the art of writing, so no apology is necessary.
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