Writers, check in

[Not Heidi]

I'm curious as to how many writers - from those who keep private journals to published authors and everything in between - we have here.

Chime in, one and all.

I write for myself. Yesterday I began something new, something I've never tried. I'd like to see it published, but I'll use a nom de plume.

Tell us about what you write.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Hello there!

I write and am lucky enough to have found a few editors who will publish my work. I love writing free verse poetry.

Belonging to a local group of senior citizens who also write poetry gives me a place to get feedback. One of our members has a book out and I value her critiques.

I truly enjoy the work.

[Bayard]

2. A former wannabee

Years ago, I wrote song lyrics, poems, and short stories. The only thing I ever had published though were race results and photos as a stringer for a running magazine.

[claudette]

3. I keep a

Digital journal to keep track of dates and life’s events and to leave messages to my family to read when I’m gone.

[NJCher]

5. Mostly journaling

—dream journal. It’s the conduit to the subconscious.

—focus exercise journal. I like to try guided focus sessions from YouTube and write about the experience. Recently its been yoga nidra.

—everyday contacts with post material beings. This is very funny, light-hearted interaction. Includes sharing life lessons via music.

I’ve been doing this in one form or another for decades. My friends tell me I’m incredibly lucky, but I say it’s this practice.

[Not Heidi]

27. Who *are* you? 😁

All of that . . . I don't know how to say what's in my mind about your diverse writings. [Edit: To say I'm impressed is just so bourgeois.]

Thank you for reminding me to write down my dreams. My best friend says if I published them, I'd be a best seller. 🤪

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Writer here.

Many years ago I was a Writer of the Future, which is a huge big deal in the science fiction world. I did not follow up on that, although I've been published in a couple of anthologies in recent years, and a couple of years ago edited a themed anthology. Hooray! I am hoping to edit more anthologies, and have been sending out recent stories to various magazines. Alas, to no success.

[nolabear]

7. I'm a fiction writer and poet. I've enjoyed some success.

I’ve had fiction and poetry published, self published two novels that won some awards, and early this year actually got an MFA in Creative Writing (utterly weird in a pandemic). I was a city level poet laureate from 2011 to 2014.

It’s been a spare few months though. The world has intruded way too much. But it’ll get better. It’s still my favorite thing in the world.

[GenThePerservering]

8. Sports historian (mainly bareknuckle boxing)

in 18th century society. Mostly published lectures, though I've also published short pieces in academic journals. Also I was a staff writer for an off road magazine. I've lost count of publications - I never read them after I send them off and don't always keep copies.

I used to write satire but what's "satire" these days when The Onion reads like the news.

[Gore1FL]

9. I have about a dozen plays in the can.

It's been a while, though.

[Metaphorical]

10. I'm a writer

Have authored 25 technical books, two novels, and lots of articles and blog posts, including several for Forbes. I also am wrapping up a two year stint as an editor for a technical site, so yeah, words.

[CTyankee]

11. art history

I am addicted to art in my old age. I travel to Europe frequently to see great art in situ and just experience museums. Going to Barcelona and Paris in the spring! Age has slowed me, tho, and I will have to get a walker with a seat to accommodate my arthritic back.

[stage left]

12. Writer here.

I write fiction and dabble in poetry. I've had a few short stories and poems published and I'm working on a novel.

[pnwmom]

13. I've written and rewritten a novel over the years, and an agent has it now.

She plans to send it on submission in January. Gulp. Fingers crossed.

[orleans]

14. plays, two musicals, picture books, ya novel

short stories & poetry years ago

not a lot of success yet (a "tad" ) but still working on it

[mnhtnbb]

15. I wrote a play which had two staged readings

with two different groups in two different states in 2000, but then my mom died and I moved my dad from CA to NC. Life got in the way. Started a second play, then 9/11 happened and within a few months my dad died. Life got in the way again and I set the play aside. I was going through a journal I kept from early 1989-1990, thinking about turning some ideas that were there into something, when our house burned down in 2007 and I lost everything I'd ever written, except my first play --which was copyrighted --and I could get a copy back from the Library of Congress. But all my notes, journals, musings, and first act of the second play were gone because nothing was backed up elsewhere.

It remains to be seen whether I'll attempt to tell any more stories for anyone other than myself.

[wnylib]

16. Mostly journaling. Been doing it

most of my life. I record dreans and work out my thoughts and impressions in journals.

Edited a college newspaper for one year.

In college, one professor suggested that I publish a paper that I wrote for his class. (I never did. I felt that it needed a little reworking and was bogged down in classes and work, so I never did it.) Another professor asked permission to use a piece that I did for her class in a book that she was writing.

A few times I was asked for permission to use on a web site some things that I wrote on message boards.

I wrote an extensive family history narrative for relatives that pulled together the research that I had done.

It's just something I do. I've never written something specifically for publication, although I've thought about it.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

17. Yes siree bob.

Got a novel coming out in December. Not Mixed Animal. Yet.

[nuxvomica]

18. I self-published my novel years ago

It's sci-fi set in Northern Africa 4,000 years ago and has no extraterrestrials. I had set out to write totally original sci-fi that was not set in the future or in space because I wanted to minimally address the question that sci-fi asks: What is the role of humans in an universe without gods or magic? It's received great reviews, including from Kirkus Reviews, but I could get no agent's or publisher's interest. Since then, I've been writing stories for a monthly sci-fi writing group and have sixty or so that I am planning to self-publish as a collection. One of the stories, about an android clown, was actually published by a sci-fi magazine, and a few more were published in anthologies.

[Conjuay]

19. I tried to check in,

but apparently someone lost my reservation.

I try to write humor.

[Marthe48]

20. There is a reading and writing group/topic on DU

After your post in The DU Lounge drops down, maybe you'd like to check out the Reading & Writing posts

[A-Schwarzenegger]

23. Aha!

[Not Heidi]

26. Thanks, Marthe48. n/t

[Ocelot II]

21. Used to,

but it was mostly legal briefs, and later on, aircraft manuals. I don't think that really counts, at least from the standpoint of creativity. But I'm really good at spelling and grammar.

[Not Heidi]

25. spelling & grammar

That what I do best when I write. Maybe I'm an editor instead of an author.

[frogmarch]

22. I mostly write for myself

I write short fiction. Make that, I used to. I somehow lost my inspiration. During my writing years, I was surprised and happy to see some of my stories published at ezines. This one was published at the now-defunct ezine The Harrow. Later, I put it on Webador, although I don't remember why.

https://short-fiction-by-eleanor.webador.com/

[Wicked Blue]

24. Here

I keep a journal and write a little poetry when the muse nudges me.

Former newspaper reporter. Also wrote energy case studies for trade publications.