Random Post (Of the First Variety)

Driving...go ahead, think about it for a while, just let it sink in there and kick your brain a couple hundred times.

No, it's not just them.

Driving makes you wonder about people, about the human race in general.  Can there really be so many stupid people in the world?  At first, you can't believe it.  There's no way.  Then you stay on the road for ten minutes, get stuck behind a parade of old people hanging in the middle of the road, get cut off a couple times, almost get hit by a young girl texting, and realize the world sucks, you want to watch it burn.

Then you get home and its forgotten.  But, there is still some bile caught in your mind's throat.  It will slowly coagulate and forever be lodge there.  Soon enough, you hate everyone and everything.  And why?  Driving, that's why.

What's my advice you say?  Uhhh...you could take the bus and sit on urine soaked seats next to that lovely smelling homeless person...but really, I don't have much advice.  You could try and chill out (SERENITY NOW!), or you could just read and transport yourself to a different world and forget about this life.  I think I will stick with that for advice: screw this world, live in another.

Sentences

Today, let's take a quick look at sentences.

Ok, not exactly like that (though if cutting out pieces of paper and writing words on them helps you out, then go for it!).

A sentence can have power.  A sentence, which is a combination of words that can be found in the dictionary that can also be found in a bookshelf, maybe in a library, may hold some power as long as the writer is able to think about stuff.  Look again at those two sentences.  One is short and to the point, the other is long and convoluted.  See the difference?  Now, let's look at a good long sentence and a good short sentence.

The dog picked up something.  The dog, black hair bristling, snatched a decaying bone and growled; it took a step forward, its giant paw swallowed by the mud.  Now before we go picking these apart, take notice I wrote these two sentences in a minute (ok yes, I do not put that much time into the blog...yet).  But, can you see the difference?  The first one is vague and doesn't convey any message or feeling.  Look at the second.  You can see the dog, can feel a certain level of fear.

So what's the trick?  Read, read, and read.  Soon, you will be able to pick out good sentences.  Next, maybe even more importantly, write!  Practice makes perfect (cliche, but oh so true).  When you are looking at your sentences, make sure to ask yourself if it is clear, if it ends and begins strongly (prepositions are sometimes fine, but don't end every sentence in them), and try to vary your sentence lengths.

That's it you say?  Ha!  No.  I could go on about sentences and get into the nitty gritty, but let's leave that for a part 2.

The Internet and Distractions

Ahhh the internet.  Filled with cats and videos of people hurting themselves, and of course, naked people.  There is so much to do on the internet, who can resist the call to sit back and stare at a couple hundred cat pictures?

It's not easy.  While many say any fool with a computer can write a book (which in itself is a false statement), any fool that thinks they can write a book will soon realize just how hard it really is.  Sit down and write?  Easy!  That is, until you head to Wikipedia to look up what kind of indigenous plants they have in South America.  A few clicks here, a coffee or two later, and you are a expert, a real freaking pro, on the subject...but you haven't written a word.

Not everyone can be a writer.  Writers are the people with the whips on their backs.  They are the people tortured by the stories in their heads.  Their characters talk and talk and talk, the scenes in the book being played over and over again.  There is only one relief, one source of sanity: writing it down. Then, the characters are free, and more importantly, the writer is free too.  For a true writer, the internet won't distract them for long; they will write, because in the end, they have to write.

But wait you say, you didn't tell me how to stop browsing the internet!  If you really must know, if you are not one of the writer's I mentioned above then here is my humble advice: turn off the WiFi or unplug your modem.

Music and Writing

I think I mentioned I would talk about writing here, and I might not have gotten to it on the second post, but here I go!

Music and writing.  Do the two go together?  Is there some other catchy question I could throw in here? (DOES MUSIC GIVE YOU CANCER, FIND OUT AT 11!!!).

Simply put, I love listening to music when writing.  It drowns out any distractions (save for the music itself), but it also serves a purpose.  Certain music, certain beats and rhythms, give different feelings.  Try listening to a classical piece and a new Taylor Swift song, you are probably feeling different emotions, thinking different ideas.  For me, some songs just scream of a certain character.  I see that character with the song, and when I listen to the music, I can jump inside the character's mind and really understand him or her.  Sometimes the music doesn't matter (when I am really into the writing everything fades and I come back wondering how I skipped over twenty songs), but sometimes, it propels me into a different mind set and takes me to a new world.

Hmmm... Funny GIFs!

I figured, why not have some fun today.  Everyone loves fun...save for grumpy cat.

Anyways, forget grumpy cat and enjoy these GIFs (though, I'm sure he is hoping you will not have any fun at all or have a heart attack laughing at them).


http://i.imgur.com/JvAod.gif

http://i.imgur.com/5vQxV.gif

http://chattypics.com/files/runaway_iyz7v5l1lb.gif

http://chattypics.com/files/birds_eef7khcivp.gif

http://i.imgur.com/nOm1O.gif

http://25.media.tumblr.com/d8e9e3ad9b2eacb73277273ac2f70a62/tumblr_mg2kb6rQbq1qdlh1io1_250.gif

http://i.imgur.com/x5Vr9.gif

http://i.imgur.com/kGpPp.gif


Enjoy!

So I thought, well it's about time to start blogging again.  And here I am.  Do I know what to say?  Not a chance!  How many people are going to read this?  Zero to five...if I am lucky.  I might set a new record and dip down into the negatives (or maybe I could find absolute zero and every scientist in the world will thank me for my great discovery).  It doesn't matter though, I'll be here plugging away (maybe literally when a book comes out).

So, I'll keep this updated, talk about what I am working on, the fun of the writing industry (oh yeah, this is going to be just chalked full of sarcasm), and maybe some other, random fun stuff.  So come along for the ride (or don't and let those scientists gives me that award for finding absolute zero!).