Wow, I am bad at this... OK, so I am no full time blogger, yet... Just wait, one day I will be addicted.
So, I decided to take my own advice and do a "writing exercise"... truth be told, I did this, gosh, a month ago. But here I am, to write about it. Better late than never, right?
Lunchtime writing exercise (17 September 2009):
Sitting on the grass between the Registry and the Leith. (For clarity sake, I've been temping at the University of Otago, so that is the university Registry building and the Leith stream).
The sun is warm, but the breeze is cool enough to chill you through.
There is a fairly constant background noise of sparrows chirping.
The occasional squawk of a seagull. And now and then a full raucous.
Insects buzz close by.
Can hear female voices, but not what they say.
Laughter.
At normal conversational tones, male voices do not seem to travel as far. Curious.
I thought I could smell the grass when I sat down, but not particularly now.
A distinct lack of any particular smell.
Insects still buzz in general vicinity.
Occasional bird trill.
Observational skills are affected by me facing into the sun.
Someone is lying on their belly - looking for all the world like she might be snoozing.
Sound of heals walking by - fairly dull sound, must be largish heals??
Blossom litters the lawn.
The bizarre sensation of hearing someone speak but your brain not comprehending a single word - hearing another language.
Strangely soothing in a way.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Oh My! Words!
A picture paints a thousand words....
I have been pondering on that line for a couple of hours now. Work was quiet this morning, giving me time to read, and think. I had some wonderful thoughts that I wanted to put down here. But now that I have finally gone to lunch, come back and started this blog, I think that my creative muse has left... plus the phone won't stop ringing, which doesn't help. But as a temp currently filling a front desk reception role, I can hardly complain.
So, anyway... what I had wanted to say was something along the lines of:
A picture paints a thousand words. That may be true. But sometimes a picture just can't get across what five or six words can. Several people may look at the same image (a photo, painting, or even just the real world with their own eyes) and each person will see something different. Or they will see the same thing, in different ways.
When someone is able to write descriptively, they can share with others the way they see the world. And that can be truly eye-opening for others.
The reason I write this, and why I started this "blog", is that I want to get better at writing. I want a place where I can sit and do a few exercises. You can watch me grow, or fall flat on my face. If I get interesting and encouraging comments then it really won't matter which way things go, will it?
Why do I want to improve my writing? Well, mainly because, although I've always had a little interest in writing and reading, I never really dreamed of writing as a hobby/possible career, until now. And why now? Because I'm a temp.
So, here's my story...
I went through school being the kind of person that tested well but didn't necessarily excel (well, I regularly scored 90+% in maths, but... I don't know... not important) and I didn't really work at it.
I went to uni and was a pretty good B to B+ student (until my post-grad year when I finally got some A-'s as final scores, I remember getting an A+ for an assignment... lost points cos I didn't reference enough... but the word limit wasn't big enough for me to use anyone else's ideas!!) again without trying super hard. OK enough bragging...
So, then came the real world.
To be honest, it can be hard having had all this education and then find that the pull of the home town and the life with the boyfriend, dogs & cats has more appeal than moving away to get the ideal job. So, I struggled to find related work in my home town, and I took a job doing reception at an optometrists. This was a little bit cool because my aunty who is an artist worked for an optometrist once. I always wanted to do something arty... never really took off, though. Anyway, as you can imagine, I didn't feel fab having been a science student and now working as a receptionist... plus my boyfriend expected me to earn more money than him. Well, not yet.
I enjoyed my work enough, but I complained about it, because I never felt that people gave me as much respect as I felt I deserved. My boss was fine, he gave me some very helpful jobs to do - repairing frames, trimming lenses to fit frames, running a glaucoma test on clients. And don't get me wrong, some of the clients were great! But a lot were not that fab. I just felt under appreciated over all. I had my ups and downs there. In fact I was feeling good overall, when my mum handed me an ad for another job. I didn't do anything with it, but then my workmate handed me the same ad a few days later... so I applied... short story even shorter I got the job and moved on... a $3 per hour pay increase and a far easier job - not dealing with the public for one thing.
A few months later I was BORED. And along with that the feeling of not contributing as much as everyone else in the firm. Self worth plummeted. I managed to help out one of the other departments for a while... that was great. I felt pretty good about that. But, eventually my manager tired of sharing me and things turned sour. She knew I was bored in my regular role and when I appplied for the job I had been helping out with anyway, I didn't get it. Things were not as easy as uni and school. A few months later, I left.. and I've been temping ever since.
Not too much is expected of me as a temp, so it is easy to exceed epectations and get nice comments. Its been good. Very good. I have worked for interesting people and I feel more interesting myself. I am a very flexible person, happy to fit in with what other people want and people seem to appreciate that.
So, right, I was going somewhere with this...
Temping. Sometimes I'm just here to answer phones. And when they're not ringing I am twiddling my thumbs. If I can I will surf the net. If I can't... I have to come up with something else to do. In one job I was doing a few months ago, I decided that I would use pen and paper and start writing a story. I had rediscovered (uh oh... you're about to lose all respect for me right about... ) The Young Riders TV show (...now) a month or so earlier and LOVED it. I love the characters, especially the development of Jimmy Hickok (Wild Bill, of course!). So, after I finished watching the series the only way to carry on the characters was to write my own stuff. I decided not to get carried away with fanfiction but instead start my own story with characters based on those in the show. So that is how it started. Now I have written about 15000 words.. so of them quite good, I think. Yes, it is heading towards novel status.
But, I want to be a good writer... so here I am. Learning how to write well. Sometimes I will do little exercises... sometimes I will no doubt ramble. As I have done here. I have written a great deal about nothing. And I still want to write more. Lucky this site autosaves.
I had a thought earlier about how different people see the same thing in different ways, and that got me thinking about the music videos I make. Did I say that I was worried about you losing all respect for me? Maybe a little... but... here goes. Yes, I make fan videos (guess what show I make them about). I find it a fun way to express my love of story telling and my love of music. And I think that it is a way for me to illustrate to other people my way of seeing/hearing things. The images I use (from the TV show) show the feelings/situations that I picture when I listen to a song. And the songs I use let others get an understanding of how I view a character. They may see things the same way, or they may not. But I have told them how I see things... That's pure self indulgence. But when I get an appreciative comment on YouTube or Zoopy, I feel even happier to know that I have made someone's day. And I will let them know if they've made mine ("I swear I'd shag him senseless" made my day a couple of months ago...).
Um... I think there was somewhere that I was going with this... (Yes, I do use "..." a lot... it's how I write when I'm just putting down ideas. If you feel like keeping reading, you will have to get used to it).
Let's sum up. Pictures do paint thousands of words, but I feel that just a few words can have just as strong, or ever stronger emotional power than a picture can. Keep on writing. Keep on reading.
I recommend browsing www.writing.com . There are some amazing writers on there. And some average ones. But a lot of amazing ones (o: (I'm hidden in there somewhere in the average camp).
I have been pondering on that line for a couple of hours now. Work was quiet this morning, giving me time to read, and think. I had some wonderful thoughts that I wanted to put down here. But now that I have finally gone to lunch, come back and started this blog, I think that my creative muse has left... plus the phone won't stop ringing, which doesn't help. But as a temp currently filling a front desk reception role, I can hardly complain.
So, anyway... what I had wanted to say was something along the lines of:
A picture paints a thousand words. That may be true. But sometimes a picture just can't get across what five or six words can. Several people may look at the same image (a photo, painting, or even just the real world with their own eyes) and each person will see something different. Or they will see the same thing, in different ways.
When someone is able to write descriptively, they can share with others the way they see the world. And that can be truly eye-opening for others.
The reason I write this, and why I started this "blog", is that I want to get better at writing. I want a place where I can sit and do a few exercises. You can watch me grow, or fall flat on my face. If I get interesting and encouraging comments then it really won't matter which way things go, will it?
Why do I want to improve my writing? Well, mainly because, although I've always had a little interest in writing and reading, I never really dreamed of writing as a hobby/possible career, until now. And why now? Because I'm a temp.
So, here's my story...
I went through school being the kind of person that tested well but didn't necessarily excel (well, I regularly scored 90+% in maths, but... I don't know... not important) and I didn't really work at it.
I went to uni and was a pretty good B to B+ student (until my post-grad year when I finally got some A-'s as final scores, I remember getting an A+ for an assignment... lost points cos I didn't reference enough... but the word limit wasn't big enough for me to use anyone else's ideas!!) again without trying super hard. OK enough bragging...
So, then came the real world.
To be honest, it can be hard having had all this education and then find that the pull of the home town and the life with the boyfriend, dogs & cats has more appeal than moving away to get the ideal job. So, I struggled to find related work in my home town, and I took a job doing reception at an optometrists. This was a little bit cool because my aunty who is an artist worked for an optometrist once. I always wanted to do something arty... never really took off, though. Anyway, as you can imagine, I didn't feel fab having been a science student and now working as a receptionist... plus my boyfriend expected me to earn more money than him. Well, not yet.
I enjoyed my work enough, but I complained about it, because I never felt that people gave me as much respect as I felt I deserved. My boss was fine, he gave me some very helpful jobs to do - repairing frames, trimming lenses to fit frames, running a glaucoma test on clients. And don't get me wrong, some of the clients were great! But a lot were not that fab. I just felt under appreciated over all. I had my ups and downs there. In fact I was feeling good overall, when my mum handed me an ad for another job. I didn't do anything with it, but then my workmate handed me the same ad a few days later... so I applied... short story even shorter I got the job and moved on... a $3 per hour pay increase and a far easier job - not dealing with the public for one thing.
A few months later I was BORED. And along with that the feeling of not contributing as much as everyone else in the firm. Self worth plummeted. I managed to help out one of the other departments for a while... that was great. I felt pretty good about that. But, eventually my manager tired of sharing me and things turned sour. She knew I was bored in my regular role and when I appplied for the job I had been helping out with anyway, I didn't get it. Things were not as easy as uni and school. A few months later, I left.. and I've been temping ever since.
Not too much is expected of me as a temp, so it is easy to exceed epectations and get nice comments. Its been good. Very good. I have worked for interesting people and I feel more interesting myself. I am a very flexible person, happy to fit in with what other people want and people seem to appreciate that.
So, right, I was going somewhere with this...
Temping. Sometimes I'm just here to answer phones. And when they're not ringing I am twiddling my thumbs. If I can I will surf the net. If I can't... I have to come up with something else to do. In one job I was doing a few months ago, I decided that I would use pen and paper and start writing a story. I had rediscovered (uh oh... you're about to lose all respect for me right about... ) The Young Riders TV show (...now) a month or so earlier and LOVED it. I love the characters, especially the development of Jimmy Hickok (Wild Bill, of course!). So, after I finished watching the series the only way to carry on the characters was to write my own stuff. I decided not to get carried away with fanfiction but instead start my own story with characters based on those in the show. So that is how it started. Now I have written about 15000 words.. so of them quite good, I think. Yes, it is heading towards novel status.
But, I want to be a good writer... so here I am. Learning how to write well. Sometimes I will do little exercises... sometimes I will no doubt ramble. As I have done here. I have written a great deal about nothing. And I still want to write more. Lucky this site autosaves.
I had a thought earlier about how different people see the same thing in different ways, and that got me thinking about the music videos I make. Did I say that I was worried about you losing all respect for me? Maybe a little... but... here goes. Yes, I make fan videos (guess what show I make them about). I find it a fun way to express my love of story telling and my love of music. And I think that it is a way for me to illustrate to other people my way of seeing/hearing things. The images I use (from the TV show) show the feelings/situations that I picture when I listen to a song. And the songs I use let others get an understanding of how I view a character. They may see things the same way, or they may not. But I have told them how I see things... That's pure self indulgence. But when I get an appreciative comment on YouTube or Zoopy, I feel even happier to know that I have made someone's day. And I will let them know if they've made mine ("I swear I'd shag him senseless" made my day a couple of months ago...).
Um... I think there was somewhere that I was going with this... (Yes, I do use "..." a lot... it's how I write when I'm just putting down ideas. If you feel like keeping reading, you will have to get used to it).
Let's sum up. Pictures do paint thousands of words, but I feel that just a few words can have just as strong, or ever stronger emotional power than a picture can. Keep on writing. Keep on reading.
I recommend browsing www.writing.com . There are some amazing writers on there. And some average ones. But a lot of amazing ones (o: (I'm hidden in there somewhere in the average camp).
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