Writan

How does one write successfully? There are many roads to success, but I, personally, think a lot of knowledge about what you're writing helps immensely. For example, I myself had been an internet troll for several years before embarking on this quest.
John Milton studied the classics and epic poetry for ten whole years before sitting down to write Paradise Lost. But years of practice is, well, a lot of work! You want to write now, goddamn it.
That's okay as long as Livejournal is around. Livejournal, proving that just because you can write it does not mean you are a writer.
This thought directly contradicts this woman's (Kate Hickle, I love being on a first name basis with my target) tag line: "If you wish to be a writer, write" which sounds great, in theory. There's one glaring flaw to this thinking, though: I bought stamps. Does that make me a stamp collector? I can make a TV dinner, am I a chef? If simply doing something (regardless of skill, training, talent et cetera) makes a person something then everyone who has ever put a bandaid on someone is a surgeon.
Of course no one would claim something so ludicrous, and this just goes to show most people don't actually understand what being a writer means.

For once I'm enjoying the revising stage. Wait, did I just say that? Lol.

I think it's safe to say if you're enjoying any part of writing it's shit.
Of course I think it's safe to assume that if you're writing, it's shit.

We are all our own worst critics.

Keep this sentence in mind as we continue our journey through this travesty.

I've been sitting here trying to figure out how to rewrite a key scene in my WIP when it's like a light bulb went off. I just started writing and cant seem to stop. I'm on a roll now. I can't believe that I didn't think of starting the novel this way before, it's genius!

>it's genius
>we are all our own worst critics
Wow, even the greatest pieces of literature ever written have sustained harsher critiques than that.
Now she posts her scene, which if she thinks I'm reading all of that dreck she's mentally ill.
So it's about high school graduation (the ceremony bit). You remember that, don't you? The most interesting part of high school ever. Where everyone sits around and pretends like they're losing something they're going to miss. Then it ends and everyone fucks off to the rest of their lives.

Now, let me explain a few things. In high school, you have your cliques;

Maybe you've never experienced mundane, everyday life before. Let me explain it for you:

the cheerleaders, the popular crowd, the football players, drama geeks and the nerds. My friends and I don’t fit into any of those categories.

Oh great, you picked a main character who has no personality or defining characteristics. YOU KNOW ALL THOSE NOTABLE HIGH SCHOOL CHARACTERS? YEAH, WELL I'M NONE OF THOSE. I'M THE TEEMING, UNWASHED MASSES.
Fantastic.
Let's see, now-- dialog, dialog, dialog, dialog-- you know you can advance a plot through something else, don't you? I know, I know, unlikely, but it has happened before.

I couldn’t even form words. Ryan was breaking up with me. After five years together, it was over. It couldn’t be.

Oh wow that's really-- oh shit, fuck me I had a huge yawn that made my temples throb for a second.

Was he looking for Elizabeth?

Weren't you spelling it "Elisabeth" not... Six paragraphs ago? Maybe this is two different characters?

“Nothing.” He clenched the wheel tighter. ‘Bullshit’ I mumbled under my breath. “What did you say?” He asked angrily.

You know when you fail to space shit out it just feels like a list, so your audience is going to read this like it's a boring conversation that no one gives a shit about (which it is).
Let's fix this, shall we?

"Nothing." He clenched the wheel tighter.

'Bullshit' I mumbled under my breath.

"What did you say?" he asked angrily.

That's already better. But it's still drab and lifeless, so I think we could further enhance this by not being a shitty writer banging out every thought that comes into our head onto a keyboard.
Let's try together.

"Nothing," he said, gripping the wheel tighter.

There was an uncomfortable silence. I shifted my weight, trying to fill the void. After that feeble attempt, I grew angry, or perhaps it was disappointment. "Bullshit," I uttered to myself.

"What did you say?" he said, turning to me. I could see the blind, fleeting anger in his eyes.

"Focus on the road you shit," spake I.

See, that wasn't so hard, was it? The guy is creeping on this bitch, so he should probably be angry and guilty both at himself and the situation, so I tried to reflect that in his actions. See how his anger was blind and fleeting? That's because he channeled it, temporarily, at her, but it'd quickly pass and he'd realize he was actually the jerk.
You could do any number of things. I was setting this character up as more sympathetic than a complete villain, but you might find that works better for you.

“I just think that we need to take some time to ourselves, he shifted his body towards me,

Shouldn't he be shifting away? "We need time to ourselves, here let me get closer," is what that says.

What do you think?

I think you're a subpar writer with no real talent or knack for characterization, pacing or dialog. You write everything in that dialog-heavy, meandering postmodern style that no one is going to remember fifty years from now.
In other words, keep at it and you'll have a best seller.

I heard back from my critique partner and the advice she gave me about my edits wasn't really as bad as I first thought it would be.

Oh, well, if you're looking for ass kissing then you better not read my advice. Edits should only be as brutal as they need to be. If you don't want people to be mean to you, you should try harder to not be shit at whatever it is you do.
Take for example what I'm listening to right now. Crazy Train by Ozzie. What can I say about this besides "it's fucking awesome"?
That's because he's not a hack. That's the way it works.

"Overall, really great ideas and a quick read. Great characterization and I think your writing is improving, you are becoming more comfortable with who you are as a writer. It shows, and i can't wait to read the edits" <--- this makes me smile :)

Great characterization? Fuck.

It seems that every day I sit and stare at an empty computer screen, the cursor just blinking at me. With nothing to write. Its intimidating.

OH LET ME JUST SIT HERE AND STARE AT THE SCREEN LIKE A HUMP, THEN.

I started reading Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts the other day. Right now, I have 4 books in my TBR pile and I noticed yesterday that they are all continuing series. Pagan Stone is the end of "The Hollow" series, Breaking Dawn is the end of Twilight and White Witch Black Curse is the next novel, possibly last, of Kim Harrison's vampire series.

Good grief so that's where you get all your notions from.

Even though, I just bought another book I wanted, I've been wanting to finish the Twilight series for a few months now and it's the cheapest I've seen the book, so in a way I actually saved money.

Spending money is saving money. This is only logic to women.

I'm hoping last night's dream doesn't come true.

Well good thing it was just in your head and not reality, then. You know just because you think something doesn't make it true, right?

Now, that I sit and think about it, its probably due to the fact that my husband and I are trying to get pregnant, but it still seems weird to me.

Gross. More than I wanted to know.
Incidentally, it's just you getting pregnant. Your husband, by definition, cannot get pregnant. He is a man.

It's Friday the 13th. I'm not one to be superstitious but I thought that it was a little weird that the same day that my Writers Digest magazine shows up in the mail with an article on revising/editing your novel, I begin to wonder if writing is really for me?

Uhh--
You are superstitious.

Jealousy rears it's ugly head

its* ugly head. Basic grammar, come on.
Well I think that's it. I kind of lost interest and started doing other shit.