Is There An Upside To Writing?

We interrupt this post for a late breaking news story:

Happy Birthday to the young lady who is now 11 years old today! And, I might add, is someone who doesn't like Justin Bieber!

We now gladly return you to the beginning of this post, which really wasn't interrupted, but in G's world, anytime I can focus this blog on other people in my life is always a good thing.

There are a lot of upsides to writing: recognition, appreciation, the opportunity to show people that there's a reason why you're randomly shouting out nonsensical word and phrases like "Yes! That'll work! No, it won't work!" and "Why did I write that?", and most importantly, proving your critics WRONG!

Whoops, did I say WRONG? Ummm...just ignore that particular word for now. Pretend that you didn't read the other three words that proceeded that last word either. It's just a figment of your Imagination!

So.

Believe it or not, writing isn't all peaches and cream, or strawberries and cream, or even Ben & Jerry's. Sometimes, writing can be a big pain in the gluteous maximus.

How? Take editing (please, take it away) for example. The other day I decided to take out a few old short stories and tighten them up a little.

Why?

Faux Reason #1: I decided to explore the Duotrope newsletter again, so I figured it would behoove me to have a few stories at the ready.

Faux Reason #2: I wasn't quite ready to pick up where I had left off with my novella, simply because the muse wasn't ready. Without my muse, I'm kind of dead in the water.

Faux Reason #3: My brain was sozzled from trying to write something that someone had suggested that I write, so I needed a break from doing that particular something.

Faux Reason #4: Got aggravated from the work week, so when I get aggravated, no original writing takes place.

So I spent the past holiday weekend working on a couple of short stories, you know, tightening the sentence structure, having the paragraphs actually make sense, having the plot actually make sense. You know, editing. Didn't really do much of anything else writing wise.

Well, maybe I did.

In any event, if this post seems somewhat disjointed and vague, you're absolutely right.

Let me tell you something, and you'll probably agree with on this particular point: it is damn near impossible to purposely screw something up. If you're good at what you do, trying to mess up what you do so well on purpose simply can't be done.

I pride myself on writing blog posts that contain two indisputable certainties: they make sense and they have a point. Trying to write a post that doesn't make sense or have a point is pretty damn near impossible.

So my friends, I promise that next Tuesday's writing update not only will make up for the vagueness of this post, but it will make your jaw drop.

Until then, have fun in trying to read between the lines.