:: Status ::

Returning within the week

Oh yeah. I'll be looking and scouting for some more people to blog here shortly so you want have to just listen to me babble about publishing. Hehe....

I think it's incrediable how I don't feel like writing until 2am when I'm suppost to get up at 7am. You see, this excatly why I don't get stuff done. I don't want to write until I'm tired, and losing my mind.

However, one good thing. I submitted an article to Clamor Magazine. If it's accepted, it would be my first paided job, because running Culture Shocker cost money. Haven't made a dime yet from it.

Plus, I screwed up, and I can take any of my major classes for a whole year! I have to take all my filler classes like political studies and economics. I can't take one class about what I really want to do- journalism.

So, I best just start my free lance career off slow. Eles I'll never gets myself out the south and up there to Seattle.

Ah. Seattle

~Muse Gurl

I bet you thought I was dead.

Well, I'm not. What I am is the director of Marketing for my school's Homecoming- which is only like the biggest event of the year.

No pressure. If I screw up, then about 50,000 people will hate me. That's all...

You see, this is what happens when you applpy for a job and you don't know what your apply for.

Back to school in one week. I haven't finished my book. Or my other book. But Ive had about a million ideas for movies and other books.

How in teh world do you write a screenplay anyways?

I wrote one. I know it's not standard from. It's just sort of dialouge.

Hummm....

Back to working on Culture Shocker...

~Muse Gurl

The most crazy thing...

I'm starting to feel the pressure to produce something 'worthwhile'.

As a college student, I've never really worried about bills, and loans, and morgages...But now I am.

My parents are starting to thrust into my face all the bills that the family has, and asking when I'll start paying a bigger share-

I am almost afraid that I will pushed into that horrid world of 9-5pm. Making meeting. Lunch dates, marriage, play dates, car pools, and breakfast pockets.

I don't think I can take it...

So now I begining to slowly feel the pressure to let my creative programs be my work. It's the only way the creative soul within me will survive.

So. Now what?

:-(( Muse Gurl ))

Hi everyone! I just wanted to share my excitement with you.
I just had a poem published at a "Halloween" series website. I wrote the poem based on the entire series and the webmasters decided to publish it! You can check it out by going to the Myers Museum or clicking on this link:

The Shape by Brian Jaime @ the MyersMuseum.com

BTW, I have also started posting to the Creative People blog. We are currently having a CP Create-A-Word Competition. Sounds like fun! Stop by and check it out when you get a chance.

Well that's about it for now!

Enjoy!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me! Thanks!

~~ Bri :o) ~~

Then again, maybe not...

Have I wrote one more strand of my fiction book? No.

Have I gotten past describing the basic market for my non-ficition book? Uh-uh

I've been laying out my newsletter and sleeping. I slept at least 4 hours between 11am and 6pm. I woke up at 7:30... bit too much?

I suppose my basic problem is that I can never tell people 'No, I can help you with that project', or "No, I don't have time to write up that article, or market that whatever'. Instead of saying no, my brain screams 'Wow, what and experience! I'll do it!' and somehow, it comes out my mouth.

I need to learn how to say NO! Taking on too many projects leaves my great personal projects only half done. They deserve better than that.

I can eat an elephant one bite at a time. I'm just not going to let people fatten up my elephant any more. Their trying to kill me.

~Muse Gurl~

P.S.- The EDT required that I get a 120 to get into the College of Mass Communications. I studied all night and got a 122! Parrrteaa! Darn right I'll tut my own horn!

What vs. When

No one ever said that being a writer was going to be easy. In fact it is tough. Not the work, so to speak, but rather the committment. I know, I know! “If you want it bad enough...” and “If you were meant to o be a writer then you’ll write everyday...” Yeah, I have been known to make those statements in the past as well. The fact is, I do write every day. I have to or I’ll go crazy-insane.

The only problem is not “how often” I write, but “what” I write. This may ring true for many of you other writers out there. I find myself staring at old poetry, editing old manuscripts and screenplays, writing poetry that I know will never see the light of day, and I have been guilty of writing way too many blogs and daily journals. These things keep me going, they replenish me at the end of a hard day, and they inspire me in my other efforts as well. I have to find a way to balance the two types of material that I write: creative works for personal fullfilment and creative works for monetary gain. Granted, a creative work could be both for personal fulfillment and monetary gain. This is where STRUGGLING writers (most of us) must walk a fine line between what is fulfilling and what is necessary.

Example #1:

You have three projects you are working on: a screenplay, a poem, and an article for an e-zine. Okay, let’s get organized! Now, you just had a brain-flash for a really great scene that would make the transition into act two of your screenplay so much better. You are like me and forget a great idea as soon as you think of it, so you want to get it down as soon as possible. But wait! You are on a dealine to finish your article on “The Lemurs of Madigascar” for an animal e-zine that is going to pay you one dollar per word. You have three days to finish it and you are not even done with the first draft yet! But wait! It has been raining all day and it begins to clear up. You glance out the window and your eye spies a beautiful rainbow amidst the clouds in the horizon, You walk outside and savor the essence of this magnificent sight. Inspiration swirls through your head. This is a poem just waiting to happen! You have a poem just inside that you had been working on last time you saw a rainbow and now you feel inspired to go back inside, dig through that drawer, and finish the darn thing. But wait! Your aunt stops by for a visit and you two talk for two hours. It is now nighttime. You know you have work (Cubicle Fever) tomorrow and have to be up early but you are so hungry. You decide to go out and get a bite to eat. By the time you get back it is now 9:15 pm (since you decided to stop off at the local Wal-Mart for “essentials”) and you only have one hour to write. You head for that drawer and pull out that poem because you are still inspired. Then you realize that you still have that scene in your head and you should get it down stat! So you go over to the computer and power it up. On your computer is a sticky note that has two words written on it: “LEMUR E-ZINE!!!!” You panic... you are frenzied. “Lemurs or Rainbows? Rainbows or Act Two? Screenplay or Poem? E-zine or Insipiration?” You begin to question yourself. You finally decide to go with the e-zine article because you will earn some good money from it (if you ever get it done). Congratulations! You have made the right choice! Except it is now 10:15 pm and time for bed...

Example #2:

You have three projects you are working on... yadda, yadda, yadda... (let’s skip to just after you had all that “rainbow inspiration”). You run inside, grab your Poloroid camera and snap a quick shot of the rainbw before it is gone forever. Your aunt stops by and you chat for about an hour after which you inform her that you are under a strict deadline and need to get back to work. Your aunt happily departs knowing that you are a struggling writer who works hard for the money. You head inside, dig through that drawer, and find your poem. Next, it is off to the computer. You power that baby up because by now your fingers are ready to go! You remember that your e-zine article needs to get done first because you are going to profit from it. You also decide that munching on an apple and orange is much healthier than eating a drive-thru dinner of fries and nuggets. You bring up the lemur.doc file on your computer, pull out all your research and go for it. Two hours have gone by and you have completed the first draft. Tommorrow you can edit this version and punch out draft number two. Yeah! You still have one hour before bed time, so you bring up your WordPad and type in the quick scene that you had thought about earlier in the day for your screenplay. At this point, you are not worried about fitting it into the screenplay or even formatting it properly. You just want to get the idea down before you fall asleep and forget it. You have now completed two tasks with some time to spare. You go off to get ready for bed since you are going to have a full day of office work ahead of you tomorrow. Before you tuck yourself in, you pull out your poem and that Poloroid you took earlier of that amazing rainbow. Inspiration sets in and you start to write. Now your poem is almost done! You decide to save the rest for the next rainbow that comes along! It’s now 10:15 and time for bed..

Now both of the above examples sound far fetched by all means. The first sounds over-exaggerated and rushed while the second sounds too perfect. I roll my eyes at both. You probably are as well. You should. I have been in both situations at many different times. I have rushed over something that is due the next day becuase of my unhealthy sense of procrastination and at the same time have tinkered on fan-based fiction and screenplays or daily journals for hours on end knowing very well that probably only my mom and best friend will be the only ones to read them. I walk this fine line everyday as I am sure many of you do as well.

For most of us, life falls somewhere in the middle of these two extreme examples. Between children and jobs, little league and aerobics, river boat casino and car repairs, natural disasters and family crises, etc. the writing can get lost. It is our job and duty as writers to take all of those things and everything else that gets in the way and channel it into our writing -- whenever we get to it. Sometimes the writing is what pays the bills and sometimes that rainbow may be just too dazzling to pass up. So just do what I do... it is 4:18 am and I am finally doing my writing for the day. Now it’s time for bed...

~~ Bri :o) ~~

P.S. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me. Also, be sure to check out my other blogs Life Undecided & Utter Madness. Thanks!

Unblock

Found some inspiration for my novel in the form of a charcther from Othervision.com called Heather Hunter.

She's got some stricking similarities to my current characther...

I love online animation!

Now I have to got study for my EDT (English Diagnostic Test) so I can accepted into my University's College of Mass Communication.... yuck.

But it is what I want to do with my life.

~Muse Gurl

P.S.- How do I increase traffic to this site? I've never promoted a blog...