Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Xerxes]

Wow, I didn't know that there were many writers, serious ones, on here with writing a good way into their projects. I am 80 pages in, but I'm having a hard time making the time to write consistently.

I know that it's discipline and that writing is quite solitary, but what are the pitfalls and what anecdotal experiences have you had? What kind of "necessities" do you have when you write?

I have a thing for keyboards. It must be wireless, not have the numeric pad--adds to mouse click distance from the keys themselves, and be as good a feel and ergonomic as possible. I'm using the Xboard Optical, a made-in-China wireless board with a trackball on the keypad itself sold here in Korea. It is surprisingly good (and I tried all the Microsoft keyboards and went through a bunch of Logitec ones, as well as many other local and otherwise, though no high end exoticlass ones), but the only problem is that when you hold down the control keys (crucial for editing by jumping around paragraphs at a time or deleting words at a time, et cetera), the signal flickers instead of in a steady stream, so when you hit control + left mouse to select multiple files to open, for example, the previous files all become unselected).

I guess I should become wired, but I like the movement from chair to chair. Anybody recommend a good non-code-writer but a text input and editing keyboard? What are your experiences?

By the way, don't let this just be about keyboards and tech stuff; let this encompass the pitfalls of writing in its many pitts and varieties. Some levity and humor is also welcome too, but let's keep it on topic.

This thread inspired by Where do you see yourself at 35?

[oneofthesarahs]

When I write, I must have a full stomach and I need something to drink next to me. I also need to be wearing comfortable clothes. I've been suffering from mega-writers block lately, so I have to make sure that I have NO excuses to get up and leave my computer. Sometimes I unplug my internet cable, but that's a nuisance because I like to look stuff up online for my stories sometimes. Soft music playing in the background helps too. For some reason I am most creative when listening to the Smiths, Devotchka, or Wolf Parade.

[djsmnc]

I find myself having a complete lack of desire. My writing consists of nonsensical quips on ESL Cafe and reports for class.

[Young FRANKenstein]

I have to have a beer on hand, tunes going, and sitting at my computer in my underwear at 10pm sharp. Hell or high water, I'm writing at 10, and I always force myself to write SOMETHING, even if it's only one sentence. Years of such a schedule has basically eliminated writer's block... as soon as I sit down at 10, it's like a switch is flipped and ideas start coming out faster than I can type them. It's worse when I try to brainstorm...my cluster diagrams are a mess.

[faster]

I write poetry, and I like writing best when I can sit somewhere calm but semi-public, so when I get too wrapped up in my own thoughts I can look up and distract myself for a few minutes.

90% of my writing is revising.

EDIT

Actually, for the last 14 years or so, my biggest hurdle was trying to find a line of flight or some way to crawl out from under the burden of influence. I studied with some major living poets, and it took me at least 10 years to shake off features of their writing (and the writing of poets they favor) that had crept into my writing without my conscious intent.

The last five years, then, have been a lot more encouraging: now that the previous structures have been torn down, what kind of edifice to I want to erect? Lines of flight and openings proliferate.

[robot]

i've always had a hard time finishing ideas, so for my latest one i enlisted a partner. it's really helping to keep me on track.

i also suffer from the common problem of being simply unable to write from home -- too many distractions. but in coffeeshops great streams come out. so far the clerks at starbucks haven't minded the 5-hour coffee marathons i do several days a week.

a third problem is the my "up" key on my laptop is broken and i'm too lazy to get it fixed. but i'm getting pretty good at page up + down key-ing.

[endofthewor1d]

[Xerxes]

That's great but I have a wife and daughter and a day job with take-home work, and I don't want to alienate my wife and daughter. Since I do my job really welll, I seem to get more work and more responsibilities (more pay too) everyday.

I do write at least a sentence or so, but eventually they are so all disjointed I know that I have some major revisions looming ahead of me. Then I get gloomy and don't stick to the clockwork orange anymore.

The coffee shop that robot mentioned, I've tried too, but it is dangerous: the instability and transience of that situation never work well so that I get equal quality writing environments consistently everytime I go there.

edit: Any suggestions for a good keyboard that you've all experienced and liked, or am I the only one with such a weird fettish?

[oneofthesarahs]

You're not the only one with a typing thing. Typing actually relaxes me. At the risk of sounding really crazy, I used to get panic attacks on a fairly regular basis. They started in high school and got progressively worse into college. One of the few things that could calm me down was typing. Anything, really. I'd just turn on my computer and start clicking away. Occasionally I would write fiction, but usually I would write nonsense. Describe my day, things in the room, whatever. It never failed to bring calm into my head. I am absolutely fascinated by my ability to type without thinking about it, the way my fingers move as if on their own. It's so weird, but if you think about it too much it really effs with your head.

For me, a good keyboard makes a clear, clean clicking noise when you use it. Laptops provide the most aesthetic sound, but I don't like the laptops with the super tiny keyboards. And I need good wrist support. I don't care much for the touch mouse, I always use an external mouse with my laptop.

[twg]

The realization that my brilliance will not be appreciated in my time has caused me to lack any sort of motivation to display it.

Then again, being the greatest comics writer is like being the world's greatest hotdog eater. Aside from the freak factor, no one has a reason to care about you.

[The Bobster]

I do a lot of my best writing in longhand first, in notebooks, and I too prefer a public place with a fair amount of activity, such as a coffee shop - but it must be a place where I don't know any of the regulars and vice versa, otherwise conversations occur which are just distractions, of course, and I tend to be too polite to tell people go way I'm working. (Most people don't see a fella sitting in a crowded coffee shop jotting things down and get the notion that work is going on, of course.)

Revision is often the most fun, and the first revision happens when I sit at the keyboard and turn the scribbles into typed text. By the time that happens I know the ending so the beginning and middle reflect that ultimate goal.

Biggest difficulties? 1) Finding the time. 2) When the time is there, finding the discipline to actually do the deed.

Love to revise. Even posting here at Dave's, I nearly always hit the preview button, then come back a few minutes later and read it over, change one or two small things. Usually. (Sometimes, I realize it was bollocks, and toss it.)

If music is involved, it must be jazz or ambient, something without vocals, without words that will distract from the ones I want to say.

And sometimes, the whole question of whether to write something is out of my hands - literally. My hands get warm - it's true, not my imagination, and it's been remarked upon by others. The ex used to say, "Bob, your hands are so hot right now. You'd better go write something. Anything."

Xerxes:

[Xerxes]

[indytrucks]

[oneofthesarahs]

Yellow legal tablets. That's where I do some of my best writing. A regular notebook, no thanks.

[Xerxes]