Weekly Update
So this past week was my birthday week. I had some plans, but they all kind of fell through. The cabin where I was going to stay had poor management, and I spent way too much time trying to find where to check in, then find where the actual cabin was, and then try to figure out how to keep warm… There was a thermostat on the wall, but it didn’t seem to work, and a very empty and ashy fireplace with no instructions. So then I came home, expecting that if I couldn’t have a nice night in the cabin, at least I’d have more time during the day to do nifty stuff… But then my stomach rebelled. I have a stomach condition with occasional episodes, but I hadn’t had an episode in forever it seems, but no, of course it had to come back then. Thankfully, I was able to sleep through it (the usual best course of action if it works), but that meant I got up at 3pm feeling groggy and not quite well. Needless to say, not much got done.
My actual birthday, though, was the day before all of this, and I had a lovely dinner with my parents and then we watched Forrest Gump — this was the first time I’ve seen it, and it’s a movie I have long thought I needed to see. It did not disappoint, so my actual birthday turned out quite nice.
Optional Monthly Question
In your writing, where do you draw the line, with either topics or language?
This feels like opening a can of worms. I don’t have too many limits in my actual writing. Maybe I should have more. I do have limits around writing, though. One of my hard limits is never to speak poorly of other writers, especially about their writing. Their character — thankfully, I have not actually met any writers of bad character, though I have heard many horror stories. But even there, I would not reveal names unless I was warning a particular person about someone who might harm them specifically. Again, I haven’t had the need to do anything like that. All the writers I’ve met have been great people as well. That may change if I ever have any success.
As far as the actual topic goes, though, I don’t really have lines. I will say I tend not to swear much, but that isn’t because of a line I’ve drawn, it’s more that I just don’t swear that much, and I find excessive swearing to be uninteresting. It’s not a moral opposition to swearing, although I was a teacher at one point, so have also made it a habit to not swear for that setting, which surely affects my swearing today.
As for topics, I don’t have many limits there, either. The only thing I tend not to write is pure autobiographical stuff because, again, I find it boring. I already lived my life; when I read and write, I want to live other lives.
So, in the end, I guess I only have one limit in my writing: boredom. I don’t write stuff that bores me (at least not on purpose). And while others may say that confusing the reader is the worst thing a writer can do, I still maintain that boring the reader is much worse. After all, sometimes I want confusion, but I never want boredom.
INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP
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Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh
Twitter is @TheIWSG Hashtag: #IWSG
The awesome co-hosts for the October 6 posting of the IWSG are Jemima Pett, J Lenni Dorner, Cathrina Constantine, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, and Mary Aalgaard!
