Thought for the Day 9/26/2016

@ RiNs The More Interesting as He Writes and Thinks!! : You know, you do not have to LIVE a history or an experience or live in a place to write a book about it.

You RESEARCH IT. If it is very important – or the need is pressing -perhaps you pack a backpack and GO THERE – but that is not really necessary.You can learn more about it than the people who live there or lived the history because you have an advantage in researching of actually seeing a BIGGER picture than those who just lived or are living it!.

Then what you do is sit down with pencil and paper, computer and keyboard, chalkboard and chalk, charcoal and rock and START WRITING. And KEEP WRITING. And WRITE SOME MORE. And then WRITE IT ALL OVER AGAIN.

Buy several GOOD BOOKS on WRITING, HOW TO’s, et al and STUDY THEM.

Then go back and THROW AWAY EVERYTHING YOU’VE WRITTEN TO DATE and START WRITING IT ALL OVER AGAIN.

As a Professional Scientist, Engineer, Computer Programmer, Teacher, Thrower of Monkey Wrenches, Project Manager, and a Professional Writer (from Tech Writing to fiction), I can tell you truly that GOOD WRITING is harder than anything you will ever do for one simple reason.

You are doing something (writing) that must be good enough, solid enough, interesting enough, accurate enough and enjoyable enough to make other people WANT to read it, listen to you, follow your advise, whatever the fuck it is you are trying to do. BUT BUT BUT you must do it well enough to grab the reader by the balls (or elsewhere) in the first paragraph and keep the reader entertained, educated and looking forward to the next word for the ENTIRE DAMNED BOOK..

Believe me please for this is the truth. Writing is much harder than digging ditches, cutting down trees, laying pavement in the Summer Sun with no breeze, turning a corn field by hand, keeping your wife happy and it’s right up there with raising your children honestly right where you’ll be proud of them on your death-bed.

But, BUT – if you can learn to do it (writer’s are NOT BORN – they work their asses off to become writers as they go along!) you will have opened new worlds of knowledge, challenge, satisfaction, profit (if you’re lucky) and essentially a whole new life for yourself.

Your wife (if you have one) and family (especially tiny new ones) will suffer because writing is a bloody solitary occupation and requires one to isolate yourself during productive writing sessions. No family, no dog, no kids – no distractions — NOTHING.. You work. You think. You WRITE. You re-WRITE. You RE-Write AGAIN. That means you must add balance to the pot – WRITE when you’re writing and give it up when you’re being a Lover, Dad and family man.

If anyone tells you writing is easy and a snap they have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.

With experience, years of work, et al, you will find the words flow more smoothly, the vocabulary improves, dictionaries wear out, Thesaurus fall apart at the seams, ideas form – if not easier, then perhaps more coherently to allow thoughts and story line to flow more easily (not necessarily better – but more easily).

Writing is like digging a hole. If you don’t dig, the hole doesn’t get dug.

No one said that LIFE – much less something much more sophisticated than mere life (writing, communicating, speech, understanding et al comes from the mind – developed during life – not because of it) was easy. Writing takes the normally tough daily routine of living and squares it and squares it again if you want to be successful at it.

My words of advice? Simple as pie. Just do it. and keep doing it.

Best of luck..

Muck