Wednesday, January 05, 2011

I keep forgetting to mention ...

I have been in the throes of epic writer's block: lots of ideas, but the line between brain and fingers has gone dead. (The realization that the rest of the world likely finds this a feature, not a bug, is no help.)

Unaccountably, I have neglected to highlight what has become one of my daily must-reads:


Full disclosure: As part of a recent series on the meaning of Christmas (Parts I, II, III, IV and V), in what can only be termed as a complete lapse of editorial judgment, I was asked to contribute to the series (top of Part IV).

It was a small taste of what being a professional writer must be like: here's a topic, deadline, length and what are you doing standing around?

My piece will, I think, engender unanimous agreement that there is rather more to being a successful writer than just those three coordinates.

6 Comments:

Blogger Brit said...

Heh heh, like a professional writer...only without any money.

We had a great balance in the compendium, and your piece was a very nice part of that.

Thanks for the plug.

January 06, 2011 1:21 AM  
Blogger erp said...

Skipper, your piece was fine, but perhaps didn't have the passion of posts on topics that fire your interest and imagination.

I hope you don't stop doing what you're very good at because of some perceived inability to turn it on and off on a specified schedule.

January 06, 2011 4:54 AM  
Blogger Gareth Williams said...

Thanks for the contribution, Skip. Would be great to have some more... but then writer's block doesn't really affect just the one outlet does it?

January 06, 2011 7:36 AM  
Blogger David said...

Hmmm, blogging is my writer's block. "Can't finish this conference submission because someone on the internet is wrong!"

January 06, 2011 11:13 AM  
Blogger Hey Skipper said...

Brit:

That series was a brilliant idea. As all-pervasive as Christmas is, I doubt any of us have any insight as to what it means to anyone outside our immediate family. It was fascinating to see it from others' points of view.

Skipper, your piece was fine, but perhaps didn't have the passion of posts on topics that fire your interest and imagination.

Actually, I am prouder of that than just about anything I have ever written.

When Brit asked me to write something, he suggested 400 words as a good length. Taking that instead as a limit was a bracing experience: to hit the topic required covering the ages of life, belief and its loss, different kinds of rewards and Christmas's virality. (my dictionary says that is not a word; it bloody well ought to be). The discipline required to cover that territory within the pixel allotment gave me real respect for those who do it for a living.

January 06, 2011 4:04 PM  
Blogger erp said...

Skipper, I stand corrected.

January 06, 2011 5:58 PM  

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