 When I was a teenager, I was very ambitious. I was convinced that the stories coalescing in my head were so vivid and important that I would make a great working writer, sell enough copies to support myself, maybe have my works taught in English classes, and follow in three of my relatives’ footsteps. What I didn’t fully understand, however, is that being a working writer requires a day job—or in my case two—especially if you’re publishing books by yourself. The major traditional publishing companies were, and sadly still are, the gatekeepers of literature, and generally wary of investing too heavily in unproven writers, which is why I was so determined to do it myself. In college, I intended to collect my rejection letters to remind myself not to give up. Unfortunately, some time after my sixth rejection, I had a serious health emergency, then life caught up with me, and I misplaced my collection. But at least I never stopped reading, or watching movies, or listening to music, and finding things in life that inspired me, because those experiences help maintain the vibrancy of my stories, and even to help ground them in reality, to make more sense of them. Even generative writing programs like Green Windows have been invaluable. As Kurt Vonnegut Jr. once wrote, “The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable.” Nobody can really tell you how to write (no matter how much they might want to), because the creative process is an extension of your unique, individual thoughts, feelings and ideal method of expression. When we write, that process is the crystallization of concepts that we wish to transmit, however raw they might be at first. Editing is the process of cutting, refining and burnishing those ideas like gemstones. When we read, watch or experience other things, we are mining … looking for the things that resonate with our own experience. In summation, we need to look for the things that inspire us, and we will know that they’ve inspired us when, all of a sudden, in spite of whatever obstacles that external forces throw in our way, our world-views and the stories connected to them begin to make sense again. Below is a piece from a previous Green Windows workshop. Enjoy!  Excerpt from
“THE HEARTSCAPE FACTS” THREADS ON WWW.MAPPINGTHEHEARTSCAPE.COM, DATED 07/29/2011 by Rachel Golden FACT It has long been believed that Atlas Galt, the keytarist for Heartscape, was named after the Greco-Roman god who supposedly held up the Earth on his shoulders. Whoever first started that bull-crap was clearly an Objectivist twat, because any fourth-grade textbook will tell you that Atlas was the Greco-Roman god who held up the SKY on his shoulders, which was no doubt an easier job because the sky is way lighter! RighteousPath: LOL! Howitzer: LOL! VMyson: LOL! PantherHands: OMG LOL! RocketSauce: FUCK OBJECTIVISM UP ITS FAT WRINKLY ASS!!!!! Diogenes: LOL nice one, Rocket! RighteousPath: Damn, that got political pretty fucking quick. BigNo: Not even the internet is totally free of politics, sadly. Up north, we have a contemptuous asshat named Stephen Harper to thank for that. Part of me is tempted to go scale Mount Everest for that very reason. Howitzer: Fuck Stephen Harper! LunarRover: Wait a goddamn minute… I think I know the smart-ass piece of shit who wrote this post in the first place. BigNo: Do you, now? LunarRover: I’d accuse Biggie, but that’d be too easy, and frankly he’s not one with an affinity for Greco-Roman gods. Diogenes the dog, I accuse you! Do you hear me? J’accuse! Diogenes: Ruh-roh! Guilty as charged. SidPernicious: LOL! LunarRover: More like “guilty as fuck”! VMyson: Bad dog. No biscuit. LOL. Diogenes: LOL! Howitzer: Holy shit, I love this fucking forum so much! LunarRover: And the forum loves you, too, Howie. SidPernicious: I don’t love Howie, gaymo. VMyson: That’s because you’re an asshole, Sid. BigNo: LOL! RighteousPath: LOL! Howitzer: LOL TRUE DAT! SidPernicious: I’d rather be an asshole than a gaymo, like you gaymos! Diogenes: Aw, sorry to hear you’re not comfortable with your sexuality, Sid. You might want to get in touch with someone at PFLAG, and maybe get some shit off of your chest. SidPernicious: Why the fuck would I do that, when I have you chodes to get into bitch-fights with? BigNo: I think what my associate meant is that you should do yourself a favor and “get some santorum off your chest,” Sid, because I’m pretty sure I can smell it from here. RocketSauce: Yeah, Sid, it’s not our fault you’re so deep in the closet, you’re finding Christmas presents! PantherHands: ROFLMAO! LunarRover: ROFLMAO! RighteousPath: Embrace your queerness, Sid! We believe in you! Howitzer: LOL! PantherHands: LOL! VMyson: OMG I’M DYING! SidPernicious: FUCK YOU PUSSIES! SidPernicious has logged out. VMyson: LOL what a dumb-ass! Howitzer: Some motherfuckers just don’t have the introspection to be able to laugh at themselves. LunarRover: Wait a sec, do kids these days still say “gaymo” when they want to insult people on the internet? Seriously? Diogenes: I know, right? It’s so last decade… BigNo: Kids are so unfashionable.
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