Thursday, October 25, 2012

Thursday Thirteen #265

1. I used to believe I did not stick with things, but after spending years obtaining degrees and 265 weeks doing Thursday Thirteen, not to mention six years writing this blog and more than 20 years writing for local publications, I think I need to rethink that notion.

2. If I can do this stuff for this long, surely I can write a novel.

3. Writing for me is somewhat like eating candy - you stuff, you stuff, you blow out your guts. Eww. Not a pretty visual!

4. Let's try this: Writing is like seeing a unicorn dance across a rainbow as it chases a butterfly - full of imagination and fancy, a dream that can't be touched. At least it doesn't involve vomit.

5. "Unless a writer is extremely old when he dies, in which case he has probably become a neglected institution, his death must always be seen as untimely. This is because a real writer is always shifting and changing and searching. The world has many labels for him, of which the most treacherous is the label of Success." - James Baldwin

6. "Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer." - Ray Bradbury

7. I'm posting quotes because I ran out of things to say. It is 7 a.m. as I write this and I don't do mornings all that well.

8. However, I don't really want to post more quotes so now I'm just making stuff up to get the 13 items in.

9. You may have noticed I am going to be teaching a class in journaling soon. I am looking forward to this; I have been keeping a journal since I was about 8 years old. However, I burned all of my early ones after my mother found them and read them, so I don't have those. I sometimes wish I did; I'd like to meet that girl again.

10. Blogging is a kind of journaling, not so introspective, though, at least for me. Some of my journals are so crisis-centered or self-centered that they need to join my old ones in the burn pile.

11. Okay, here's another quote: "The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home." - John Campbell

12. And another: "It is perfectly okay to write garbage--as long as you edit brilliantly." - C. J. Cherryh

13. And another: "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." - E. L. Doctorow



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 265th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

11 comments:

  1. A very insightful list - well, perhaps if we leave number three out. ;)

    I agree that you have well proven your ability to stick to something. Now that you know this is true, there's no telling what you could go on to achieve! Congratulations! You've discovered your potential isn't as limited as you thought! :)

    Happy TT!

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  2. yeah, i think you are quite the sticker to things! i have trouble coming up with just a sentence to go with my picture in the morning lol...can't imagine a whole list of 13!

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  3. I loved the race to 13. I think we don't stick with things we don't really like. The things we were made for we do.

    I just found a pretty red journal that Joe gave me on Valentine's day of 2000. We wrote to eachother about our love in it. He quit is first. (Oh no, now I'm thinking about what I just said in the sentences above.

    I really like those last three quotes.

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  4. Yep, you are a writer! A writer who sticks to her task. :) Thanks for the inspiration.

    http://otherworlddiner.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-is-it-about-black-cats-13.html

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  5. wonderful quotes, an inspiring list! Thankyou for sharing!

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  6. Great set of quotes.

    I have a friend who wrote her book at a rate of 100 words a day. She just kept at it every day until it was done.

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  7. Two things..One I am very impressed by all you have done. It may not make you rich and famous, but I hope it has been fulfilling. Two..I love the quotes. I met Bradbury once when he spoke at my library in Altadena, CA. He never learned to drive and wrote beautiful poetry. Thanks for the memory.

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  8. Loved following your stream-of-consciousness here. And I like the unicorn/butterfly analogy MUCH better than the exploding candy gut!

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  9. I'm pretty sure that I'm better suited for writing blog posts than books. Good luck to you.

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  10. I always have difficulty with 'random' lists myself. I've been keeping journals since HS and still have all of them. As with you, some are more introspective adn crisis oriented than others. No list for me this week, just didn't get it done. :-\

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