From my Valentine...


"Letters on a typewriter about love, life and the world to friends and the people I have never met."

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Metafictional Love






******

To my 'Muse': -- (Dedicated to Miranda C*)
Time Spent: 60 minutes
No # Mistakes: >5
General Response: Ambivalent

This was just my typical once-a-year foray into writing metafiction. I like writing about writing and I think romantic ideal are so easily incorporated into a metafictional piece. The metaphors are so easy. There are single sentences in this I read a million times over because I am so happy with them, some of the others I could take or leave.

There are a few typos, but I was actually writing with amazing speed today. This was pretty cool, because usually when I try this I jam the keys a lot or, more creatively, I screw up the sentence. I am sorry about those typos when I have struck wrong keys, and I hope the piece is still readable in those areas.

So, in general: it's okay I suppose. There are some ludicrously long sentences in places.

Well, least I'm writing, right?


In Life and Love
Sammi

*For being the one person who has harassed me on an ongoing basis about me not writing on my typewriter.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Frogs Don't Wear Pinstripe








******

To my 'Muse': Lara C
Time Spent: 75 minutes
No # Mistakes: >5
General Response: Moderately Happy

I actually don't hate this piece. I moved from my cramped desk and sat down in my loungeroom, home alone. I guess the ambiance and the location had some effect on me. I also took the time to figure out the rough direction of each paragraph before I began, and took a pause after every full stop before typing the next sentence. Quite frankly, I am pretty pleased with the content and I liked the overall message.

There are quite a few typing typos. Ones where I was striking the wrong key or I hit the space between letters, or a backspaced and forgot to add a space. Precision in typing will obviously come with time. All in all - not bad!

I guess I'm the most surprised.

However I am imposing a ban on the two phrases 'Of course' and 'I guess'. I think using 'always' should get a mention too.


In Life and Love
Sammi

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Eye of Newt



******


To my 'Muse': Katy B
Time Spent:
70 minutes
No # Mistakes:
>5
General Response: Unimpressed

Lots of mistakes in this one. Generally I feel it's very disjointed and some of the sentences and the word order are very awkward to read. I feel like I need to have a more defined plan of where my thoughts begin and end, before I try and start to write. I also seem far to prone to simile when I want to add imagery.

The subject matter is alright, but I think in many ways I wish I could have taken it further and developed it beyond something so cliche. It lacks something. I guess the only thing I was happy with was the length.

My next piece I am thinking on a little more. I have my muse picked and I know the rough subject I want to write on. I think I'll have something more abstract - writing a letter on an ideal rather than a scene.

In Life and Love
Sammi

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

In Life and Love




I would like to call myself a writer, if only I wrote more often.

This blog is my quest to write more often, and to write more spontaneously. This blog is my project. I am currently in the middle of pursuing science at university, which makes writing on an ongoing basis difficult. To compound such an issue I am also a fussy writer, who heavily reworks everything I write, so I need to learn to write faster.

I have recently bought a typewriter, which was an investment for my webcomic Valentine's Dei. However writing on a typewriter is a beautiful experience for me, and it has proven very useful in retraining how I write - particularly in terms of speed and encouraging to take words as they come out. Also I need to learn to use the typewriter with more accuracy which means using it more often.

There is no backspace on a typewriter key. This is a rough project in which I merely want to showcase rough pieces of work that involve short letters to friends, some real and some imagined, about life, love and the world. I will be happy when I can write with less than five typos on a single page, but I assure you that won't be any time soon.

In life and love,

Sammi