It was a dark and stormy night, except that it wasn't.

It sucks. I have to teach myself to write again. It sucks not being able to write well, especially when you're a good writer! I mean, that's what i'm good at! I understand words! I dont' always get them right the first time, and they don't always pass from my brain through my fingers quite like I'd want them to, but I can write!

Well, not right now 'cuz I pretty much suck at it. Of course that just means I have to write a little bit more often.

I blame Facebook, you know. at least when Livejournal was my social networking sight, I had to write something more dense than a single sentence status.

You commented the other day, Melissa, that I don't update my sight any more, and I don't update facebook that much. Well, relatively. I update facebook a couple times a day, but compared to many--not enough. i can't even keep up with facebook. I'm not going to glue myself to my phone to verify that i've caught all 80 or so updates that happen while i'm at work. Come on now, really? seriously?

I'm not a very clever blog writer. Mostly. occassionally, i hit something decent back in the LJ days, but most of the time I fall flat. It's an input/output imbalance in my brain. Man, i wish you could hear these entries as they get planned out in my head while i'm wasting time at work or riding my bike or shopping for jalapeno peppers. The themes are much more, and more developed on top of that.

I can tell you very specifically the books and authors that have had a vast influence on my writing. The short list would read:

• Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
• You Shall Know Our Velocity & A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers
• 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
• As She Climbed Across the Table, Gun with Occassional Music, & Girl in Landscape by Jonathon Lethem
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
  

Of course, not a diffinitive list.

I have recognized several "trademarks" of my fictional writing. Most of you haven't read much of my fiction, so you probably don't know what i'm talking about. Some of it appears in my blogging and other randomness, but these are the things that appear frequently in my writing.

I tend to be very repetiative of a word or phrase. I will very often repeat the same idea twice, sometimes word-for-word with slightly different transition words. yes, I know I just did that, and no, believe it or not, i did not do it purposely. I use bad sentence structure (fragments and run-ons), and tend to change the subject quite often. Sometimes in the middle of paragraphs, and occassionally in the middle of sentences. I use double-negatives and will oftentimes describe something by what it's not rather than what it is. I contradict myself (this is one of my favorites, for example the opening line to a fairy tale i'm sort of writing:

"It was a dark and stormy night, except that it wasn't. In fact, it was not stormy and hardly dark at all, a fact which made it exceptionally difficult to be night, unless the place of our story were nearest the north pole during summerstime. It's not.")

Also, I use lots of unnecissary and repetitious transition words. But it's only because that's sort of the way i think. And I think it gives my work sort of a signature. And yes, this time, i did it on purpose.

Hmmm. There are a few adverbs there. Never noticed that before. Stephen King would be very angry. he dislikes adverbs. he's racist towards adverbs.

Maybe i'll get back in the verb of it. Much as I do in real life, though in real life it's certianly not intentional, I'll invent new uses for words. there's a propensity of good ideas here.

I hate not being good at writing. Dislike it, even. You could say we dont get along. it's hard to not be good at something you do quite well, usually because it drives you crazy yourself.

I can write dialog really well, at least when i'm writing well again. It's somethign i've always been good at, as far back as grade school. At least, that is, according to other people. I dunno, i have a pretty natural feel for writing the rhythm and flow of speech. It sticks out like a sore thumb to me when writers don't get it right, especially on TV & movies. because of this, i went through a phase where I wanted to become a scriptwriter. I could be really good at it. You don't write the same volume of words, you concentrate heavily on dialog, and then someone else makes your vague action look really cool without you even having to describe it all. i read books about it by screenwriters I admire. I got books of scripts by people I admire and people i dont' care about but other people admire. Scripts are rather dull to read by themselves. Hard to admire. maybe i should write plays. I don't know enough about play production, but you can play fun Gilmore Girls games with dialogs.

Anyways, i'm going to try to practice a little more, because maybe i'll get back to where i can write as good as i can write. i certianly think that i would love more than anythign else in this world to write a novel someday. i'm pretty sure it could be good.