Constant Content

Hey, Ed - I hope your head has stopped hurting enough to have a little fun. My question is this: If you weren't the editor, but a regular CC writer, what would be the titles of five spec articles you'd write (besides Valentime's )?

Uh-oh. Nothing I would write right now (after watching too much television and being cooped up inside) would sell. Commercials make me totally cynical, as do health issues, and . . . everything else.

- How Not to Infantalize Your Sweetheart this Valentine's Day

- Why No One Likes to Sit and Home and Watch Silent Films - Ever

- What? You Don't Trust *Your* Doctor, Either?!

- Hawaii's Beaches Next Ingredient in Pacific Ocean's Garbage Soup

- For Introverts: Getting Quality Customer Assistance through Email, Postal Mail, or Absolute Silence (requires research)

Wow - you have been confined too long.

You need to rent the Johnny Carson show DVDs. And read "The Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson. Guaranteed spirit-lifters.

p.s. Is "infantalize" even a word?

It's the beauty of the English language.

Ah...

Grouchy, did you receive "The Forest for the Trees," yet? I'm interested to know what you think of this book. You mentioned you ordered it.

ED - I am about halfway through it. Her insight is remarkable. Thank you for the tip.

I had to stop and spend some time mulling over some of the ideas she has presented, esp the concept of writing from hate and anger. I am looking under the rocks in my head to see if I can find either. I'm no saint - I know they're there. But first I have to overcome the effects of a few of my life experiences: 16 years of Catholic school rules about how utterly sinful it is to harbor either (suppression?); and finding ways to not just cope with but survive 20 more years of betrayal by people close to me, serious illness, and the loss of a child (repression?). So now I am dealing with DEpression. I need to rekindle the fire I had and see how it plays out in writing. Not for $$ but as catharsis.

It would be cool to have other writers weigh in here - I'd like to know others' experiences with writing from hate and anger.

I can't say I've ever written out of hate and anger as those are emotions I try to let go of. But I do think there's merit in writing with emotion and passion whatever that emotion happens to be.

Robert Olen Butler's book "From Where You Dream" explores writing emotionally. If I recall, he wants writers to go to those deep, dark, unpleasant places and write from within.

It's not easy. I'm writing a story where my main character is a teen who's been brutally raped. Fortunately, I don't have the experience to write those emotions. Instead, I have to use my imagination and draw on other darker emotions. I'm not pulling it off as far as that part of the story goes. She still lacks honest emotions. I imagine a writer who's been through it - and willing to go there - would do a better job.

So if you can embrace whatever emotions you are experiencing and write from them, I think you'll be pleased with the results.

Interesting topic, and I'll have to give it some thought. But quick aside - Celeste, have you read "These Lovely Bones" by - Alice (I think) Sebold - can't think of her first name. Deals with a brutal attack as an opener, and just goes in an completely unexepected direction. For a book about a really sad grim subject, it is amazingly uplifting.

Yes, I loved that book!

I did too. They're making a movie - I look forward to that, too.

I'm glad you're finding the book as thought-provoking as I did.

I'm very familiar with anger and and hurt. I did used to want to write fueled by these emotions. However, now I'd like to take a more objective stance and tanscend those emotions with at least some attempt at understanding. One reason I do not write for myself is that I fear that revisiting these emotions will help them to float to the surface and obscur any objective outlook.

There are a lot of things that I do despise, and I think, through writing, that I can at least expose them for what they are and speak to those who are in my same camp. I hate apathy, passive aggression, the miniscule priority placed by society and government on education, and a slew of other issues that I won't get into here.

On the other hand, I could have a lot of fun writing about petty things that drive me nuts, like 80s fashion trends that have made a comeback.

I have also experienced debilitating depression. Those who have never experience depression often underestimate its effects or refute the evidence of its existence altogether.

Besides taking care of myself, one book that has seriously helped me is called "How to Be an Adult" by David Richo. It is a small, dense, well-writen volume about self-parenting and understanding interpersonal relationships. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone - even those who did not have trolls for parents.

Ed

Celeste, you've probably already thought about this, but . . .

You could probably interview a social worker who specializes young women's cases. You might even be able to "listen in" as a visitor of an online support group. Real experiences might help you to accurately portray what feelings are right for your particular character.

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious.

Ed

Thanks to both of you -- Ed & Celeste -- for those book titles. (Ed, have you read "The Power of Now" by Eckhard Tolle [sp?]? Not as ooey-gooey gobbledy-gooky as most of those kinds of books - its basic notion helped me through a very dark time recently.)

I can't recall who said it, but one guy's theory is that depression is nothing more than repressed anger.

"Trolls for parents" - I like that. Says it all.

Ed, that's a great suggestion to listen in on an online support group or interview an expert on the topic. I think hearing the girls "voices" in an online setting might help a lot though I hope not to intrude on their privacy.

Grouchy, or anyone else who's interested for that matter, part of Butler's book points to a website where he has a series of webinars about the process of writing from within. He takes us through the entire process as he writes a short story from start to finish. The address is:
http://www.fsu.edu/~butler/

I had been meaning to check it out, so finally last night I did. I watched about an hour (there are 17 2+ hour sessions in all). It's a bit like watching paint dry but there's something inspirational about watching a master at work. I'm going to try to watch the whole thing. If anyone wants to join me, that would be fun.

I'm lucky -- I can't relate to "trolls for parents" as mine are the best!