Written Whispers

Well, I’ve just sent an article out for submission and I’m hoping for the best. Someday I’d really like to get into freelancing or any sort of job in fact that allows me to write on a frequent basis (and doesn’t require much lifting) but I often wonder if I have anything in me to write about other than stories and poetry. I know I could easily write about foster care or all my many blessed issues but who really wants to hear about that stuff? Isn’t there enough depression in the world as is? If I want to write about that I’ll do it on my own time so I can help people but I doubt I can make money off of it.

I’m writing articles to put on a site called Constant Content and perhaps make a little cash on the side. The first, and as of yet only, time I submitted an article it was rejected. Apparently my style doesn’t quite fit in their guidelines. The subject I had chosen was somewhere along the lines of spirituality, a topic I care for deeply and consider myself adept at writing about.

Later that night I went through their site and though they have a section for spiritual related writing- it’s thin. What they seem to accept more often than not is technical style writing so I decided to try something different.

It took me a couple of days to figure out that I do know about something that I can write about (that’s useful to the general public). I’ve been running my own community based web site for almost two years now. I started from scratch, self teaching myself HTML, the evilness of Java, PHP, and CSS. Eventually I worked my way up to using programs like Joomla and Drupal. I noticed that articles about web design tend to go fairly well so I’ve tried my hand at it. It was a bit dull to write but slightly satisfying to write about something I know- not the usual for me as I almost always have to do tons of research during my story writing.

I wrote an article on the very basics of HTML. It’s extremely short, not even 500 words and I’m hoping the format (bullet points) holds up during the submission process otherwise it’s going to look like a mass of gobligook.

Wish me luck all. I know it’s not the same as submitting to a magazine. It’s just a place to put articles and hope someone buys them, that’s the real acceptance point. Still, I’d really like them to approve my submission. It just takes me one step closer. I figure if I can get some of my technical writing (that’s what it’s called right?) out there then I might have a better chance with some of my other writing. I can hope, and hey maybe I’ll find a niche I didn’t know I had and learn to write the boring stuff really well.

You never know!

Here- have some quotes I enjoy.

"One cannot truly understand and appreciate the light until they have been submerged in darkness." -Me

"Life’s a journey not a destination." -Aerosmith

"Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well." -Peter Ustinov

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." -Michelangelo

"Indeed the pen mightier than the sword, for though the sword can pierce the heart; the pen is all that keeps it beating." -Me

"Even angels have bad days." -Unknown

"Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become, in the hands of one who knows how to combine them!" -Nathaniel Hawthorne

I love quotes and would love to here some of your favorites my fellow bloggers.

Alright, normally I won’t even read blogs promoting things or that are filled with adds and such because they feel like one long infomercial to me and trust me I get to watch plenty enough of those when Hunny and I can’t find the remote and the button on the TV is broken. Very uncool indeed.

Then again- if the post or blog is supporting a ’cause’ and aren’t trying to sell me something I’m more than likely to check it out even if it’s a cause I don’t personally support or believe in. I like to know what motivates other people and what they support. Call it people watching from afar with less stalker like qualities if you will. Anyway’s, I stopped by this site recently http://thingsbymike.com/ireply-movement/ and read a post they had written about the ‘iReply movement’. Here’s the gist of it:

If people give you comments and you believe in being active with your blog and possibly the blogging community you would generally reply back to comments and encourage others to do so. Doesn’t sound like that big of a deal right? Right- but I think it’s nice none the less so I decided to post something about it. :) I’m going to add their button to my blog here in a little bit now that I’ve finally found the time to get my template looking how I want it. I don’t think I could stand not to reply. I’m too long winded and enjoy typing too much to pass up an opportunity and I tend to give long responses if I can.

Or at least you don’t know all of these. I’m sure some of you out there know one or two. :) The list starts from the least secret fact about me to the most.

1. I honestly believe in Faeries. To me they are very real beings to be treated with respect and caution during the best of times.
2. Even with all the opportunities and offers, and despite the fact that not many people told me it was a bad thing, I have never once done drugs -or- handled them in my entire life.
3. People seriously scare me. They make me nervous and paranoid.
4. I have Scoliosis and one hip that is quite noticeable higher than the other. I am very self conscious of this.
5. I don’t go by my birth name even in real life do to spiritual beliefs. Outside the Internet in the world we call reality I go by the name [has been removed]. I spell it like that because my birth name is [has been removed] (reverse all the letters so that the F is in front, I’m writing it backwards to keep it from being picked up by search engines). It’s one of a kind, literally. In the culture where the language is from they don’t name their children after flowers, and it is indeed a flower. I have never found it in any name directory nor will I as it is not considered a name.
6. I once shop lifted bras from Walmart when in foster care.
7. I like everything about sex. *blushes profusely*
8. I often fear having some mental defect which would be warranted considering family history. On the other end of the scale I often wonder if I’m a hypochondriac as it seems like there is always something wrong with me.
9. I started to develop the beginning of a drinking problem I was 15. I have not drank for almost two years now.
10. I used to have a problem with self abuse.

That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Thank goodness. Now, I dare you fellow blog writers to write your own 10 facts.

That’s right- another one. Don’t cringe yet this one’s for a good cause.

This is a project or idea that I’ve been wanting to work on for awhile now but I was putting it off because sometimes I get too emotionally attached to my ideas and that’s not always healthy for this little spirit.

I’m starting a directory for people who are still searching for their lost loved ones, missing family, and friends they may have lost touch with. I’ve decided to use blogger to do this because I’ve seen a lot of different and sometimes slightly crazy things done with blogs so I figure why not? Right?

Anyways, I’m doing this because not so long ago I was searching for my brothers. One I hadn’t met since I was about 6 and the other was much the same ‘cept I’d seen him once when I was 13. I haven’t had a whole lot of contact or influence from my biological family and I wanted to get to know them- I missed them so much it hurt sometimes.

About a month ago I found an uncle of my via search engine, who then got me in contact with a cousin I didn’t know I had, who in turn had contact with my eldest brother. About a week or two after that my other brother, also older than me, found me via a post I had submitted to a Google blog about reuniting lost siblings.

Blogs are a great way to get info on the net. I say this not only as a computer nerd but also as a web designer- blogger has one of the best search engine keyword results out there. If you post a dozen keywords and then type them into Google a month later there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself.

I found and was found by my brothers. After that I went back to the Google blog and posted my success. I wanted others to see that it was possible and it really did happen in real life. As I looked over the posts I could see where a lot of people were looking like they were on the verge of losing hope or only half heatedly believing that it would work. So, I’m going to make my own directory for people to submit posts to and I’ll put them up there.

I hope it will work. I remember all too well what it felt like to miss someone. It’s one thing not having any contact but not having contact, not knowing if they are dead or alive, if they’re in another country, if they’re happy without you, or where they are? That’s just too much.

Fate smiled on me and good goddess I’m going to smile back at every chance I get.

You can visit the blog at: http://dont-stop-searching.blogspot.com/ I know the URL is a bit long but it’s all I could think of that was available. I don’t have any posters yet but I’m going to go back to that other blog and collect some email addresses and ask them if they would like to post there to, if it will help. Wish me luck.

Alright. I know I already have too many projects going on. So what? It’s not like I can help it. The more I think the more I write and the more I write the more I think. While working on one story my mind may often toss up ideas for my other stories so I must always keep another file open or a handy little note book near.

Or worse-

-I think of an entirely new story while working on a project that I’m rather far into. This happens more often than not when I get into that special writing zone. You know, that special moment of infinite wisdom when the words seem to flow from your fingers faster than you can catch them and you end up writing more than usual in one sitting? Well, I often find myself in that zone during my NaNo writing because it’s all writing and no thought, no looking back, and no editing. Well, yeah, last night I was trying to catch up for not working on it for two or three days and let’s just say I only got 2,000 words in before another story literally hit me over the head and I had to drop everything I was doing to write down each and every snippet that popped into my head.

It was fairly late last night when I finished brainstorming and I haven’t yet looked back at my notes for fear of being possessed by the story once again and thus achieving nothing else. I’m hoping when I do look at it later on tonight it won’t look like a total mess of gibberish (isn’t that just the funniest word you’ve ever seen?).

Yes. I have had caffeine. No. I’m not allowed. Just be thankful is wasn’t coffee- my tummy can’t handle coffee but this may mean several weird posts in the near future. :)

I fear I may be leaning towards the romance genre lately. I sincerely hope not but alas I must follow where my pen takes me. Mayhaps a short story or two will get it out of my system or mayhaps it’ll spur it on. I hope not. I hate romance stories so much. Not stories with romance but stories ‘about’ romance. And here I was afraid that my writing was getting darker, I’ll take than any day over some of the mushy trash I’ve read unless….

(insert mental evil laugh here)

Mayhaps I’ll write a non traditional romance…. :) You don’t want to know what’s going through my head but I do promise it isn’t dirty. I have little talent for writing dirty but I do have a talent for getting my message across. See, what I hate most about tradition romance is that it often involves the couple to fall head over heels for each other even if they don’t know it, they rarely start out ‘truly’ despising each other, or the woman no matter how strong ‘submits to her desires’- goddess forbid, or they’re full of so many Mary Sues and cliches that I want to choke. And goodness gracious what happened to people writing about emotional love without physical love being involved. I’m not precisely talking about sex, just a number of things that it seems many people feel need to be present as well as the emotion. I’d like to see the emotion show up long before any attraction, or maybe even love in a relationship where there is no physical connection. And maybe I’ll write about a non heterosexual couple just to spite traditional romance at the core.

Dang it. I started brain storming again. No more caffeine for Spirit. No, no, no. :( Well maybe a little…. :)

And another thing why to text smiles always have to face this way :) why can’t my smiley face this way (:? Can’t I be special?

Hey all. Not much time at the moment. Will go around replying to comments as well as making them in an hour or so. Just wanted to let some of you out there know that I’ve put a new piece on my private blog. It’s not the best work in the world but it is there.

You’d be amazed at the things you can learn you already know. No, that’s not an oxymoron though I’m certain it should be. I’m also certain that I am a true blue idiot savant.

I was writing the post just below this one merely a few minutes ago when I made a bit of a revelation. It had to do with the word malleable and the partial sentence below.

‘…tried to turn you into something more malleable…’

Now as I typed it I was certain I was spelling it wrong, I was but that’s not the point. I continued on for a bit keeping in mind that the spell check would catch it.

I stopped suddenly.

‘Wait. Do I really know what this word means?’ I couldn’t believe I was asking myself this but the more I thought about it…. I mentally ran to Google and typed it in. It was spelled wrong so I clicked to corrected version since it looked like the same word I was using in my mind and a definition came up: easily influenced, capable of being shaped or bent.

Well, I was using it properly after all but still- It was strange to learn you knew something you didn’t know. I also had the same experience when using the word oxymoron at the beginning of this post. I have such a strange vocabulary.

While making that post I also learned that I actually retained one of the teaching of Taoism and put it into effect in my daily or at least mental life. I was very proud of myself. Here I was thinking I was having trouble understanding the book I bought on that subject and I actual put it to some good use.

Well, I was writing earlier. Not my NaNo writing like I probably should have been doing but some other stuff I ha simmering on some back burner in my mind. Two of my characters were having a conversation. One a wise elder with a kind face, the other much younger, stubborn, and still finding their way in their world.

“What is your true form?” The elder character asked. “What makes you- you?”

The younger character thought for a moment- and thought, and thought, and thought. Generally my characters talk on there own and lead me through the plot but as I stared at my keyboard waiting I realized it was me who was thinking and as such only I could answer.

“Am I the sum of what the other characters have made me?” The young one asked me.

“No.” I mentally replied and then paused. I don’t want my character to be the sum of the people around him or her but what if they are?

Then I thought about myself. I personally don’t want to be the end result of those who brought me up. So, I looked at what my character and I had in common and thought about it a little more before I continued.

“No.” I continued. “Others have continually tried to make you into something- whether that something was what you were or not? I don’t know. What I do know is that it didn’t work.

“When they couldn’t bend you and shape you into something of their own desire they grew angry or frustrated and tried to break you.

“When you would not break they gave up or tried to turn you into something more malleable.

“When neither of those things sprung a reaction from you they decided their was something wrong with you and left to go change someone else.” I paused for a moment and went over what I’d just put into my characters head and tried to remember if I had a point and then I saw it.

“They gave up.” I told the young character, repeating this grand revelation like wisdom of the ages even though I too had only just realized it. “They gave up. They bent, trying many different things- even appeasement at times, and when that didn’t work they broke. They gave up and left you for the next person in line to try their hand at.

“You did not give up. You did not bend, or break, or anything else. You stayed true to you even though you don’t know what you are yet. You are stubborn but they are not. Thus, you are not the sum of them otherwise you would have bent and broken by now.” I smiled mentally, hoping that my character doesn’t realize that the person holding the pen that controls their life is still learning herself.

My young character thought on this for a little bit, letting it sink in and thinking back on the others. Then they nodded and turned to the wise elder, a little more self assured now. “I am stubborn. I am me. I cannot be anything else and though others may try to make something out of me, even if it’s just so they know what to call me, it won’t work. I am the sum of their failed attempts and nothing more because each time they gave up it was another time when I didn’t.” They thought for another moment as I searched my writing mind for the perfect finishing sentence. “My true form is what you see and nothing more. Not even I can name it.”

I have another post really similar to this.

Well, I’ve finally gotten caught up. Been writing non-stop the past two days and I reached 30,000 just before 11:00. Very tiring writing like 5,000 some odd words so I took a nap, after all I’m just barley getting over the flu. I think the roses my Hunny brought home really did it.

I’ve been mooning over them for days now but I just can’t help it. He’s not a very romantic person by nature but every now and then he likes to surprise me with little things like a night out or coming home with my favorite snack or even a little stuffed animal. Yes, I go gaga over stuffed animals. Kind of weird like that.

I’ll try to get some pictures up in a day or two if I can find some batteries for my camera before they wilt too much.

Well, back to writing for me. It’s only 4 am here. I can go another three or four hours before I need some real sleep.

Peace everyone! I’ll try to check blogs sometime later on tonight and reply to comments!!!

I received my first rejection letter today and I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am. Why happy? you may ask. Well, to tell you the truth I just can’t help it. I haven’t yet made a whole lot of submissions to magazines and such. I’ve been writing as long as I can remember being able to but it’s only recently that’s I’ve been brave enough and knowledge able in the process of sending my work out.

This was maybe my third serious submission. The first one that was for a purely online source offering zero cash. It’s not about the money (don’t get me wrong, money is nice and I need it badly but anyways) I just really wanted to see something of mine get published. For me it’s all about the writing itself but to see it in print? Even online? Well, now that’s enough to make me jump for joy. :)

Here’s my rejection letter:

“Thanks for letting us see this; sorry to say it is not something we can use, but
do wish you the best of luck with it elsewhere. –The Editors“

So, I got rejected. Oh well. At least they replied to me and quiet promptly too, I’m also very thankful to say they were nice about it my self esteem is a very weak being. I’m happy because this is the first step on the road of a long journey. Every rejection I get is another brick to an acceptance letter. :)

Love, peace, and chicken grease (or tofu cheese), may all your dreams come true.