Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Gansky Does It Again

I love my monthly writer's critique group.

Not because I'm masochistic and love the pitter patter of criticism against my tin ears. No, it's because it's so much fun to be around people who speak the same language that I do. The language of creative writing.

Now, don't take this the wrong way. I love my family, and being around them, more than anything. More than words on a blog can express. And while I can't say I love work, I do love the guys that I work with and the camaraderie that we share.

But there's something about slinging around ideas and ink with other writers (published or not) that scratches an itch. And it's one of those itches in a hard-to-reach spot that gets more intense the longer it goes unscratched.

This is the reason that I've linked Alton Gansky on the sidebar. I've read a couple of his books and enjoyed them, but it's the fact that he regularly speaks my language and scratches my itch on his blog that got him the link. Everytime I read his posts on writing, I want to scream like a holy roller in an all-day tent revival, "Preach it, brother."

His last four posts are no exception, and I don't want to preempt him. Just check out the link thingies. Clicking on any one of them gets you to all of them:

The Homer Simpson School of Creativity

The Sudden Cessation of Stupidity

The Painful Truth About Deadlines

The Right Question

If you're a writer or a creative thinker of any kind, I think you'll agree that they resonate. If not, sorry to have wasted your time. I'll let you get back to the lyrics du jour, now.

3 comments:

Rich said...

I'll let you get back to the lyrics du jour, now.

Y'know, if you wanna just take this outside and settle it once and for all, I'm more than willing.

Now... I'm going to go and scan your Aldo Novansky links, and I'll get back to you.

Rich said...

Okay, after reading Alton Gansky's posts -- and they were very good and mucho informative, btw -- I came to a conclusion. That is, I think I've figured out what you mean by an on-theme blog.

So, for me to do that with my mind spinning as it does, we're either going to have to change this blog to a Miami Dolphin blog (maybe a sports blog - I'm sure there're none of those out there) or an all-music blog (probably not many of those out there either, huh?). Those are about the only two things my mind can stay focused on, other than writing a work itself (not talking about writing, mind you), for any length of time.

Take your pick. (We can still leave the name The Realm of Possibility just to trick people into coming in).

Good informative post.

Diabolical Genius said...

Thanks, Rich.

I agree that the old "bait and switch" routine wears thin with people pretty quickly.

But I think the theme of the Realm is broad enough to handle most any topic in moderation, including sports and music.

Let me include it here for reference purposes:

"The Realm of Possibility is a fun place where many seemingly impossible ideas come to meet. The Realm is semi-serious, sometimes silly, often sarcastic, but never sacreligious.

The Realm is always friendly and welcoming to visitors who are young or young at heart and will tolerate those who are immature until they are no longer any fun.

We will discuss and link the bizarre, the legendary, the imaginary, the hypothetical, and the nostalgic.

The Realm will also from time to time host the unabashed self-promotion of the Pearce & Story writing team. This will include the publication of some of their best short stories, essays, ramblings, etc."

The citizens of the Realm love you, big guy. And your mind spinning is part of the reason. But I think your interests are far more varied than sports and music. And don't forget, our readers and commenters are somewhat confined by the topics we choose to broach.

I think our idea for periodically hosting a guest columnist will further our cause for fresh ideas as well.

However, if "Poopy doopy" taught us anything, it taught us that sometimes it's better to hit the cancel button than the publish button.