we are most alive in dreams

“I love writing, I'm just not sure I'm good at it. I would like to pursue it as a career, but I'm afraid that it is nothing more than a long shot. Any advice?”

– Anonymous

If I were published, advice would come pouring from my body in a great and wonderful deluge. I would give it all to you, I swear. But, I have never been published and so I guess my best advice is this:

If any career were a sure thing, everyone would do it. With a lot of hard work, dedication, long nights, long days, frustration, soul, and most of all love, anything is possible. If you want to be a writer, do it and don’t let anyone tell you that it’s a waste of time. Keep working, writing, reading, and experiencing. Give it everything you have. Give all of your blood, sweat, tears, bones, and skin to make your dream a reality.

Even if you can’t make it a career, you can still look back and tell yourself that you gave it one hell of a shot.

And no one could ever hope to take that from you.

“I'm interested in writing, and I write poems and narratives, and all sorts of random pieces that are often not connected to the other topics. I'm not sure how I would put it all together if I were to ever try to make something of it. Any advice?”

– Anonymous

Make folders, either on a desktop or tangible folders, and separate your writing into categories or things you think could somehow come together. Then, add to them a little at a time. Focus on making the connections and stringing together complete thoughts into stories.

Or you could try using outlines, if you have specific story ideas in mind that you want to write and complete. I used to have this problem and still do to some extent. Outlines help quite a bit. And the outline itself doesn’t have to be extravagant. Just a simple framework can do wonders for making a story or idea cohesive.

Those random bits can have their own folder. Some day, they too will find a place in another folder and become something bigger. Or they could stay where they are.

And it’s okay if nothing ever comes together and makes sense. If writing is what you want to do, then do it. The important thing is that you are motivated enough to keep writing, no matter the outcome.

“How do you approach editing your work?”

– Anonymous

First and foremost, I get it all down, even if it’s just a basic framework. Then, starting from the beginning, I make short notes in parenthesis where things need to be changed or strengthened. After that, I don’t look at it. Sometimes for a day, sometimes a month. When my brain is ready, I go back and focus on the parenthesis. The cycle then repeats. It’s a long process, but it works for me. Also, everything eventually gets read out loud, especially dialogue.

“How do you decide what to write about?”

– Anonymous

A lot of thinking. Sometimes more thinking than writing.

Other times I experience things that stick and the words write themselves. It’s just a matter of sitting down and getting them out.

“Lover, I want a poem, give me a poem”

– dreamcaughtsymphonies

Leaving myself,
at the coat check
of feeling void:
choosing to believe,
in the definition
of color, as spectra
and lengths of
invisible waves-
Feeling, is harder
and deeper than
surface hue,
described by my twenty-
seven years when all
anyone wants is
honesty,
for one minute.