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8: What Writing Means to Me
Archived series ("Inactive feed" status)
When? This feed was archived on February 10, 2021 14:10 (). Last successful fetch was on August 10, 2019 01:12 ()
Why? Inactive feed status. Our servers were unable to retrieve a valid podcast feed for a sustained period.
What now? You might be able to find a more up-to-date version using the search function. This series will no longer be checked for updates. If you believe this to be in error, please check if the publisher's feed link below is valid and contact support to request the feed be restored or if you have any other concerns about this.
Manage episode 159667388 series 1015286
My wife, Tara, interviews me!
What Writing Means to Me
(Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/8)
Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.
We talk about my first writing experience and why I feel so drawn to writing. This podcast episode follows a conversational format, but under the surface of my own recounted experiences, you can see some of the underlying foundations of writing and what it takes to be a writer as it applies to your own story.
We all come to the empty page with different backgrounds. And if storytelling has taught me anything, it's that there are hidden gems of truth within every story.
When did you first develop a desire to write?
The first writing experience I remember was in Ms. Shupe's first grade class. We were supposed to write a short story and I wrote one that was very similar to The Lion and the Mouse. It was called, The Lion and the Turtle. It was a total knock-off.
But my mom worked at Hill Air Force Base and they had computers. So she typed it up for me and printed it out and put it into this very professional looking folio. I took it to school and, probably more because it looked nice, Ms. Shupe put it on the bulletin board outside the classroom for the whole school to read. It blew me away and I was so excited about writing, you know, in first grade... with my knock-off story.
So, where did it go from there?
But then in junior high I started to write poems. I wanted to write stories, but I got hung up on using the correct punctuation. I had questions and I tried to ask my English teacher but it never came out right, so I never got the answers I was looking for. It was really stupid stuff like, do you put the period before the quotation marks or after the quotation marks. If somebody asks a question, is it a question mark and then quotation marks, and then if it's 'he said' or 'she said' is the 'h' or the 's' capitalized?
We didn't have the Internet back then, so I couldn't just look it up and I never really got any good answers to those questions and I just felt kind of silly for asking them after a while so I stopped. But the stories that I did start writing, I would love to tell you that they were awesome, but they weren't. They were crap. I still have some of them. They were just utter crap, but what are you going to expect from a junior high school kid?
At the time you thought they were awesome, though?
And then, it was before the Internet, right? So we had the Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and we would, I called myself a modemer, you'd use the modem on your computer and dial in over the phone line and connect to the BBS. It was basically a simple chat program that brought in all sorts of different users across different telephone line systems and you could chat with people. You could post files. So I posted up some of my poems up there and you read some of them, didn't you?
I did.
It was before we met.
Yeah, I was only on there because a friend who got me on. I wasn't computer savvy, even then. But I was just perusing the file section one day and came across them and the name 'Brady Frost' stuck in my head. And so when I met him later, after he mentioned he had written something, I... it was kind of crazy. Because your name had been stuck in my head.
No, I wasn't stalking you.
I read some of yours, they were funny.
There was an enlarged area in her kidneys.
It was just during the routine ultrasound and I guess they kind of saw something. I got a phone call later that evening that she had been diagnosed with hydronephrosis. It just means that the middle of the kidney was enlarged and they thought it was filled with fluid. It could be something minor or it could be something very severe that required surgery and Brade was gone to Basic Training. So I had to tell him over the phone.
Even beyond then, you weren't very creatively driven during your time in the military.
You would still talk about it sometimes.
Yeah, you did gather a lot of notebooks during those years.
What would you say that writing means to you now?
I would tell you a book that I liked and then you would start reading it and you couldn't even get through a bit of it. You would say, "How do you like this? It's so awful this way and that way." And I just stopped telling him about books I liked because he would just knock on them.
It's like I would tell you, they told a good story.
There are sometimes I wonder why you like it. Because you both love and hate writing from one moment to the next.
You mean still, still learning?
That doesn't stop you from looking at them all the time. "This would be good for writing, this would be good..."
In some ways, they are your new notebooks. Although, you still get notebooks!
Yeah, you are a pen snob.
So, where do you see your writing five years from now?
Yeah.
Now, I would say you're good at your job. It's just not a passion for you anymore.
And those are the days, when you overcome, you feel best about.
Are you in-line right now with where you want to be in five years?
Yeah, with what you're doing.
By quite a lot.
Even though I've never seen you write a horrible first draft. You self-edit too much.
Yep.
I do. I remember from when it was originally done.
I enjoyed it.
Yeah.
I think that's good.
Sounds like a plan.
And now, for this week's writing prompts!
Whether you find yourself writing a descriptive scene or dialogue, a poem or prose, or anything else (even if it seems entirely unrelated to the prompt), you have won. Happy writing, and may you find success in hunting your muse this week.
1. Unknown City
A team of scientists have unearthed several rare artifacts from a construction site in a well-populated city. The discovery has all-but halted normal life in the area as experts from around the world flock to examine the unexpected discovery.
All evidence seems to indicate the presence of a very prosperous civilization that existed tens of thousands of years ago in this location. The people of this era appear to be very advanced, using technology we can’t fully understand. This is all in direct conflict with everything we thought we knew.
There are so many questions raised about the discovery. How did this civilization come into existence, where did they go, and what practical applications can we find for their strange devices?
2. The Inside Job
You’ve just discovered that someone very close to you might be a clandestine agent of unknown origin. You have no idea who they’re working for or what their objective is, but one thing is clear; they are not the person you thought they were.
As tensions rise, you try to find out anything you can, all while pretending to be as oblivious and trusting as ever. What are they after? Why go to such lengths to get close to you?
3. The Reversal
People aren’t always who they appear to be. You’ve worked hard through the years and managed to amass a small fortune. Since you grew up in a disadvantaged situation, you always try to give back to the community and create opportunities for others to succeed. This means you can usually be seen out volunteering, and you save the fancy duds for special occasions.
This has led to some very interesting misunderstandings, but today takes the cake. You’re running a little late on your way to the office after volunteering with a housing improvement project, when one of the candidates for a special fast-track program you just established literally runs into you on the street on their way to a one-on-one interview with… you.
You’ve read their file and watched their application submission video, but the person yelling profanities and admonishments bears nothing more than a physical resemblance to the candidate you were sure you were going to pick.
Deciding to allow things to play out, you apologize to them for being in their way and then slowly make your way to your building, stopping in a spare office to change into your business attire before walking in and calling them into a conference room.
4. Creature Comforts
While on a solo vacation adventure, you decide to pay for a cheaper seat on a returning flight of a small charter plane instead of booking a seat on the normal airlines. When you board the plane, you’re taken aback by the luxury that surrounds you.
Halfway through the leg; however, the small plane experiences a mechanical failure and the flight is diverted.
The owner of the plane insists on compensating you for the inconvenience and puts you up in a five-star hotel while the parts for the plane are ordered and installed. This strange glimpse into a different world soon affords you with unexpected opportunities and you can’t help but think that this is a life you could get used to.
5. Just a Little Bit Longer
Something is out there. You don’t know what it is or where it came from, but one thing is for sure. Where it goes, death follows. You’ve been on the run, dashing blindly through the dense overgrowth, for what seems like ages. The only thing you know for certain is that this creature, whatever it is, doesn’t like sunlight. With the first hints of dawn peeking over the tips of the mountains, you know you’ll be safe if you can somehow manage to stay one step ahead until the sun emerges in the east. But then you hear it somewhere close behind you.
Without a second to spare, you don’t dare look back. Up ahead you see a small cave opening. If you can manage to squirm inside, you might have a chance. You just have to hold out just a little bit longer.
6. Community Survival
In the aftermath of a terrible disaster, a community must overcome isolation and a lack of supplies to rebuild. Together, they work hand in hand. Strangers who largely ignored each other before the event now challenge their vast differences in order to survive.
There are many things once taken for granted that are now in high demand and your diverse character ensemble must figure out how they will cope until outside help arrives.
How will your characters handle outside threats to their small community? What happens if new parties arrive and old bonds begin to unravel the cohesiveness the group has worked so hard to form?
7. The Super-Secret Admirer
It all started a couple days ago when you found a long-stem rose tucked under the windshield wiper blade of your car. There wasn’t a note and, as far as you can tell, there wasn’t a special occasion to celebrate. Another rose showed up on your doorstep the following evening. And now there’s an entire bouquet sitting at your desk.
No one seems to know who they came from or why. Try as you might, you can’t think of anyone who would have a reason to shower you with gifts like this. Is this the beginning of something special, or are these strange gifts a small precursor to something darker than love?
I hope you've enjoyed this week's episode and creative writing prompts.
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11 episodes
Archived series ("Inactive feed" status)
When? This feed was archived on February 10, 2021 14:10 (). Last successful fetch was on August 10, 2019 01:12 ()
Why? Inactive feed status. Our servers were unable to retrieve a valid podcast feed for a sustained period.
What now? You might be able to find a more up-to-date version using the search function. This series will no longer be checked for updates. If you believe this to be in error, please check if the publisher's feed link below is valid and contact support to request the feed be restored or if you have any other concerns about this.
Manage episode 159667388 series 1015286
My wife, Tara, interviews me!
What Writing Means to Me
(Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/8)
Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast.
We talk about my first writing experience and why I feel so drawn to writing. This podcast episode follows a conversational format, but under the surface of my own recounted experiences, you can see some of the underlying foundations of writing and what it takes to be a writer as it applies to your own story.
We all come to the empty page with different backgrounds. And if storytelling has taught me anything, it's that there are hidden gems of truth within every story.
When did you first develop a desire to write?
The first writing experience I remember was in Ms. Shupe's first grade class. We were supposed to write a short story and I wrote one that was very similar to The Lion and the Mouse. It was called, The Lion and the Turtle. It was a total knock-off.
But my mom worked at Hill Air Force Base and they had computers. So she typed it up for me and printed it out and put it into this very professional looking folio. I took it to school and, probably more because it looked nice, Ms. Shupe put it on the bulletin board outside the classroom for the whole school to read. It blew me away and I was so excited about writing, you know, in first grade... with my knock-off story.
So, where did it go from there?
But then in junior high I started to write poems. I wanted to write stories, but I got hung up on using the correct punctuation. I had questions and I tried to ask my English teacher but it never came out right, so I never got the answers I was looking for. It was really stupid stuff like, do you put the period before the quotation marks or after the quotation marks. If somebody asks a question, is it a question mark and then quotation marks, and then if it's 'he said' or 'she said' is the 'h' or the 's' capitalized?
We didn't have the Internet back then, so I couldn't just look it up and I never really got any good answers to those questions and I just felt kind of silly for asking them after a while so I stopped. But the stories that I did start writing, I would love to tell you that they were awesome, but they weren't. They were crap. I still have some of them. They were just utter crap, but what are you going to expect from a junior high school kid?
At the time you thought they were awesome, though?
And then, it was before the Internet, right? So we had the Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and we would, I called myself a modemer, you'd use the modem on your computer and dial in over the phone line and connect to the BBS. It was basically a simple chat program that brought in all sorts of different users across different telephone line systems and you could chat with people. You could post files. So I posted up some of my poems up there and you read some of them, didn't you?
I did.
It was before we met.
Yeah, I was only on there because a friend who got me on. I wasn't computer savvy, even then. But I was just perusing the file section one day and came across them and the name 'Brady Frost' stuck in my head. And so when I met him later, after he mentioned he had written something, I... it was kind of crazy. Because your name had been stuck in my head.
No, I wasn't stalking you.
I read some of yours, they were funny.
There was an enlarged area in her kidneys.
It was just during the routine ultrasound and I guess they kind of saw something. I got a phone call later that evening that she had been diagnosed with hydronephrosis. It just means that the middle of the kidney was enlarged and they thought it was filled with fluid. It could be something minor or it could be something very severe that required surgery and Brade was gone to Basic Training. So I had to tell him over the phone.
Even beyond then, you weren't very creatively driven during your time in the military.
You would still talk about it sometimes.
Yeah, you did gather a lot of notebooks during those years.
What would you say that writing means to you now?
I would tell you a book that I liked and then you would start reading it and you couldn't even get through a bit of it. You would say, "How do you like this? It's so awful this way and that way." And I just stopped telling him about books I liked because he would just knock on them.
It's like I would tell you, they told a good story.
There are sometimes I wonder why you like it. Because you both love and hate writing from one moment to the next.
You mean still, still learning?
That doesn't stop you from looking at them all the time. "This would be good for writing, this would be good..."
In some ways, they are your new notebooks. Although, you still get notebooks!
Yeah, you are a pen snob.
So, where do you see your writing five years from now?
Yeah.
Now, I would say you're good at your job. It's just not a passion for you anymore.
And those are the days, when you overcome, you feel best about.
Are you in-line right now with where you want to be in five years?
Yeah, with what you're doing.
By quite a lot.
Even though I've never seen you write a horrible first draft. You self-edit too much.
Yep.
I do. I remember from when it was originally done.
I enjoyed it.
Yeah.
I think that's good.
Sounds like a plan.
And now, for this week's writing prompts!
Whether you find yourself writing a descriptive scene or dialogue, a poem or prose, or anything else (even if it seems entirely unrelated to the prompt), you have won. Happy writing, and may you find success in hunting your muse this week.
1. Unknown City
A team of scientists have unearthed several rare artifacts from a construction site in a well-populated city. The discovery has all-but halted normal life in the area as experts from around the world flock to examine the unexpected discovery.
All evidence seems to indicate the presence of a very prosperous civilization that existed tens of thousands of years ago in this location. The people of this era appear to be very advanced, using technology we can’t fully understand. This is all in direct conflict with everything we thought we knew.
There are so many questions raised about the discovery. How did this civilization come into existence, where did they go, and what practical applications can we find for their strange devices?
2. The Inside Job
You’ve just discovered that someone very close to you might be a clandestine agent of unknown origin. You have no idea who they’re working for or what their objective is, but one thing is clear; they are not the person you thought they were.
As tensions rise, you try to find out anything you can, all while pretending to be as oblivious and trusting as ever. What are they after? Why go to such lengths to get close to you?
3. The Reversal
People aren’t always who they appear to be. You’ve worked hard through the years and managed to amass a small fortune. Since you grew up in a disadvantaged situation, you always try to give back to the community and create opportunities for others to succeed. This means you can usually be seen out volunteering, and you save the fancy duds for special occasions.
This has led to some very interesting misunderstandings, but today takes the cake. You’re running a little late on your way to the office after volunteering with a housing improvement project, when one of the candidates for a special fast-track program you just established literally runs into you on the street on their way to a one-on-one interview with… you.
You’ve read their file and watched their application submission video, but the person yelling profanities and admonishments bears nothing more than a physical resemblance to the candidate you were sure you were going to pick.
Deciding to allow things to play out, you apologize to them for being in their way and then slowly make your way to your building, stopping in a spare office to change into your business attire before walking in and calling them into a conference room.
4. Creature Comforts
While on a solo vacation adventure, you decide to pay for a cheaper seat on a returning flight of a small charter plane instead of booking a seat on the normal airlines. When you board the plane, you’re taken aback by the luxury that surrounds you.
Halfway through the leg; however, the small plane experiences a mechanical failure and the flight is diverted.
The owner of the plane insists on compensating you for the inconvenience and puts you up in a five-star hotel while the parts for the plane are ordered and installed. This strange glimpse into a different world soon affords you with unexpected opportunities and you can’t help but think that this is a life you could get used to.
5. Just a Little Bit Longer
Something is out there. You don’t know what it is or where it came from, but one thing is for sure. Where it goes, death follows. You’ve been on the run, dashing blindly through the dense overgrowth, for what seems like ages. The only thing you know for certain is that this creature, whatever it is, doesn’t like sunlight. With the first hints of dawn peeking over the tips of the mountains, you know you’ll be safe if you can somehow manage to stay one step ahead until the sun emerges in the east. But then you hear it somewhere close behind you.
Without a second to spare, you don’t dare look back. Up ahead you see a small cave opening. If you can manage to squirm inside, you might have a chance. You just have to hold out just a little bit longer.
6. Community Survival
In the aftermath of a terrible disaster, a community must overcome isolation and a lack of supplies to rebuild. Together, they work hand in hand. Strangers who largely ignored each other before the event now challenge their vast differences in order to survive.
There are many things once taken for granted that are now in high demand and your diverse character ensemble must figure out how they will cope until outside help arrives.
How will your characters handle outside threats to their small community? What happens if new parties arrive and old bonds begin to unravel the cohesiveness the group has worked so hard to form?
7. The Super-Secret Admirer
It all started a couple days ago when you found a long-stem rose tucked under the windshield wiper blade of your car. There wasn’t a note and, as far as you can tell, there wasn’t a special occasion to celebrate. Another rose showed up on your doorstep the following evening. And now there’s an entire bouquet sitting at your desk.
No one seems to know who they came from or why. Try as you might, you can’t think of anyone who would have a reason to shower you with gifts like this. Is this the beginning of something special, or are these strange gifts a small precursor to something darker than love?
I hope you've enjoyed this week's episode and creative writing prompts.
(function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);Join my monthly newsletter for writers and get more helpful content, encouragement, and more!
* indicates requiredEmail Address *First NameLast NameEmail FormathtmltextPowered by MailChimp
11 episodes
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