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About This Author
My name is Joy, and I love to write.
Why poetry, here? Because poetry uplifts its writer, and if she is lucky enough, her readers, too. Around us, so many objects abound to write about. Once a poet starts with a smallest, most trivial object, he shall discover that his pen will spill out what is most delicate or most majestic hidden inside him. Since the classics sometimes dealt with lofty subjects with a lofty language, a person with poetry in his soul may incline to emulate that. That is understandable. Poetry does that to a person: it enlarges the soul and gives it wings. Yet, to really soar, a poet needs to take off from the ground.
 
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The Writing-Practice Journal
New Intention:
Now in 2017 and the following years, if any, I shall use this journal for whatever I please to write. 
Still, I reiterate: Read at your own risk!
Old Intentions:
Now, starting with June 2013, I will use this journal for the entries for "I Write in June-July-August "  . Afterward, I'll go back to the part I have down below in red. Still, read at your own risk. 
Now, starting at the end of 2010, I am going to write into this journal directly, without making any other copies. Freeflow, but from prompts. I may use prompts or simple sentences as prompts, which I'll put on the subject line. I'll probably use some of the prompts from the Writing.com app.
And yes, I do intend to make a fool of myself, because I miss writing on a good old fashioned typewriter with no other cares. Maybe some ancient and wise author like Dickens will watch me from Heaven, shake his head, and say, "You haven't made a dent." Not a dent, but making my own mud is my intention. So, if you read, read at your own risk.
Truth is, I had started this journal in 2002 for the different reason of writing down ideas on the craft of writing. Over the years, my personal blog took over what I wanted to do here. Afterwards I continued with writing exercises with no order or plan to the entries. And now, this.
Who says I can't let my hair down! Okay, I can't because my hair is short.  But I've got nerve.
  
April 15, 2008 at 12:16pm April 15, 2008 at 12:16pm
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Self Doubt
If any writer insists he always feels up to the task before him, he may not be a true writer. Most writers and even the most experienced ones fear the blank page or screen and the task before them, most of the time.
For one thing, a good writer has his own internal measure of what is good or mediocre. A good writer looks for new ideas, originality in expression and style, and the flair to hold his reader's interest to the end of his manuscript. Second, writing life is full of rejection slips, acerbic criticism, and failed or half-finished work waiting in the drawer or inside the computer. Third, most writers are pessimistic about their work. When someone praises the writing, they tend to think either the reader is not knowledgeable or careful enough or his praises are the results of his trying to be nice.
Then, an average writer, every so often, wonders why he is wasting time writing instead of going out there to live his life and make better money in the process. Self-doubt, therefore, is the outcome of the writing process.
As a writer, the way you may outdo this negativity--sometimes called the internal critic--is to recognize it and work with it, especially when it hinders your production or bothers you to the point of misery. An exercise you can do is to write a page or two from the voice of negativity and get it out of his system. The other way to do this exercise is to make a list of your mistakes, limitations, and the internal and external obstacles to your writing.
In the second and more important part of this exercise, you can write another page or two answering the internal critic or to the items on the list one by one. Then top it off with another page or two from your positive side, how eager you are to write, how creative you can be, how, where, and when you will write and will make the time to write.
Do this exercise as treatment to rehabilitate your internal critic until it learns to shut up and leave you in peace with your writing. Who you are and how you feel give the voice to your writing, since your writing needs to reflect a self-assured poise to be effective.
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April 15, 2008 at 10:58am April 15, 2008 at 10:58am
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Everyone acts interested in a writer’s work. “What are you working on nowadays?” is the question writers often get from lay people. Just start telling them what your plans are and see or sense the yawn in the other party. Their faces suddenly grow long, their brows crinkle, and their eyes start searching around the room as if hoping for someone else throw them a lifesaver to keep them from drowning.
Over the years, I have concluded that this curiosity is not genuine and people resort to such a question when they run out of things to say, aside from the fact that they are seen while talking to a writer could brand them as highbrows. In addition to the fear of boring the others, this maybe one of the reasons we may find it very difficult to discuss our work-in-progress.
If we say we have nothing on the table, we may be in a limbo and it could be the truth, or we may be considering something or other we are not sure of yet. Since telling about an iffy thing would be committing ourselves to it, we might take the escape route any way we can. Some of may even feel jinxed by talking about our projects and may drop what we are writing. Then, there are times when we have no immediate projects, but the muse may show up, and we may start planning something during the next five minutes after we have announced we have nothing dripping down from our pens. What is more, some people may try to kindle our imaginations with their own life story.
Because of these and possibly a few more reasons, some of us with other day jobs may conceal from people that we are writers, or we become hermits; however, this is a negative stance. If we evade people, how are we going to write about them? In addition, opportunities may show up through acquaintances, opportunities we do not want to miss, when as writers, we should be able to speak up for ourselves.
What to do, then, when someone asks us what we are working on? One thing we can do is to prepare ourselves ahead of time. A short explanation, something in a sentence, something that wouldn’t take more than a minute or two to people who seem interested should be enough. Afterwards, changing the conversation tactfully may be wise. Something like: “I’m writing a World War II story. Talking about that war, do you remember Casablanca? Too bad they are not making movies like that anymore.”
For most of us, just telling what we are doing without going into too much detail should be enough, or if we feel we do not want to talk about it, we can have a clever answer ready. Whatever we say keeping it short and to the point should do the trick.
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