Julia MacLeod
Posted: 05 September 2006 12:08 PM   [ Ignore ]
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Hello all!  It’s good to see the forum is working.  I found this site just the other day, during what turned out to be a brief period of electronic turmoil.  It was a little rough trying to figure out how to use the workshop but I seem to be muddling along for the moment.

Calling myself a writer is a tad bit presumputous, but hey, everyone has to start somewhere.  I’m fully employed in a very different career, but I’ve had grand ambitions of writing for a long time.  Writing of a different sort than I occassionally do at my job, which has been described as “clear and concise” on more occassions than I can count.  I’ve dabbled a bit here and there.  I’ve had the most success with poetry, probably because poems are relatively short, much like my attention span. wink

I did submit a very, very short entry to the “Life” category.  I am trying to make some sort of commitment to getting these ideas out of my head and onto electronic media.  I realize that I need practice writing shorter items before I delve too deeply into the elusive “Great American Novel”.  Lots of ideas, just a shortage of time.

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Posted: 05 September 2006 10:28 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]
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Welcome Julia.

You posted a suggestion about Category Voting, so I wanted to ask if you’d tried the “Table of Contents” yet - because that’s where it’s at.

Sorry about the forum confusion earlier, but I’m glad you’re here and I thank you immensely for the suggestions.

Oh I do love the problem of so many wonderful things to do and so little time to do them.  Cyber and I have been trading emails about having to choose between them all each and every time a small space opens up in one’s busy day.  Do you keep thinking about what would be the best thing to do, or do you just start doing one of them?  I say pick one at random and start doing it.  If you finish before you run out of time, HOORAY!  Otherwise, you get practice at leaving things in a state where you can easily pick up where you left off.  Of course, this all ignores the problem that if you choose to do something unimportant and leave something important undone, then you suffer.  Well, to that I say, suffering teaches us the truth.  You’ll know better next time.

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Posted: 06 September 2006 09:08 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]
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Aha!  That makes it so much easier!  Thanks for pointing that out.

How do I decide what to do?  Oh, that’s a topic that gets me into trouble at times. wink

I keep a “wanna” list, ideas I have that I don’t have time to play with at the moment.  That is in one central location on the net, where I can get to it from home, work, wherever.  I typically play with my latest idea first, which leads to many bits and pieces and no completed works.  For a long time, I’ve been wasting time (at work, at home) playing Solitaire, surfing, social message boarding, etc., while daydreaming about doing something useful with that time.  I finally decided to fish rather than cut bait, so when my mind wanders off the task I should be on or I’m stuck waiting for something (10 minutes until a meeting, etc.), I’m either learning writing techniques or practing writing.

Poetry ... I don’t know, it just kind of comes out.  I read some writing advice yesterday that said I should just let it come out (the raw emotion), let it sit, and then come back and make a good poem out of it.  Sounds like a good plan, but I haven’t tried it yet.  Currently, I’m reading about different poetic meters and forms, playing around with them.  Haiku is one I’ve always liked from when I was in school.  I recently some some strung together and thought, “hey, I can do that!”.

I have an idea for working down that wanna list.  If I *finish* two things I’ve *already* started, I’ll allow myself to begin on a new item.  It seems I’m always wanting to start on the new thing, so a little kick in the butt.

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Posted: 06 September 2006 11:39 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]
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That’s an idea - requiring that two things be finished before starting a third.  I might try that some day.  I guess writing down an idea (adding to the wanna list) and working on it are kind of the same thing for me.  I mean, I like to put in a lot up up front design work, so a big part of “working on it” ends up being describing it in ever greater detail.  Then at some point, the specification of details is easier to do just by writing code (or actually doing the thing instead of planning it, if it happens to be something other than coding).

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Posted: 06 September 2006 12:12 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]
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I purposely try to keep the wanna list short and sweet.  Anything past writing a few bullet points constitutes “working on it”.  I have a fairly long commute to work (35-40 minutes each way, assuming people remember how to drive), which is when a lot of ideas come to me.  The wanna list has let me capture them in a way I can get back to them, but then get back to doing what they pay me to do, which often times involves coding. wink

Poetry sometimes feel like a puzzle (which I love) to me, choosing words that fit the pattern I’m after and the emotions I am trying to express.  Since the poems I write are relatively short, I generally jump right in.  I do the same for software that is destined to be short, utility stuff.  With most large software projects, I do a lot of upfront planning as well.  I’m starting to do the same with my theoretical novel as I think of ways to document that will work for me. 

And that finish two things idea ... it’s still an idea for me. wink  I swear I’m going to try it soon.  Yup.

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Posted: 07 September 2006 03:44 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]
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It’s nice to meet you, Julia! smile

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Posted: 04 October 2006 03:08 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]
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Good on yur Julie,
I say let it all come out then put it into some sort of order and you will probably have an award winning poem.
I haven’t introduced myself yet, my nameis Tom and I will put myself ito this forum as soona as I work out how to.
Just keep writing.

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