Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

Different writing is handled different ways: my journal entries I do not edit–I just get it down redundancies and all. Blogs I edit right away and on the computer. Letters I do not edit. I read them before sending them and make sure there are no errors–usually of omission. Short autobiographical stories, which I do not write too many I first get down and run a hard copy after each set of editing. Poems are usually generated from my journal. I edit right away from my raw material and run a hard copy and then edit, again, and run another hard copy, sometimes, sitting on it and edit it again from the hard copy and print and repeat the process until I am happy with it. I failed to note my wife edits my material. My blogs, poems, and other written material I read out loud to her for a general reaction and modify my material according to her reaction. She has good instincts. Also it is amazing what I hear when I read the material out loud especially regarding poems. I am keenly aware of my material read out loud. It has to sound right. That is some of my techniques and process I go through. My web site I created with my wife’s help to aid other writers.

Tags: autobiographical, blogs, editing, editing blogs and stories, I am keenly aware the way poems sound out loud, my web site for writers, My wife edits my material, poems, read written material out loud, short stories, stories, writing, writing journals entries, writing letters, writing techniques
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Editing when I write a poem (or blog) (or anything), is different for different types of writing.  For blogs I edit as I go along.  For journals entries that turn into poems I try initially to get the particular experience down.  At that point I do not edit and if I decide to turn the entry into a poem I then start editing when I get to the computer.  Letters I write I never edit.  I do read my letter once.  Sometimes I find omissions and add a word or two here or there but that is it.  I but I really do not edit my letters.

I do write autobiographical short stories but this is rare.  I could only remember three I wrote.  There I write initially without editing and then when I get to the computer with it I get it all down, print the initial draft and then edit each subsequent draft which is done from the hard copy.  This is my general process.  I do use my wife as an editor.  For a general reaction, which I always consider as I edit further.  I am very lucky to have her.

Tags: autobiographical short stories, blogs, converting journal entries into poems, editing, editing blogs, editing poems from my journal, getting it all down in jounal entries, journal entries, my wife, poems, poetry, types of writing, writing, writing an autobiographical short story, writing journal entries, writing letters
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My ideas for blogs get lost unless I record them.  Sometimes I may not have time to write the blog right there and I can’t let too much time go by.  But when I return shortly (within a day or two most times) as long as I still feel strongly about the subject matter which is often, then I write the blog.  That is my general approach.  I always make sure the important ideas are listed initially.  I make the visibility “private”.  I do not want others to read my blog until it is done.

Tags: blogs, I make my "blog ideas" private until I can write the blog, my wife and I share this computer, which is another reason I just try to record my ideas for a blog, why it is so important to record my ideas for one blog, writing
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Each person gives what they can.  It is not always what you want.  Nevertheless, you have to appreciate their time.  My wife had started a project a few days ago of copying my blogs to the hard drive–something that took her hours.

I realized that yesterday she had finished transferring the rest of my blogs to our computer.  I did not realize she was working most of the day.

I needed to acknowledge the greatest gift she could give of herself her time.  And thank her for it.  So when she gets up, I need to show her I appreciate the hours she spent on the project.

Tags: appreciate their time, blogs, computer, give thanks, greatest gift is time, hard drive, my wife, project, show appreciation, you give what you can
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It was in the late sixties I started keeping a journal.  It was a pivotal point in my life.  Forty years ago I knew my emotions were frozen.  I could not cry.  I did not know how I felt at any moment.  I was deeply depressed.

My journal was a start.  It gave me somewhere to go safely.  It was my only outlet (outside of sports) at the time.  My writings back then were not that good.  I poured out my depressed feelings.

Eventually some of my entries became poems and even got published.  That was the furthest thing from my mind when I started.

At some point years later I made an important shift:  instead of accenting the negative I started writing more and more about the positive in my life.

I never would have got there if I had not written first about all the things that were bothering me.

At some point I started recording the humorous things that happened around me.  It became another way to diffuse the “craziness” I saw.

I found out decades later I liked making people laugh at open mikes.  And I wrote more and more funny poems.

None of this would have not (???) happened if I did not start journalling in the late sixties.  Now my blogs have almost replaced my journal.  Though entries in my journal still trickle in.

Tags: accent the negative, blogging, blogs, could not cry, depressed, emotions frozen, feelings, funny poems, journal entries, journalling, keeping a journal, late 1960's, make people laugh, my journal, open mike, pivotal point in life, poems, poetry, publishing poetry, somewhere safe, sports, write about humorous things, write about the positive, write about what is bothering you, writers, writing
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