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Shields is my real name, too, and a relative of mine lives in your area, but I am of a reserved and retiring nature and prefer to retain an aura of mystery.
Posts: 283 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I just tried the name=characteristics generator thing twice.
Wow.
The first time, with the shortened version I use most often, it said my name could "cause health weaknesses in the heart, lungs, bronchial area, worry, and mental tension." The second time, with my full first name, it said it could "cause health weaknesses in the fluid systems, and tension, or accidents to the head."
I'm okay with everything but the last one, though remain curious as to which fluid system they're referring to. Hey...Depends are expensive, Kemosabe!
Oddly enough, the combination of information from both descriptions fit me best. For example:
"Your pleasant manner attracts people to you with their problems and you are capable of offering practical advice, though you would probably not follow such advice yourself."
+
"This characteristic could make you rather unpopular with your associates."
Heh, I guess that means I should stop dispensing advice around here. You've been warned...
Inkwell ------------------ "The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp." -Anonymous
[This message has been edited by Inkwell (edited May 09, 2006).]
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Well, I was mainly asking because I write a column on how to write, while at the same time am barely published. The way I look at it, if I could impart some kind of info on how to write to others, that would be effective for them, I'd also have a lot more credits to my name. The same thing is happening for this free online writer's workshop that I've been asked to be a presenter for. Why, I ask myself, would anyone care what I have to say as a presenter if I don't have the credentials to back it up? Anyway, those are the kinds of things that make me feel a bit fraudulent--not the fact that I call myself a writer.
Posts: 440 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Smaug, what is the reaction of your audience to your stories? Are they generally captivated? Do they say things to you that indicate your writing is exceptional? i.e. if you don't finish this story you're a cruel person.
Since I also fall into the unpaid and unpublished writer catagory I can only fall back on decades of perfomance experience. I know that people like to hear me sing, I know that when I perform people enjoy my perfomances. I am frequently invited by producers to star in musicals, plays, orotorios, and murder mysteries. I occaisionally teach well attended classes in how to audition and act. Over the years I have collected very little pay in this advocation and have only had bit parts in movies, rarely appeared on television and never performed on Broadway. Does this lack of financial recognition mean I'm not a superior performer? No.
Financial recognition is all well and good, I often tell people that the best form of applause is money, sometimes it works.
Judge your skill by the response of your audience and the request of others whose livelyhood or personal success in an important project is dependant on your ability to write. Be confident that someone thinks enough of your writing that they have invited you to talk about it. The experience will add to your credibility.
quote:Smaug, what is the reaction of your audience to your stories? Are they generally captivated? Do they say things to you that indicate your writing is exceptional? i.e. if you don't finish this story you're a cruel person.
I think those reading/hearing them usually like them. I've had a few exceptional comments over the years--you know, like extra comments penned in on contest entries and things like that, or people telling me that they want to read the rest, or can I tell them how it ends etc. I've never been called a cruel person, however, but that's just because they don't really know me.
posted
I prefer to think of myself as a loser more than a fraud at the moment. As in I have lost my children's shot records and am in a nightmare of trying to get two healthcare bureaucracies to communicate with each other.
They're so frikkin anal about making you give the children their shots in the first place and then do everything they can to obstruct you getting on with recording the shots elsewhere. Makes me want to either blow something up or join the Christian Scientists.
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