The other day I had a pick through all the gear over on the right hand side, the "WRITE STUFF" material, and realised it was just taking up space, which made me ask myself what I intended in the first place. I mean, what's a blog supposed to do anyway - mainly entertain, sometimes inform, sometimes enlighten. But I think I originally meant that "side" to be of help to any wannabe writers, pass on titbits that have been of use to me.
But it just became stuffy and overloaded and even a few of the tags didn't work anymore. So I cleaned it all out. Bit by bit I'll either review the old stuff and bring it up to date, or find something new. More relevant. And godknows I was never the expert in anything literary, just a touch experienced.
So, what first?
I will re-do all of the tags that I've found useful (and yes, these will probably all be Australian, as my overseas following has dwindled over the years, while the Aus hits have grown steadily), such as Publishing, Agents, and Competitions, which are still the most important other than actually writing. But the rest could be anything, as in truth I mostly have no idea who you are or what you might be looking for here, but I'm sure there's a few out there who are simply looking for encouragement. I surely was when I set out. And in the ideal world we'd sit down over coffee and have a decent one-to-one chat. But it's never an ideal world.
I read a book in the early 1980s, by a long term author who was nearing the end of his days, and simply wanted to do something with all the bits he still had, which he thought were all too good to be chucked away. So he published a whole book of them! Made it clear it was all in the public domain and un-copyrighted, and invited any reader to use any bit they wanted. It was a brilliant read, some bits inspired the hell out of me so I re-jigged them and made them into short stories. Not a single pang of guilt.
Okay, I'm not feeling the creepy guy with the scythe particularly close, but I like the idea, and I have heaps of stuff I'll never get to. So, be my guest, steal whatever you want out of THE SCRAP HEAP once it's up, do something with it. If a bit triggers an idea in you, grab it and run. That's what Inspiration is all about.
You see, it was the book (below) of "Blokes & Sheds" that brought all this to a head. It gave me a paroxysm of Inspiration! Just after I'd sworn NOT to start any new writing projects, as my creative time is limited and I already have way too much half done. But you can't ignore Inspiration. Geez no! It's one of the most powerful forces in the literary universe.
(Oh shit, head getting woozy, time out, bugger!!!)
(20 mins later!) Had a walk up and back, swore profusely at Old Age and bloody Nature, better wind this up. Stay tuned.....
Cheers.... (and thank you for sticking with me for all this time, I love doing this and I wish and I wish that we could share that cup of coffee.)
T.R.E.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>