Write First.....Edit Later!!

Hello my name is Joy and I edit as I write. There I said it, I've admitted that I practice a writing no no. I am 110% guilty of editing as I write!! Yes, I've been told and I've read it time and time again...."write first....edit later" I have tried....no really I have...it's just not that easy...at least not for me. In fact to be totally honest...I've already stopped a couple of times to edit this piece. I can't help myself!! No matter how hard I try I just stop and fix it. It's so easy to hit the back space button on my laptop or simply flip my favorite pencil over and erase my boo boo and fix things when I'm writing. After all isn't that what they are for?

This is why I'm horrible at free writing....I start out fine ...words start popping out and things are going just fine until the first typo happens...grrrrr erase....delete...fix and continue. NO NO NO....keep writing ....keep writing fix it later. This is one of the reasons I get stuck at times...I stop to fix and when I do I end up thinking and thinking....slowing myself down sometimes even stopping a work in progress.

I think I've come up with a great idea to help me write without stopping to edit. Since I prefer to actually sit down with notebook and pencil to write I'm going to try using an ink pen(ugh) instead to see if I can break my bad habit. Since a regular ball point ink pen doesn't have an eraser or a back space button...perhaps I'll be able to just write...and write and edit later! It's worth a try.....no guarantees.

So until next time....I'm off to write.....with my ink pen...UGH!!



never give up!

Finding My Place

So here I am after some much needed encouragement writing my 1^st blog in a year. Yes I know I know….this is supposed to be a weekly event ….but ….no buts about it I really don’t have a good excuse. I could say I just haven’t had time….I could claim writers block….this has been on my to-do list for ….well a while now. Good news is I’m here now…that counts for something….right?

My only actual reason for not blogging is I had no clue what to blog about…I hadn’t found my niche’ or my place in the writing world. Even though my love of writing goes back as far as I can remember I just hadn’t found my true place.

As a child I would interview my granny pretending to be some big shot reporter after the next big story. Growing up I filled page after page in my journals. Somewhere along the way I decided I was a poet and began to enter every poetry contest that I could find. I actually did pretty good, a few honorable mentions, a few poetry award certificates and have a couple of my earlier poems published in anthologies. At one point somewhere in my teens I decided I was writing a book. I sat down and planned it all out, characters, setting, somewhat of a story line then grew bored with it and put it away…I actually ran across the folder containing all my notes, maybe one of these days I’ll dust it off and see what I can do with it. For some reason somewhere in my mid to late 20’s my love for writing got lost in the shuffle of life. I packed away all my notes, journals and works in progress and did whatever it was I thought was more important than writing…honestly I don’t know what it was.

Lucky for me I have the worlds greatest BFF who I’ve looked up to since….well let’s just say a while now. Over the years the distance had come between us….only miles….not our friendship. One weekend a couple of years ago when she was in town visiting family and friends we were doing what we do best…..talking. While chatting we discovered something about each other…we share the love of writing. Listening to her talk about things she was working on, pieces she had published in her college magazine sparked something in me. I felt something I hadn’t in a long time, I felt the need to pick up pencil and write.

With encouragement from my SS (soul sister as we like to call each other) I made the decision I was going to start writing again and it felt good. Nearly 3 years later here I am still writing. I’ve taken several writing classes, attended the DFW Writers Conference in Dallas with my best friend the past 2 years and already planning on attending next years conference it’s a WONDERFUL conference. I learned a lot and met a lot of great people in the writing world. I’ve also written several short stories to enter into miscellaneous contests.

Recently I’ve started writing for a local online magazine, something I had never thought of doing before. When the editor first asked I really wasn’t sure if it was something I could do or wanted to do. I was positive I was going to spend my days writing short stories and the occasional poem. I thought about it a while not wanting to make the wrong decision for the magazine or myself. I decided to give it a try, I wouldn’t know if I could or couldn’t do it without trying it first. So, the editor gave me my 1^st assignment and I started to write and I realized…I liked it….a lot. It was soon clear that I had finally found my place. Now….enough blog ….I have articles to write. I promise to blog weekly….or I’ll be in trouble with my SS …again.

brandflakesforbreakfast: send this to the writer that you know

This is how I feel...


Check this out....


brandflakesforbreakfast: send this to the writer that you know

The Writers Struggle

Negative Nelly vs Polly Positive

Everyone has had days filled with negative thoughts "I can't do this or I can't do that". "I don't know how to do this or that". I know I have had more than my fair share. It's a lot like the story you see where the person is walking around with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, each trying to tell them what they should or shouldn't do.

With me I've got Negative Nelly in one ear and Polly Positive in the other, each with something they are trying to tell me.

Negative Nelly is trying to remind me of all my fears as a writer...."You can't really write.".... "They aren't going to like what you've written." ...."It's been so long since you submitted that, they must really hate it.".... "You will never get that published." "You're going to FAIL."(insert evil laugh here) Is she annoying or what?

After a while of listening to her I'm ready to burn my notebooks and pencils and run as far away from the writing world as I possibly can. She's got such a BIG mouth and is so LOUD when she's nagging me to give up doing what I love the most, writing.


Then Polly Positive tries to calm me down, reminding me that Nelly is a bit over dramatic and slightly negative at times. "Don't worry, they will love it.".... "You can write." ...."You will get into Chicken Soup for the Soul." ....... "Don't give up your dream." .... "Keep writing." How sweet is she?

Just what I need to keep me writing, positive reinforcements. While I don't really think I have these two people on my shoulder whispering in my ears (rolling eyes), I'm not totally insane. This is just how it feels to me as I struggle to take my writing dream to the next level. I feel the constant pull of negative and positive as I move forward. I try to focus on what Polly Positive has to say and ignore Negative Nelly as much as possible, sometimes its just not easy.

Everyone needs a strong positive support system no matter what they are attempting, whether it we trying to get writing published, climbing a mountain, passing a history exam. I'm so glad that I have surrounded myself with those who support what I do and that I can call on for positive boost when Nelly starts.

To those who make up my Polly Positive.... THANK YOU!!!

Grouchy People

What is it with grouchy people? Yes, I know we all have days when we grumble and grump around snarling and snapping at anyone that dares look at us. I'll be the first to admit I can be grouchy, but not all the time.

In my line of work I deal with hundreds of people a day on the phone, I run across more of these grinches than I care to count. However, most of the time I'm only on line with them an average of 1-3 minutes depending on their willingness to cooperate. Still I refuse to let some scrooge on the phone put me in a bad mood. I simply kill em' with kindness. No matter how angry they get I put on my super duper smiley face and get through the call. There are even times by the end of the call the person on the other end of the phone isn't as grouchy. Score one for the smiley side!

Co-workers on the other hand are a totally different story. It's not as easy to bring them over from the dark side with a smile and a "GOOD MORNING". They tend to turn and scurry away as if trying to protect themselves from the sunshine rays and grumble something I can only assume to be their attempt at good morning. I'm not exactly a morning person either but have decided to just embrace it with a smile and hope for the best.

I don't want to be at work as much as the next person but it's part of life. You either go out and work, find a rich someone to take you in and spoil you the rest of your life or get lucky enough to buy the winning lotto ticket and never have to work again. Since the majority of us find ourselves in the first group we find a job and we work.

I warned you about my rambling.....grouchy got in my head today, however I was able to maintain my normal bubbly,happy mood. Now that I've blogged about it I'm even happier!!

Here We Go....

Is this thing on? Please be patient while I figure this blog thing out.Sheesh and I thought Facebook and Twitter were hard. However I am here ready to "blog" about... well....that's a good question. Since this is MY blog I guess I can blog about any old thing I want.