Free Write 01

Now that I've gone and aced my English Composition I class I've decided to share some of the selections of writing that I had to do in it.  Every Monday morning we had to pull out a sheet of paper and free write an essay over some subject or another for part of the participation grade.  Of course I didn't put dates on any of them so I don't know in what order they are, or when some of them were, but here is the first one I'm sharing.

If I remember correctly, the subject we were writing about was about visual rhetoric and when a picture spoke to you in a certain way...or something like that....  Anyways, the first free write.

Zombies, Write II Entry

(( This is an interesting post.  For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge fan of ZombiesRun, a game on iOS and Android where you go out in the real world and run (or walk in my case) and get a story around your music about surviving in the Zombie Apocalypse.  It adds a really interesting facet to your exercise.  And I definitely recommend it to ANYONE and EVERYONE.

This post though, is part of a thing called Zombies Write II.  Its an unofficial fanfic writing type thing that plays out like a Secret Santa.  I was giving a prompt by Pamela over at http://www.tumblr.com/blog/pamelamella.  Her prompts were really fun to play around with, and even though I wanted to do every one of them, I chose:

• Haven't heard much from Molly since season 1- any request or needs from the children of New Canton or Able?

I chose it because I had been wondering about Ed and Molly since their appearance in Season 1 Episode 4.  It was a great mission, and I was hoping to hear about them in the community.  And after the events that led to Season 2, I really had been wondering what happened to some of the supporting cast that I had acquired along the way.  Thank you Pamela for pulling this story out of me, it was a ton of fun!  Anyways, the story: ))

((P.S. Don't worry, the Ballad will return at its normal day and time next week! ))

--

Artistic Work

I have never written so much in my entire life.  I can easily compare it all to my early adulthood, when I was writing 8 hours a day.  I spend so much time in front of the computer now, its crazy.  And I have nothing but a backlog of work.

Thing is, its not just the writing, it’s the photography, the blog’s promotion, the working with Lisa on her newest novel, brainstorming.  I’m completely shocked at how much there is to do now that I have absolutely nothing to do.

(poem) - The Choice of Happiness or Pain

Things progress through time
Even when the lines don’t rhyme
Flowing down a river
Into a happy ether.

Dreams normally speak to me
Of things beyond reality
Yet now they speak of the present
Where love is quite pleasant



Yet how am I supposed to create?
Isn’t pain creativity’s bait?
Maybe I’m wrong
Because pain fed me for so long....

Happiness is an amazing thing
I feel as if I’m flying up a string
But when I sit down to write
The easiest thing to plot is a plight

There are those that create
Where happiness doesn’t abate
They inspire me unbelievably so
With love’s undeniable throw

But when I do such a thing
I start to wonder about flooding
Too much of something can drown
How much should I share before I clamp down?

The things I worry about are silly
Of course my wife and I are touchie feelie
But I know you don’t want to read that
Day after day of love’s mushy format



Luckily there are day to day problems
That need working out with a blog’s dictums
I might be happy as a lark
But there are still problems quite stark

With life in general, and life all around
Like how most of today’s youth is Hellward bound
And luckily, with my happiness where it is
I can use my inspiration to find the best solutions

For that is why I read blogs myself
To work through the pains I sit on a shelf
My dreams of love can fully abound
Because of this way out I found

I shall write and write and write some more
Because writing is something I fully adore
And my wife will fully attest
For she loves my writing the best

So I do it for myself and I do it for her
And I will continue to mention she makes my soul purr
Even when I write about pain
It will always come back to my love for her, again and again.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

(poem) - Stats Hide The Joy of Blogging

Stats stats
Its all about the stats
It makes me so mad
That I just spat

Why can’t it be
Just about writing?
Putting out content
That is simply inviting?

It seems there is
Some kind of statistic
Behind everything in life
Including a simple lyric

So how does one
Tune it all out
Blog about whatever
And not scream and shout?

I’ve been amazed at how many
Analytics there are
And how SEO
Is what everyone should strive for

Getting viewers to come
Is such a heroic deed
That it makes one wonder
How DO good bloggers get paid?

In the end
You can’t think about that
You have to write for the joy
Not for the feather in the hat

Getting paid would be nice
But the true joy of writing
Is simply creation itself
Of dreams igniting

And burning bright
Out on the internet
For anyone to come by
And leave a comment.

Blogging is a joy
That can be an occupation
Its too much fun
Enjoying this creation

So only glance at the stats
Don’t watch them like a hawk
Keep your eye on the prize
And don’t listen to the talk

Just write for the fun of it
And if you get paid
Then it will be a joy
As joyous as getting laid

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Quality Content is King, We Proved It

There are so many people, on so many websites, clamoring for ‘help’ with blogging.  They all seem to be asking the same questions, “How do I drive traffic?”  And it seems like everyone always answers the same thing, “Write quality articles!”  But what exactly does that mean?

Obviously I can’t completely answer that question for everyone.  Here at ABN, we write whatever we want to write about, so I’m not sure this advice would apply concretely to bloggers that want to write about SEO or technology reviews, but maybe, just maybe, those that write those sites will gain insight into writing by my own experience here.

Blogging, Blogs, and Bloggers

Reading blogs has been an odd way to spend my time blogging, but it has been very important.  I’ve tried to learn from what others have done, and been inspired by people’s blogs in the process.  I am honestly stunned at what I’ve found, and I’m amazed at how far the culture of blogging has come.

It almost seems to be the way you’d think about it, but I think the term, “Only Bloggers read Blogs” is kind of the truth to an extent.  There are definitely those out there that find a particular blog and stick to it, even though they don’t blog themselves.  I mean, I have some family and friends that stop by every now and then to read something, but for the most part, I get more feedback and sociality from fellow bloggers.

Where poetry comes from.

I was very good at creating from misery.  The loneliness of life in an empty house I was about to lose to foreclosure will do that, I suppose.  I always knew/believed that I would be better at creating while I was happy.

Indeed that assertion seems the case, but I find it hard to write those haunting poems I did before.  "The tortured soul always bleeds better on paper," as the saying should go.  Now all my poems are too mushy really share.  Even the erotic ones kind of lose their bite because the way they come off as all nice and stuff.

What To Blog About

Dan has wanted me to blog for some time but just what would I blog about? He told me I should blog about vampires. There is so much I could blog about vampires but since I write about them all the time I thought I would write about something else. But just what would I write about?

I thought about this for days, finally I thought about writing about cooking. Yes I know there are many blogs out there about cooking but you see, I love the movie Julie & Julia , but I don’t cook much. Dan does most of the cooking, I’m amazed at what he can do with spices, and how he cooks with wine. I do help him make dinner and lunch but I have really no cooking skills.

I started looking on Pinterest and cookbooks online for recipes that my family would like. Dan is a VERY picky eater (no veggies, he hates the taste of meat, he calls himself a ‘spicetarian’ but I have no clue what to call a diet like that) and a teenager that can eat me out of house and home. Dan swears she’s about to hit a growth spurt with the amount she’s currently consuming.

This Journey

What a journey.  Soon I shall pass the 1000 page view mark, and I couldn’t be more happy.  I know many people surpass this mark much faster than I have, I’m still very proud.  How could I not be?

Our blog here is definitely a little labor of love, and I’ve had so much fun doing it.  With The Ballad of the Emerald Bard up and running on Saturdays, I’ve become even more proud.  Just to know people are stopping by and enjoying what they read, and then coming back later for more is a true honor.

The reason I create.

Have you ever had a dream that overwhelmed you?  I’m not talking about a nightmare, I’m talking about thoughts of a story that has swept you away, and after you came out of the dream, you just kept adding to it, or editing it, as you went through your day?  Ever see a story or a movie, and think to yourself that you could have done it better, or that it would have been better with certain tweaks?

Unfortunately, I am like this.  I say unfortunate, because sometimes I can’t enjoy certain stories because I see the plot holes, or something that’s just incorrect, or something that the author/director changed to fit what they needed to, even though they had set up something before that doesn’t justify it.  Okay, maybe that last one was a bit confusing due to pronouns.