“Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.”

- William Faulkner

This quote pretty much gave me the courage at 50+ years of age to start writing here on Prose. It made me realize that it is not necessary that I “know how to write.” Style is unimportant. Faulkner also said (paraphrased), “those writers worried about ‘style’ generally have nothing to say and know it.”

One need only have the cajones to write honestly, and then to put that writing out there to be read.

God knows there have been plenty of errors for me to learn from ;).

1. Don’t think, just write—look back later and gather ideas from there. Our best potential is hidden deep within the unconscious recesses of our minds.

2. Write everything that comes.

3. Keep a dictionary and thesaurus nearby. Every word carries a slightly different meaning, flavor, tone, and it’s crucial to piece together the right ones to convey our image.

4. Read hard books. Exposure to hard, eloquent writing with hard, eloquent words teaches our minds to think naturally on that higher and more difficult level.

5. When faced with a serious bout of writer’s block, look around you for inspiration. Everything has a life, a history, something that makes it

uniquely it. Ponder that.

While I've never had any internal drive to be published, I've always been strongly encouraged to submit my work. I think the idea was to build up my tolerance for rejection-- somebody must have sensed a weak point here. As a tot, I submitted my drawings, poems, and the very occasional short story to the usual school outlets (yearly literary collection, newspaper, yearbook, etc.). In my teens, I submitted some poems to those suspect anthologies that take just about any poet and make you pay for your own copy.  I had two poems selected, for two different anthologies, both of which I posted in Prose as part of some retrospective "early works" challenge (several years ago).

In college years, I had a few articles published in the Newspaper, but generally speaking I "failed" Journalism with a 4.0-- my mentor said I would simply never make it as a journalist, as my writing was, I quote "not sensational." (I've been working on fixing that deficit ever since, though I did give up on the media.)

I learned some code and various means to create websites through WYSIWIG programs. I then published online through my own sites, using freebie servers that eventually went bust--- along with my hard wrought designs and thoughts. In the digital world things go poof very quickly, so tolerance is again fortified. Eventually, I stumbled across Prose and began to make some thoughts public through this venue. The site drew me so much because of its noncommercial atmosphere. People were writing freely, and I felt we were all battling against the dreaded brain-drain.

As time passed I heard of direct publishing and did some research. You use a website such as Kindle Direct Publishing, Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble Press, or others, to help format a manuscript to printable specifications, then upload pdf or doc files for interior and exterior of the book, obtain a barcode either through these sites randomly or by purchasing online from ISBN.org, and then viola! your book in any format (hardcover or paperback) is available for sale online directly to the purchaser without you having to storage any books, and you can even have ebook options. It is important to know that electronic versions of a book will look quite different than physical copies. Illustrations tend to be separated from text.

I believe that Prose is working on offering some direct market publishing, and perhaps already does?

Currently I have a registered publishing business, Bunny Village Press. Private initiative has been deeply rooted in my psyche and is very much a dream for my husband, so we began a venture that seemed to fit most favorably with my past experience. One that would allow us both to exercise our writing and editorial skills and would allow me to put to use my art and design abilities. The idea of publishing seemed natural, and it is perfect philosophically, though for the time being our operation is very small. Micro scale. We do direct marketing that is fundamentally the equivalent of self-publishing except that we work with the author to bring their work to life, from typing out the manuscript/ editing/ creating layout/ illustrations/ and the cover design. In this way the author oversees the process but doesn't actually do, nor have to source individually, the various tasks that need to be done to make a book real. Once outsourced to us, the entire process is kept in house.

The independence that gives is very rewarding from an artistic standpoint. There is no office to negate an idea or suggest that it is not marketable. There are very few people involved in decision making. We aim to be as true to the vision of the author as possible, just as much as if it were our own book. Indeed, when it is our own manuscript, the process is exactly the same.

If you have no interest in making money from your writing, I highly recommend self-publishing. It is important to know that as an individual it is difficult to create a marketing campaign to push your work and monetize it, profittably. However, on the plus side, overhead is minimal--- dependent only on the cost of materials to create the artwork and the investment of manhours.

If it is a labor of Love, then it is always Time well spent.

This is something I have lived by most of my life.

Write what you know, research the rest, and if you need help, ask.

It doesn't take much to sit down and write something, anything that travels through your mind. But it does take time to learn, to discover diverse ways to say the same thing one reads in the thousands of novels, and millions of poetry laid out before us. That's where the Internet comes in handy, but even then, not even the Internet can give you what you need.

That's when you start asking questions of your peers, friends, family, and continue reading other well-established authors.

Here are some other simple tips:

Avoid distractions.

Set a set time to write each day, be it five minutes or five hours, and stick to it.

Accept criticism, be it good, bad, or indifferent.

Carry a note pad with you when out and about. Jot down things of interest Consider what you write to be somethings useable for background info for you, be it vegetable, mineral, or human.

Get money out of your head. Write because it pleases you. If you think money first, your writing will be shit. Craft it, think of it as your best friend, or even your most private lover.

Don't settle to write in one genre. Expand yourself. Challenge yourself.

Another phrase I have is "Less is More." Oft times the less you say in writing, the bigger the impact on the reader.

And I, like my favorite author, Stephen King; use less adverbs in your writing. "He closed the door firmly." Firmly doesn't need to be there as he closed the door. Words like firmly, gently, softly in most cases doesn't need to be used. It's known as over emphasizing. "He shook his head" you don't need to follow that with "left to right". Get the idea?

Lastly, always remember why you write. Each writer has their own reason. Perhaps just to release tension, create a personal diary, that all-American great novel, or perhaps because they want to entertain the reader.

Entertain the reader. And that is what we do on Prose.

*My experience in publishing is so limited I hazard to write this essay.

I am writing because I would like to encourage others with the modest comfort that we all have something to contribute... something worthy of publication. This is a particular struggle I recall vividly from my earliest days... the will to create, and the stifling sense of inadequacy to convey meaning, hence a reluctance to share. The first obstacle being to speak at all, the second being what to say so as to not be dismissably trivial.

I felt, early on, failure as a writer because I wanted control over the totality of what I wanted to say; an absurd, but real oppression. I also inherently detested flowery descriptive writing and wanted to cut to the bare essence of ideas. I realized, as an epiphany, that drawing helped me vocalize/ organize my thinking (showing me my subconscious and what it is that I was dwelling on). But because of time and life constraints, illustration became precarious, and the possibility of sketching dissipated to the point that fear and resentment set in, detrimentally.

Back in the day, I self-published 3 zines. My drawings and writings. The first was entirely handmade. I'm a maniac, so the work involved in handmaking multiples was totally normal (in my mind) and prior I had done some handmade flyers, as if in practice. This zine was called High Heels. I think I was 14-15. It didn't last long... not being very sustainable, and I pared down to publishing a year's worth of something I called Words of the Week (yes, like it sounds, etymology). The second zine was called The Citizen and it was digital (I got smarter in college lol) and was designed to format equally well as a printed page and a website. (Later I found that Ralph Nader also had a newsletter under the same name and I felt in good company!) My third zine was called The Observer and was solely intended as an online magazine (I was short on time to ensure multifunctionality).

The content was always social commentary. None of the initiatives lasted more than a year. I'm pretty sure 5-6 people total was the span of my audience, and that's fine. I was speaking my mind, and that is what publishing is about in my opinion: Caring enough to take the time to share with friends and strangers.

Apathy is a most dangerous thing. Publishing by any means is a remedy.

05.05.2023

Publishing Experience challenge @Finder

The best writing advice I've heard from multiple authors, teachers, and lovers of art- write unapologetically. Write from the heart, stories that are true enough to feel but false enough to make you dream, the things that would cause a ruckus at the family reunion...that is the kind of writing that moves the soul. The kind of writing that people dissect for decades, that people know how it makes them feel yet they can never really put it into words...

Peanut is an eleven-year-old deer head Chihuahua. I found her as a young dog, alone (abandoned?) in a mall parking lot in Texas. She quickly became a most cherished part of our family.

Peanut has many names and answers to them all. Peanut-Weenut, Peanutty, P-Dog, NutterButter, PurtyPeanutGirl, and Peaniferous Maximus are just a sampling. Many songs are sung to her with these names and ridiculous lyrics— to which she happily responds with silly butt wags.

I tell people she is the worst Chihuahua I’ve ever known. She is friendly, calm, sweet, and very quiet (we’ve only heard her bark about 5 times in the past 10 years). Very un-Chihuahua like behavior, right? I guess no one told her to be an evil, shivery ball of snarling spite. I’m glad.

Peanut doesn’t ask for much. She loves walks (read: sniffs), cuddles, and burrowing in my long hair whenever it’s down. Of course, she does insist her “cuteness tax” be paid in a regular and timely manner. Her preferred method of payment is a bit of scrambled egg from my breakfast plate or perhaps a nibble of bacon. However, she is always very polite about her tax collection.

I could have never imagined so much sweet personality would ever be bound in 8 pounds of little dog. Peanut is truly a joy bringer and I’m so happy she is in my life.

"Love one another" looks like my husband. One of the reasons I fell in love with him was his kindness. He would help someone who fell or who was carrying a heavy load - in one instance, a bike, over a turnstile and up the subway stairs. On our street, he has always been that neighbor to lend a hand, climb a ladder, give you the soil mix he makes so your garden can be as lovely as his. Six years into a Parkinson's diagnosis, he is still going out and shoveling snow or raking leaves for elderly neighbors or the single mom suffering from cancer. Or, just today, jet-lagged and exhausted, he went out to help the family whose dad suffered a stroke and is still in the hospital after a month.

"Love thy neighbor" looks like my friend giving cold water to the mailman and UPS guy all summer.

It looks like my son giving the homeless person outside Costco his favorite muffins that he was salivating for minutes before he saw him.

It looks like giving someone a quarter for a shopping cart they need instead of the change for a dollar requested.

It looks like smiling at people you encounter and endeavoring, if you cannot make it better, at least to not make their day worse.

It looks like treating others as you would wish to be treated.

It looks like not responding in kind to nastiness. Perhaps, taking a moment to consider what someone else may be enduring before you respond to or judge them.

It looks like thinking before you speak...or post:

T - Is it true?

H - is it helpful?

I - is it inspiring?

N - is it necessary?

K - is it kind?

Does it improve upon the silence?

I have never been a fan of advices, though I have found some and they often are contradictory. I believe that is fundamental to listen to your inner voice, which is hindred by your overreactive mind.

So my advice would be to be couragoeus and just do something, try, experiment, which is a very difficult endeavour facilitated by turning off the critical thinking, at least whilst in the middle of writing, as opposed to outlininig, and focusing on the moment. It also helps to remember that you enjoy what you are doing and play the game for the sake of the game, so to speak, without goals and expectations. All of which is more easily said that done, no doubts about it.

If there's one thing I've learned from my mom, it's that we should seize the day, because tomorrow isn't a guarantee.

I hope she gets to see Hozier before dialysis.

My mother loves Hozier. It's almost unhealthy, the level of dedication she has to him. Stephen King once wrote a book about a number one fan, and while I don't think my mother is in any danger of hobbling the poor Irishman, I do think that if she were closer to his age she might debase herself on his tour bus.

I'm happy for her, really. It used to be that I'd call and she'd launch into some story about a friend-who-fell-away-but-resurfaced in her life. The most dramatic one was the pretty lady I remember coming over to study college classes with mom; she was good looking, but god, she was kinda mean. I was a little kid, maybe six, and that lady was such a sarcastic ass. But I sorta liked her anyway, because I was an asshole right back. Anyway, that lady popped back up in my mother's life a few years ago (whoa. Doing the math, it was actually a decade ago.) Anyway. She was always drama. Way too much.

I'm glad mom discovered Hozier.

It wasn't that long ago that she spent a week in Manhattan to catch a couple of his shows. I think it was right before pandemic lockdown, maybe. Over Thanksgiving break? Hell, I can't recall. Maybe it was last year. Time is a fuzzy thing sometimes.

Here's what I do remember. In our most recent conversation, mom mentioned several meds she's taking. I looked them up.

A few years ago, she had surgery and as a bonus she grabbed an infection that required some serious antibiotics that absolutely wrecked her kidneys. So, they're shot to hell. She has managed to make it this far without dialysis, but based on our conversation last night, it's just over the horizon.

Her mother died several decades ago, and my mom has already outlived her by five years, and I know that clock is weighing on her mind.

I started harassing mom to get her passport squared away at Christmas last year.

She reported last night that it is now in the hands of the State Department....10 months after I began my campaign to get that shit handled.

I hope it's not too late.

I'm believe he will announce more European tour dates soon, but I can't even buy her plane tickets until she has a passport ready to go.

My stepdad has kept his up to date and prepared for travel, so he'll be good when the time comes.

I need those kidneys to hold together so she'll be healthy enough to go.

I want to send her to see Hozier in Ireland before dialysis, but if I'm being honest, what I'm really saying is I hope she gets to see him in concert before she's gone.