Sue Vincent passed on the baton of the World Blog Hop to me as it moves from writer to writer across the blogosphere. Apparently, I am to describe my personal writing process and then pass on the assignment to another writer and blogger. Sue and I wrote a book together a while ago but it was all done by email – sort of writing by correspondence! I think it worked though and the book stands as testimony to that process.
Just recently, I have done a few interviews and there is always a question or two about the writing process as if it were formulaic. Perhaps for some it is. For me, there isn’t so much as a process as a frame of mind. Firstly, I need to feel the urge to write and secondarily I need to raise the vibratory level a notch or two and tune into another part of my self. I can achieve that through meditation or music both of which seem to calm my inner space and raise my awareness somewhere beyond me. From that lofty and serene position words flow like streams and rivers towards the sea. Where they will flow I often don’t really know to be honest but flow they do and I bob along following the inner currents where they take me.
The result of this process can be a blog article, a poem (I now have 5 poetry collections published) or indeed, a book. My novel The Last Observer was written in that state of mind and I enjoyed the writing process because the twists and turns in the plot were equally a surprise to me to be honest. The stream of consciousness flowed through some very twisty canyons writing that one!
So, I would love to make it all seem more complex and more high brow than it really is and tell you I did research, edited and edited and rewrote and all the other things that the craft of writing is supposed to entail. Instead, I will tell you the truth. To me writing is like painting. I throw words at a canvas and see what looks good. I do it in a higher mental state. I very rarely do any research and although I do edit progressively, my intention isn’t to be perfect nor win awards for my prose. Nope, its to tell a story and tell it well and that’s it. There is far too much high brow nonsense in writing – a sort of snobbery – its designed to intimidate people who want to write. Well, this is the punk era of writing – anyone can do it and should do it. That’s my view anyway.
Before me
A blank piece of paper
I paint with words
Swirling deep vowel hues
Pictures emerge
With every word I choose
It’s a thrill
To slap those words around
Messy fun with letters
Alliterations
Descriptive nouns
Verbal variations
Masterpiece
Letters joined together
Similar sounding sounds
Discordant vibes
A mixed vocal pallet used by
Artistic scribes
(Painting with Words from my Moon Whispers collection)
To be honest, I write for a living. I am a commodity markets technology analyst and I write blog articles, ghost written magazine articles, white papers, research reports and so on. You can check out some of this on CTRMCenter – our firm’s professional portal. My first book was Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul and it was a sort of autobiographical account of growing up psychic and then studying with a school of esoteric science and how that impacted me as a person. I must have got the bug because shortly afterwards, I published my first collection of poetry – Weird Tales. My latest efforts are my novel – The Last Observer – and a couple more poetry collections in Moon Whispers and the brand spanking new – Best Laid Plans. I am sure there will be many more. I like writing and I like sharing it with people too. Surely, thats all the reason I need right there?
The Last Observer was published by Roundfire Books and through the publisher, I have been united with a whole host of other wonderful and marvelous people and writers. Roundfire is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing and it is there I find the writer that I will pass on the baton to in Daniela Norris. Her book, On Dragonfly Wings: a skeptic’s journey to mediumship, was published earlier this year and she has another due out soon called Collecting Feathers: tales from The Other Side. She also blogs over at her site. She is a former Israeli diplomat, turned writer and her stories, articles and essays have been published in numerous newspapers and magazines, and first collection of short stories, titled ‘The Year Spring Turned into Winter’ was out in December 2008. Crossing Qalandiya – Exchanges Across the Israeli Palestinian Divide, co-authored with Shireen Anabtawi, was published in the UK in May 2010.
You can see Daniela’s follow up to this post here.
The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey 