What aspect of writing proved most difficult for you?

Today, I'd like to pose a question for anyone with time to post a reply.

What aspect of writing proved most difficult for you and what did you do to get past it?


Larry

The books that most influenced my reading and writing.

Good morning,


Since the subjects of reading and writing can hardly be keep too separate, I thought today I'd list my top most influential books, mostly older. I’d love to hear which books most influenced you. Here goes:

The eleven most influential books I’ve read (I couldn't stop at ten.):


Last and First Men                     Olaf Stapledon

Foundation Series                      Isaac Asimov

Stranger in a Strange Land         Robert Heinlein

Brave New World                       Aldous Huxley

Childhood's End                         Arthur C. Clarke

Lord of the Rings Trilogy           JRR Tolkien

I Ching                                      Unknown

The Book                                   Alan Watts

Narcissus and Goldmund‎              Hermann Hesse

The Stand                                  Stephen King

The Mote in God's Eye                Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle



Larry

Reviewing

Good morning.


I try to review a piece every day, to grow my networking, to sharpen my skills and to help others. It seems I'm better at reviewing other people’s work than my own. It amazes me how long a missing or wrong word can remain before anyone notices. I've found them in pieces reviewed twenty or more times over multiple years.

The technique I use for reviewing is as follows:

· I begin with a gross edit using MS Word, and then post the work on FanStory. I like their editors, which  convert pieces to HTML very conveniently.

· Then, I read the posted writing and edit both the word and posted document as I work through it.

· Next, I print a copy from Word and edit from the printed copy. (I only afford the luxury of printed reviews for my own works.) I believe that reading from different medias helps me catch stuff. Of course,

· I use the Word spell checker and any help I can get.

· Finally, I keep a spreadsheet of my own systematic failings such as excessive exclamation marks and overused words, and I check my work for those items on a checklist that also includes missing quotes. I’d love to hear what methods others use.

I have also found that a review of the basics every few years is very useful. I just re-read Elements of Style by Strunk and White and am beginning on Show Don’t Tell by William Noble. I plan to complete the cycle with The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman, Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain, On Writing by Stephen King and Eats Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. I’d love to hear which books others have found helpful through the learning process.
I actively post my work at the Online Writer’s Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror and have a few items on Writing.com.
So, in summary, I review other people’s work routinely, use a method and am trying to stay knowledgeable.

Let me know what you think.

Good writing,



Larry

Good morning America.

Let's start this morning by considering the difficulties involved with writing. In 1962 I was a National Science Fair finalist with a minor research project related to the polarization of light during the cycles of Cepheid variable stars. I had studied stellar atmospheres and a little bit of Chandrasekhar and at the time held high hopes for breaking into the field of astrophysics. Later in college, my professors convinced me that most people educated in that area were flipping burgers. I moved on.


Also, at the early age of about eleven, I developed a love of space travel, or at least the hope for space travel. My early reading of Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men, Asimov, The Foundation Trilogy that grew and grew and Childhood’s End, Clarke, prompted me to attempt and complete my first novel as a project for my high school junior English class. This pitiful attempt ended in a story, maybe 50,000 words written in short sentences, passive voice, excessive pronoun use and all telling with a little dialogue. I compounded the atrocity by adding two additional stories of about the same size, completing a trilogy of how mankind finds the origins of the human species -- on Earth. Novel, right?

For the next forty years I redirected my endeavors toward survival among others, worked my way though college and three marriages, the last and present one of twenty-four years and climbing. During most of that time, I wrote prolifically about rheological science, manufacturing methods and quality standards. After twenty years as a quality manager at a local manufacturing concern in Louisville, I lost my job and while unemployed, began writing.

Now, after several short-lived positions in a volatile economy, I can say I’ve re-learned the English language and re-discovered my love of writing. Probably the most difficult steps were learning to edit my own work, learning to plot a story and the tough-as-nails hard work necessary to write for the reader. I’m certainly no expert, and don’t have tons of publications (other than technical) to my name, but now I can weave a little fictive dream and others tell me they like it.

So, I’m beginning with a series of posts about writing, with the hope of sharing my experiences and possibly helping guide others to where I’ve stumbled. Wish me luck.


Larry

Welcome to the new Writer's Podium where we discuss various topics of writing and publishing.

Larry