Blogging Insights

Blogging Insights — First Words

Fandango8 Comments

For this week’s Blogging Insights prompt, Dr. Tanya has given us a quote about writing and asked us for our reactions to the quote.

This week’s quote is from Beatrix Potter, an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children’s books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which was her first commercially published work way back in 1902.

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.”

I agree. When I start to write a piece of flash fiction, those first words set the path for the rest of the story. It may be, before I publish the story, those first few words might change or be moved, but even if that’s the case, they get things going.

What’s interesting about writing flash fiction is that, for me, anyway, it seems to take on a life of its own. When I start writing, I typically have a general idea of where my tale is going to go, but as often as not, by the time I get to the end, even I am surprised at the final story. It’s as if, after those first few word, the rest of the story almost writes itself.

Does that ever happen to you?

Blogging Insights — Let Her Scream

Fandango5 Comments

For this week’s Blogging Insights prompt, Dr. Tanya has given us a quote about writing and asked us for our reactions to the quote.

This week’s quote is from none other than Mark Twain.

“Don’t say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.”

I agree.

Blogging Insights — Self Doubt

Fandango4 Comments

For this week’s Blogging Insights prompt, Dr. Tanya has given us a quote about writing and asked us for our reactions to the quote.

This week’s quote is from American poet, novelist, and short story writer, Sylvia Plath.

“The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt.”

Self doubt can certainly be debilitating. It occurs when we lack confidence or feel incapable of doing things we need to do. I think we have all felt self doubt to one degree or another when there’s a lot on the line. Maybe it’s a job interview. Maybe you’ve met someone and are looking for a relationship with that person.

I suppose, though, when it comes to blogging, I’ve never suffered from self doubt. Probably because there’s nothing on the line. I have enough confidence in my mastery of the English language, rules of grammar, and my imagination, that I know I can create decent blog posts that others will find engaging and compelling.

But it’s not like I’m making a living by blogging. What is the price of my failing at blogging, other than maybe a bruised ego? On the other hand, if I had to depend on blogging or writing in order to put a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food on the table, I might be overcome with self doubt.

So I can understand someone like Sylvia Plath saying what she said. Her livelihood was contingent upon overcoming self doubt.

Blogging Insights — Moving Mountains

Fandango8 Comments

For this week’s Blogging Insights prompt, Dr. Tanya has given us a quote about writing and asked us for our reactions to the quote.

This week’s quote is from Confucius, a Chinese philosopher and politician. He said:

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

Okay, at the risk of minimizing the wisdom of Confucius and typecasting him, this quote sounds like something you might find inside of a Chinese fortune cookie.

But to give Confucius credit, except for those who are born with silver spoons in their mouths, like Donald Trump and his progeny, who can start out with big hotels and apartment buildings, the rest of us have to start out small before we are in a position to move proverbial mountains, whether in blogging, writing, or any other undertaking.

So yes, there is wisdom in Confucius’ quote , even though it is suitable for fortune cookies.

Blogging Insights — The Heat of the Moment

Fandango6 Comments

For this week’s Blogging Insights prompt, Dr. Tanya has given us a quote about writing and asked us for our reactions to the quote.

This week’s quote is from American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau.

“Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with.”

If I read, hear, or see something, or a thought or idea for a blog post occurs to me and I don’t immediately write it down, the chances are that later on, when I want to use it for a post, I won’t remember what it was. So, to that extent, I agree with today’s quote. At least write down the thought, the idea, you had at the moment so that when you need it, you’ll have it and can then begin writing your post.

Where I may disagree with Thoreau’s quote is if he’s going beyond writing down the thought or idea and saying that you must sit down and write a large body of text at that “iron is hot” moment. What works best for me is to take whatever thought or idea I had and wrote down and then come back to it after I let it simmer for a while. Then I can see if there’s really enough there to write a whole post about it. Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. Or maybe, because I wrote that thought or idea down when it occurred to me, it’s there for me to use at some time in the future.