It will not have escaped notice that there have been some adjustments round here. For a couple of months now I have been pondering how best to streamline things.
YAMandala became defunct earlier this year as there just was not enough time to create new designs. As of the weekend, it has been deleted altogether. The mandalas are all on file, of course, so may make appearances here, there and elsewhere again.
MY TAKE TOO was begun as the purely creative writing blog, only publishing twice weekly. The idea initially was to take prompts from photos posted to MY TAKE. That partly continued, but in the last few months, the Monday post has been based upon another meme site and not my own. This has been good from the point of view of making the creative juices work and I have greatly enjoyed it. I shall continue 'making goulash', but it will appear as an additional post on Sundays (or possibly Mondays) right here, as a dose of Wild YAM.
TOO also was home of the end-monthly prompt begun mid-year of FFHT, for Blogvillagers to join in. This really challenges the writer's block(headedness) and it will now appear on the Final Friday right here.
Other stories and poetry appeared there. However, it was encouraging when recently two posts of poems brought some worthwhile comments over on this 'channel'...
In short, the decision was made to merge TOO with MENO and rebrand it slightly. Then it tookabout 87 days a little while to educate myself on how to do this without losing data. Additionally, going back to reworking the template was like starting from scratch as it was 21 months ago that I last was mucking around in there. Further self-upgrading was undertaken by mucking around in the HTML workings in order to get things sizing the way I wanted... phew... the great news is there is plenty of help available online as you go - IF you know what you're looking for!
So TAKE and WY have got their new look. The creative stuff is now going to find a spot here (probably on the days when I have nothing else to rant about), and TOO blog will be deleted in the near future.
Most of my writing time, you see, is being focused on Aatmaavrajanam. It is my 'prime directive' after all. Not having to think of a fourth blog will relieve the 'muscles' slightly. There also has to be some time factored into greater amounts of creative writing. Currently, YAM is sans income. Part of the deal with myself in setting up on the woolly West coast of Scotland, was not only to delve into the deeper spiritual Self, but also to finally get to grips with weaving tales at a level worthy of publishing. I know that several of my readers will identify with this. Blogging almost invariably begins because there is that simple urge to write and have others gain something from that writing, be it positive, negative or total indifference.
On hearing of the death of P D James last week (same day as that tragic loss of Phil Hughes, Australian cricketer), there was a snippet of her talking and something struck home very firmly. She had acknowledged that she let the business of daily life become a block from focusing fully on what she felt was her purpose. Certainly, one must attend to the practicalities. There comes a point though where one must just simply get on with it.
The 10 writing tips of Ms James are;
These are pretty much the same sort of guidelines that have been heard of since school-days, through writing clubs and coaching groups. All who have any sense of 'being a writer' will be aware of them. In many respects, there is the same sort of discipline required as in spiritual saadhana (daily routine). As I always say over at Aatmaavrajanam though, application is the key. As can be seen, several have been 'ticked' as 'applied'... all except the actual writing bit. That can't be discussed. It's in the rules.
There are no pretensions here of becoming a household name. To put food on the table and perhaps some fuel in the car, though, is a good enough incentive!
YAMandala became defunct earlier this year as there just was not enough time to create new designs. As of the weekend, it has been deleted altogether. The mandalas are all on file, of course, so may make appearances here, there and elsewhere again.
MY TAKE TOO was begun as the purely creative writing blog, only publishing twice weekly. The idea initially was to take prompts from photos posted to MY TAKE. That partly continued, but in the last few months, the Monday post has been based upon another meme site and not my own. This has been good from the point of view of making the creative juices work and I have greatly enjoyed it. I shall continue 'making goulash', but it will appear as an additional post on Sundays (or possibly Mondays) right here, as a dose of Wild YAM.
TOO also was home of the end-monthly prompt begun mid-year of FFHT, for Blogvillagers to join in. This really challenges the writer's block(headedness) and it will now appear on the Final Friday right here.
Other stories and poetry appeared there. However, it was encouraging when recently two posts of poems brought some worthwhile comments over on this 'channel'...In short, the decision was made to merge TOO with MENO and rebrand it slightly. Then it took
So TAKE and WY have got their new look. The creative stuff is now going to find a spot here (probably on the days when I have nothing else to rant about), and TOO blog will be deleted in the near future.
Most of my writing time, you see, is being focused on Aatmaavrajanam. It is my 'prime directive' after all. Not having to think of a fourth blog will relieve the 'muscles' slightly. There also has to be some time factored into greater amounts of creative writing. Currently, YAM is sans income. Part of the deal with myself in setting up on the woolly West coast of Scotland, was not only to delve into the deeper spiritual Self, but also to finally get to grips with weaving tales at a level worthy of publishing. I know that several of my readers will identify with this. Blogging almost invariably begins because there is that simple urge to write and have others gain something from that writing, be it positive, negative or total indifference.
On hearing of the death of P D James last week (same day as that tragic loss of Phil Hughes, Australian cricketer), there was a snippet of her talking and something struck home very firmly. She had acknowledged that she let the business of daily life become a block from focusing fully on what she felt was her purpose. Certainly, one must attend to the practicalities. There comes a point though where one must just simply get on with it.
The 10 writing tips of Ms James are;
- you have to have had the desire and been writing since childhood...[yup], this includes that you must have had at least a dozen comments over the years from others along the lines of "oh you should write"...[yup]
- enjoy your own company...[yup]
- write about what you know...[yup]
- always have a notebook to hand...[yup - though am guilty of not always using it]
- find your own routine...[yup - though that can be challenged at times]
- read...[yup], write...[yup - even if it is just a journal note], don't daydream...[yup]
- choose a good setting...[...was unclear about this; if she meant for oneself as the writer, then 'yup'; if she meant for the piece of writing - that's to be determined!]
- never talk about a piece of work until it is finished..[fine - there should even be a piece of work...]
- know when to stop...[refer last comment... getting started is the challenge here!]
- be aware the business is changing...[this last one I suppose refers to the e-book phenomenon and such like.]
These are pretty much the same sort of guidelines that have been heard of since school-days, through writing clubs and coaching groups. All who have any sense of 'being a writer' will be aware of them. In many respects, there is the same sort of discipline required as in spiritual saadhana (daily routine). As I always say over at Aatmaavrajanam though, application is the key. As can be seen, several have been 'ticked' as 'applied'... all except the actual writing bit. That can't be discussed. It's in the rules.
There are no pretensions here of becoming a household name. To put food on the table and perhaps some fuel in the car, though, is a good enough incentive!
Such a thrill to recall, reconstitute the grey cells belonging to a 21 month old task, reclaim the template, reconstitute...well bashed, great look, fun layout.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall if graphics training was in your multi populated background, but again, nice job.
We wish you well in your writing endeavors. Mom enjoys writing and has had times when words flowed easily and other times when they just twisted into knots. We think you will do well. Getting ready is impawtent but mom says sometimes you just have to do it - ready or not BOL!
ReplyDeleteYour Pals,
MURPHY AND STANLEY
I do love the new look! Momma says she doesn't know how you can write so many blogs...she has a hard time coming up with stuff for one!
ReplyDeleteThe blog is looking good. I confess to finding it hard to keep track of more than one blog per person, although I understand the need not to create confusion by putting all sorts of different subjects on the same blog!
ReplyDeleteP.D.James is such an inspiration, and her tips seem sound to me.
All the best with getting published and bringing in a new income stream. I was going to suggest you find a local writers group, but it sounds as if you've already "been there, done that". (I have contacts with one such group in Aberdeen, and wonder sometimes if I should join up).
Well I do know that much of what you write is far more interesting than stuff that sells by the warehouseful, but sadly, this is no guarantee of commercial success…
One can only try.
Cheers!
Gail.
I like writing mostly because I do the research!
ReplyDelete