Challenge day 5

Pages 69- 82, sections 26-29

Busy Saturday made for late reading. I almost put it off. Alas I’m going to try my best therefore I read.

Damn Mr. King is a good writer.

Today’s take:

Having someone who believes in you makes all the difference. A writers perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the readers. Stopping a piece of work because it is hard is a bad idea. The challenge of not liking, or being uncomfortable with, a character or situation might actually bring about a good work. Possibly an incredibly good work.

I’m finding that his lessons about writing are lessons about life. I’m happy that I took this challenge on. I’m happy I made it a challenge to break it up, to write about it and to digest it in small pieces.

Challenge day 4

Today’s read pages 55-69, sections 20-26

Early day today as the afternoon and evening are booked.

Right now Little Phoebe, our 3.4 pound Yorkie, is at the vet having a teeth cleaning, mom is in her bathroom preparing for her day in front of the TV, our housekeeper is busy upstairs, I have email to get to and clients to call followed by therapy for the shoulder (read 90 minute massage) then dinner to prepare for mom, pick up Phoebe and take mom out on her walk all before I head to this evening’s Padres vs Diamondbacks game at Petco Park.

Entertaining is a good adjective for today’s read.

Today’s takeaway for me is on pages 57 & 62; “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you re-write the story, your main job is taking out all the things that aren’t the story.” & good writing comes spontaneously, in an upbrush of feeling that has to be caught at once. 

 

Challenge day 3

Today’s read pages 44-54, sections 18 & 19.

Short sweet and simple:

Whatever you create in life be it write, paint, dance, or… someone at some point will ‘constructively’ suggest that you can do better, thus implying you didn’t do well and with that one may feel shame.

Don’t. Don’t ever be ashamed of anything you create. If you briefly do, make it brief and don’t carry the shame. It’s all part of the creative process, even if it wasn’t your best or flat out wasn’t good. It is what will get you to the next thing and the next level, as long as you don’t let shame get you down.

Challenge day 2

Todays Read was from page 31-44 ending at section 18.

There is no magical story place, good story ideas come from literally nowhere. My job is only to recognize ideas as they show up.

Stephen King was rejected. He was rejected a lot. He didn’t stop simply because someone said no.

Capture encouragement, even when it’s received with rejection, and run with it.

Imagine imagination.

Challenge day 1

Todays read: forward 1, forward 2, forward three then on through page 31 stopping at section 10.

I haven’t read a Stephen King novel in years but I remember his captivating language of description that always held my attention. He literally paints a picture with words. His style is evident here. The pages fly under my fingertips as the images the words create fill my head.

First and foremost in forward one is the word language.

Page 18 encourages me as he believes writers are formed rather than made. Entry 1, also on page 18, instills in me the muse of imagination. Entry 2 at page 20 stresses humor. Entry 8 on page 29 reminds me to recognize and accept encouragement. Page 30 under entry 9 allows me to take the same inspiration and use it over and over by expanding it in a different direction each time creating new elements of interest.

There I did it. I started my journey, however brief or small it is a big step forward for me, even if it’s just one step. Thank you for coming along with me.

Personal challenge

When I started this here Fearsome Beard blog thingy, I didn’t really have any direction for it. I hadn’t set a goal nor even visualized a dream. I was simply inspired by Dr. Spo, Sean, Erik and The Warrior Queen. I wanted to become more of a part of their community. I also wanted to maybe get to know myself a bit better by occasionally recording a thought, contemplation or feeling.

Fearsome became my muse. My beard had become very much a part of who I was. I decided that naming him and making the blog “ours” would allow me to express myself more easily. It worked. Starting on June 1, 2014 we have very rarely missed a day. Many of those days we only posted a photo of a beard. To do this we had to search and find a photo that we liked or expressed a feeling that conveyed meaning to us.

We have experimented with writing which frankly isn’t something I had any experience with whatsoever. We have done many things from posting opinions, inspirations, music, videos and even wrote poetry. Me poetry? Last thing I ever thought I’d try, much less post publically.

Yes, Fearsome Beard has taken Fearsome and I to places we never really thought we would go. So now comes the challenge after more than 4 years of blogging and 2,592 posted entries.

What do we want from our blog? Does it have a purpose? Could it help us on our life’s journey? Could this here blog thingy mean more to us? Could it be more than it is and has been so far?

During Comic-Con 2017 I attended a panel on writing and becoming a writer. I went simply because my niece was going and I thought to myself “what could it hurt to learn a little more about writing?” I left inspired and with a title of a book to read that everyone on the panel agreed hands down was the best book in print on the subject of writing.

Stephen King’s On Writing/A memoir of the Craft.

Being so inspired I immediately ordered a copy. Inspiration wearing off like it can, the book has been on my nightstand for more than a year unopened.

Starting today I commit to reading. Reading at a minimum 10 pages daily (maybe more, but at least 10) and then blogging briefly about my reading each and every day. By blogging I can cement my take on each day’s read in my brain. By sharing I might inspire another or convey something of value to another. By committing publically I am allowing myself to be accountable to you my dear readers to follow my dream of learning more about writing, of learning more about myself, of growing my skills and of creatively expressing myself as I have never have before.

Wish me the best and feel free to comment and/or hold me to my commitment. I only ask that any input to please be constructive and encouraging.