writing – Page 9 – Ron Writes Stuff

Friday Morning FYI – 6/24/2016

June 24, 2016June 24, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

I’m late today because I was helping a friend/coworker record a video. She’s enrolling in a holistic coaching education program that’s offering free tuition to a subset of students, and to qualify you submit a video explaining why you should receive the scholarship. I helped her tighten her (personal) story down for time, and shot her (with her iPhone) speaking against a backdrop of NYC. It was a neat, fun, creative project, and I’m thankful she asked me to help. That leads us to this week’s FYI:

Asking for help can be difficult, especially when it comes to personal stories. Be open to others, listen earnestly, and offer enthusiastic help where you can. That person is trusting you enough to take a chance. Honor that and it will pay off for you both.

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Friday Morning FYI – 6/10/2016

June 10, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

In my younger years, I pirated stuff off the internet. Music and software mostly. I was young and money-less and got sucked into the pit of “Screw them, they want too much for this.” I’m not proud of having done that and don’t do it anymore, though I do know people who routinely steal content (yes, downloading for free is stealing – what else do you call taking something without compensation?). It’s wrong on every level, and can have impacts far beyond the money you think that content’s creator won’t miss, as thoroughly explained by this post by Sarah Madison over on her BLOG. That brings us to this week’s FYI:

I get it, HBO is expensive. So is Photoshop, the latest hardcover book by your favorite author, and whatever album you just have to listen to. But high cost doesn’t mean you have a right to consume any of those things for free, and more to the point, it doesn’t mean the creators shouldn’t benefit financially from their work. Yes, work. Writing a book is work. Filming a show is work. Not charity, not free art, work. You get compensated for your work, so should they.

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Friday Morning FYI – 6/3/2016

June 3, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

I’m writing this to you from my favorite coffee shop, on a morning where I had day job work to do, to shop for some fishing tackle (rw shopping, not interwebz shopping), and to pack for a weekend camping trip. Why am I mentioning this? Because I got the work and packing done before 9AM, came to the coffee shop to write, and will go buy my tackle in a few minutes. In fact I’m only taking the time to write this post because I’m done writing for today (seven hundred words to finish a chapter). Nuts? Not at all. That’s this week’s FYI:

JK Rowling said, “Be ruthless about protecting your writing days…” I all too often hear writers complain about having “… just too much else to do.” Bull. There’s a lot of hours in the day. I know writers who get words down at 5AM. Get up earlier, have some coffee and breakfast, and get typing.

Or do you presume to tell JK she’s wrong?

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Sexy

May 23, 2016May 24, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

I was thinking about being in the woods and camp fires and the way people use sexy to mean attractive in some way, and this little run-on sentence crawled around in my ear until I wrote it down. I liked the rhythm in it, so decided an impromptu post was in order.

I think you’re sexy but not in an I want to have sex with you way, in a way that if I was sitting around a campfire with my friends and you came out of the woods and asked if we had any tea I’d say “Sure, little tree, join our circle,” and we’d all talk until we fell asleep under the stars and the next morning I’d wake up and you’d be gone and that would be OK.

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Friday Morning FYI – 5/6/2016

May 6, 2016May 6, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

Last week, I wrote about a barista who asked if I was a writer. After that brief conversation, I returned to my coffee and WIP. About an hour and several hundred new words later, I heard the following, in that same barista’s voice, from the direction of the espresso machine:

“I hadn’t played live in a while, but it’s like coming home after a long vacation. Everything looks a little different even though it’s not, and it takes you a little while to get back into everything. Once you do, it’s like you never left.”

You’re d@mn right I wrote that down, and yes, I plan to use it. That’s this week’s FYI:

Writers should always have their ears open to the profound/insightful/asinine things said around them. Why? Because there are voices other than our own, spoken from experiences beyond ours, by people more complex than any we might invent. To not take from those voices (including other writers) would be like ignoring an unclaimed pile of gold because you were on your way to pan for your own.

Aaron Sorkin summarizes it for us:

Um… or was it TS Eliot?

Oh balls. Did Eliot steal that quote from Oscar Wilde?

See what I did there?

I’m not talking about full-on plagiarism, of course. Word for word, sentence for sentence, paragraph for paragraph copy -> paste is wrong on every level. But when you hear something that clicks, you’d be a fool to not jot it down.

And yes, I fully expect someone to steal those words, just as I stole them. Good on those who do 🙂

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}