Image of a Writer

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writers

When you think of a writer, what do you see? Even though none of the writers I know are like this, my mind always displays Johnny Depp’s schizophrenic character Mort in Secret Window.

Part of it is because it’s Johnny Depp. Any excuse to oggle him, even in my imagination is time well spent. What about you? Do you see someone hunched over a typewriter or sitting at Starbucks?

-Eliabeth

 

__inspiring story quote

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but they never meet. ever, inspiring story quotes, love, parallel line have a lot in common, relationships, sad angst quotes, which is pretty sad too, writers, writing, you might think that's sad. but every other pair of lines meets once and then drifts apart forever.

I found this quote and it really touched my heart. I had never drawn such an emotional comparison in all my years of maths. It made me think about stories and characters that would reflect these two types of lines. It made me want to write those stories. I love it when people take objective things in our world and spill emotion all over it. To me it represents great abstract thought. Do you like it too? Or do you think it’s pretentious?

– Ermisenda

__funny writer’s retreat illustration

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art, aspiration tower, funny writing cartoon, funny writing meme, grant snider, graphic design, illustration, inspiration overlook, plot labyrinth, print graveyard, stories, the writers' retreat, writers, writing

A great little illustration that had me smiling. Very creative and funy! I think ‘First-Draft Furnace’ and ‘Cave of Reclusive Genius’ were my favourite parts of the retreat.

– Ermisenda

__word crimes by weird al yankovic

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animation, comedy, funny, grammar, humour, mistakes, music video, spelling, stories, weird al yankovic, word crimes, writers, writing, youtube

I’m not a grammar nazi. Maybe it’s because I know I make mistakes all the time? I’m sure there are mistakes in the post. I think in professional work, it’s necessary to write well. I like when I see well-written status updates but to be honest, I don’t think less of people because of their ability to spell or use grammar. Some people don’t care. Some people hated school. Some people didn’t get the same educational opportunities. For many people in my social circle, English is their second language. In casual social-media settings, as long as I can understand you, I’m happy. But I sure do appreciate someone who knows how to write English properly.

I found this video by Weird Al Yankovic hilarious (he’s been making a whole bunch of new songs recently, it’s great!) and had to share. We may have some readers who hate word crimes with a passion and can relate. Even as someone who is relatively lax, I found myself laughing.

Warning: the damn catchy tune of ‘Blurred Lines’ is the musical backdrop. So you may have that tune stuck in your head for a while! I’m just glad I can enjoy this song without thinking about the original horrifying lyrics.

What did you all think? Did you find it funny? Do you hate word crimes or are you pretty chill about it all?

– Ermisenda

__sharing your 500 words

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500 words exercise, authors, editing, editor, exercise, self-publishing, stories, think polish edit write, writers, writing

While I have gripes about some aspects of my creative writing class (mainly directed at the professor), one thing I really enjoyed was bringing 500 word workshop writing pieces. Even though the feedback was coming from other inexperienced students and then a single ‘experienced’ teacher, the idea was fantastic. Think about it, if you had to show only 500 words of your story, what 500 words would you show?

As soon as I had that word limit, I found myself fussing over the 500 words. It was 500 words that was somehow meant to intrigue, inform, and ‘show off’ what writing ability I had. I wanted feedback but I wanted to give my best. After all, this was the first time I was showing a group of people like this my work. I edited those 500 words many times. I felt like the 500 words I ended with was better than the 500 words I had SIMPLY because I was fussing over it.

That’s the editing fever that every author needs. If we treated each 500 words of our story as a segment, would our stories become stronger over all? I think so. When you’re writing novels especially, you can get lazy at moments or slide in lazy transitions. I also liked how the 500 words made me question each scene I had. If I wasn’t proud to read it out loud, should it be included?

__picture it & write

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community, creative writing, inspiration, ocean, photography, picture it & write, poetry, sea, stories, weekly writing exercise, whales, writers

I urge people to join in, comment with your paragraph of fiction to accompany the image. It doesn’t have to follow my story or reflect the same themes. It can be a poem or in a different language (provide a translation please  ). Anyone who wants to join in, is welcome. This photograph will be reblogged under Ermisenda on tumblr and added to the Picture it & Write gallery on Facebook and Pinterest.

Please continue to write however you’re inspired, but add a tag to the beginning of your post if there’s mature content in order to keep Picture it & Write an engaging event for all of our followers.

Tale of Two Flukes by photocase

My mother was in love with the ocean. Sculptures and paintings of mermaids, dolphins, whales, and other sea-creatures decorated the house. It didn’t matter if they were mythical, they all had a place in our home. I don’t know when the obsession started but that’s all I remember our furniture being littered with.

For her fiftieth birthday I decided to take her out into the sea. The boat was small and rickety. I was still in college and hadn’t saved as much as I wanted to. A friend of mine knew this great place to see whales and dolphins from afar and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to take my mother. After an hour of coaxing her out of the house, I finally got her out onto the boat.

What took me by surprise was that it had taken me hours to get her out of the safety of her home, and yet as soon as we were on the water she instantly wanted to jump into the blue. Once we were out in the open, I took out my binoculars. Within minutes my mother had stood up and jumped out of the boat. The boat being small nearly capsized.

I held onto my hat, gripping the boat with my other hand and yelled, “Mum! Do you want to sink us?”

But she didn’t respond. When I looked out to see her in the water, I saw that she wasn’t alone. A chill slithered down my back. My stomach clenched. I could see an overwhelmingly large shadow about to breach the surface from the depths. Just as I was about to order my mother back into the boat, her head disappeared beneath the water.

– Ermisenda Alvarez

Everyone is welcome to use the button, just link them back to the Picture it & write category or Ermiliablog!  Share your love for Picture it & write on your blog with the image below. Be proud, and stylish  !

__your elusive creative genius: TedTALK

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anxiety, creative jobs, creativity, eat love pray, elizabeth gilbert, external focus, healthy writing, mental instability, poets, psychological illness, stories, ted talk, writers, your creative elusive genius

Anne (visit her blog if you haven’t already! She’s a brilliant writer) sent me this video the other day. I love TedTalks, many of you may know as this isn’t my first TedTalk video I’ve shared.

I wanted to share this one with you all because Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of Eat, Love, Pray) talks about creativity. Without spoiling her talk, she discusses perspectives on where ‘creativity’ originates: from within or as an external source. The reputation writers, actors, and other creative professions have created, has been one where mental instability is often a common theme. Since creativity requires so much emotional involvement, this may be part of the explanation. Gilbert investigates another way we writers can perceive our creative genius, a way that may be more healthy for those of us who get anxious.

Regardless of whether you are a writer/poet or not, I really recommend this talk. She’s a fantastic speaker! Enjoy. 🙂

For those interested for some fiction too, Anne wrote a story that was inspired by Gilbert’s  talk: Guiding Light. Check it out!

So, where do you think our creativity originates? Where do you get your creative ideas from? Are you a genius or do you have a genius?

– Ermisenda Alvarez

__books you can’t put down

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authors, books, comic, cute, funny, readers, reading, writers

Found this little comic and thought it was fantastic! Isn’t it annoying yet wonderful when you find a book that does this to you? You just can’t put it down!

The Unit recently did this to me. Which books have done this to you lately?

– Ermisenda Alvarez

__picture it & write

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city, community, contribute, falling, inspiration, night, photography, poetry, readers, stories, writers, writing

I urge people to join in, comment with your paragraph of fiction to accompany the image. It doesn’t have to follow my story or reflect the same themes. It can be a poem or in a different language (provide a translation please ). Anyone who wants to join in, is welcome. This photograph will be reblogged under Ermisenda on tumblr and added to the Picture it & Write gallery on Facebook.

Every fortnight we hope to host a photograph suggested by contributors. So, keep those photograph recommendations coming. Submit your favourite images (with credit) for next week’s Picture it & write!

White Night by *MartinStranka

I was afraid to blink. I couldn’t miss a single detail and yet it was so hard to identify anything in the inky darkness. Where was she? Golden orbs reflected from the city lights but only served to remind me how far she had taken me. I moved forward with jolting steps, I didn’t know where I was stepping. A road lamp far in the distance flickered, a female figure was standing there. Suddenly injected with adrenaline, I leapt forward and raced toward her. The wind whipped at my face until I began to shed tears. Her knees were buckling beneath her, her arms had fallen limp. I knew the moment she hit the ground she would shatter into a million pieces. With little hope I ran, waiting for not only the moment she would collapse but also my own.

– Ermisenda Alvarez

Everyone is welcome to use the button, just link them back to the Picture it & write category or Ermiliablog! Share your love for Picture it & write on your blog with the image below. Be proud, and stylish !

__writers’ festivals

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atmosphere, celebration, enjoy, entertainment, festival, inspiration, learning, life, sydney, writers, writing

Have you ever gone to a writers’ festival? Sydney’s Writers’ Festival is on in May and I am planning to go. Suprisingly, most of the good talks are during the week and I can only manage to go down to Sydney on the weekend. I don’t really think I’m going to learn that much but I think that it would be a great place to be inspired and bathe in the atmosphere. A lot of the talks are about the authors themselves.

What I love about this festival is that so many of the programs are free, there are priced ones as well, but you can organise your schedule to get a whole day of free writers-related programs.

I have never been to a writers’ festival before but I always wanted to. This year, it seems, I will finally be heading on over to the Sydney’s Writers Festival.

So, dear readers, have you ever gone? Was it a worthwhile experience? Would you recommend to other writers and readers?

– Ermisenda Alvarez