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Wednesday, May. 29, 2024

4:43am EDT

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Loose Change

by Ben Langhinrichs

Rated: 13+ · Book · Writing · #1625579

My writing blog

I don't have a muse, and never have. I'm afraid that if I did have one, she would be a small Chinese woman standing in the doorway, looking significantly at her watch every minute or so while I dug around in the sofa searching for enough loose change to pay for the chicken-fried rice. On the whole, I think I do better without her.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Ben Langhinrichs

May 11, 2021 at 5:41pm
In response to "Sonnet 138 - A little tongue-in-cheek Shakespeare"

I imagine they were intended. Shakespeare loved to put in double entendres, and while I don't know for sure about this sonnet, I know if some of his plays he used the dual meaning of "lie".

Kåre Enga in Montana

May 11, 2021 at 3:40pm
In response to "Sonnet 138 - A little tongue-in-cheek Shakespeare"

I wonder whether the double entendres we pick up were intended or due to a shift in meaning.

Also... a bit of a mind-mine that one can get mired in.

Kåre Enga in Montana

Apr 25, 2021 at 1:18pm
In response to "Success is a nebulous concept"

I gave up trying to get published. Too stressful for me. Many writers here at WDC and elsewhere depend upon some form of writing for income. Not me. I get a monthly gov't check, live below my means, travel (not this past year) ... and write.

What is success? Different answer for everyone. Because I deal with anxiety and depression, survival is success.

Would like to get published though...

1 Like

Kåre Enga in Montana

Apr 25, 2021 at 1:11pm
In response to "Diving deep into the dactyls"

Properly reading a poem can be essential to understanding and enjoying it. Years ago, I heard someone read a poem totally ignoring the line breaks which may be okay for some poets and some poems but not that particular one!

I don't know the literary names for most patterns. I just know that most rhythms, like rhymes, are intentional.

🌕 HuntersMoon

Mar 18, 2021 at 11:01am
In response to "Diving deep into the dactyls"

RULES???

Ben Langhinrichs

Apr 4, 2017 at 1:45pm
In response to "Description tip #1: Capture more than hair color and eyes"

There are different camps on this. I tend to side with Stephen King, who said you should show as little detail as possible so the reader can fill in the details with what they want, as you suggest with your example.

In my opinion, it is the difference between, "Tell me what she looks like so I will know her" and "Help me to know her, and I will know what she looks like".

1 Like

NOVAcatmando

Apr 4, 2017 at 1:27pm
In response to "Description tip #1: Capture more than hair color and eyes"

A pet peeve I have with another writer in my workshop circle. She always wants to know what people look like in one sentence summation. When I point to the elements in a story that indicate a person is beautiful, she'll ask "but what color of her eyes?" I answer, "whatever color you think is beautiful."

1 Like

🌕 HuntersMoon

Mar 7, 2017 at 5:16pm
In response to "Description tip #1: Capture more than hair color and eyes"

Excellent advice, oh curly eyebrowed person

Ben Langhinrichs

Feb 26, 2017 at 1:16pm
In response to "Dialogue tip 2 - Plant the character"

He is an absolute hoot to listen to, especially when he goes on a rant, which he loves to do. Of course, he's also a tremendously sensitive painter and poet. People are so much fun.

1 Like

Christopher Roy Denton

Feb 26, 2017 at 1:15pm
In response to "Dialogue tip 2 - Plant the character"

So… your friend didn't so much kiss the Blarney Stone as snog it!

1 Like

April 25, 2021 at 12:40pm

#1009104

Success is a nebulous concept

Success is a nebulous concept, particularly for an author. I won't hide the fact that I don't feel very successful. I've never managed to get an agent. Never got an advance. As a rough guess, I've made about $5000 in my writing career since 2009. On the other hand, I have a shelf with eight books I've gotten paid for, most for a story or a few chapters, but also including my one novel published by a small press. I have a chapbook and two magazines with my stories, one with my name on the cover. I know (many) authors who would love to have even some of that success, to be a 'published author'. I know others who have had fat advances or won national awards or had a dozen books published by major publishers. Most of them still struggle to feel successful.

I have no grand message here. I'm a writer, so we write, even when it is rambling on about stuff. But if you are an writer, published or trying or not even daring to try, I see you. Write on!

5 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

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