100 words a day

[vaneramos]

I completed my first batch of entries at 100words.com: one hundred words every day for a month. It can now be viewed publicly:

100 Words - June 2003 - Silvan

I took the advice of the webmaster and resisted the temptation to read my entries after I had entered them. This evening, reading the entire voyage, I am moved. The tone is consistent. It uncovers my best writer's voice, which is intense and visual.

Tonight I received a kind email from someone happy to see another gay voice contributing to the site.

I hadn't planned on doing it again. But reading what I wrote last month, I think I must continue.

Comments

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

I've started... I'm inspired. *g* Your work is lovely and the consistency of it, as you noted, is marvellous.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful. The site was down for a few hours but it is online again.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

The website has been down consistently the past three days, very frustrating. I never had this problem last month.

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

can't get the 100 words, Van. Damn!
~paul

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

The site was down for a few hours, but it is available now.

Re:

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

i'll try it again. thanks.
~paul

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

You're a very tactile person. Have you done a Myers-Briggs test? I'm going to guess you score strongly "sensate," whereas I'm more "intuitive." Ever notice how much my journal is about thoughts in my head, whereas yours is chock full of things you've seen, smelled, touched, tasted?

Did you plan to use the word "texture" in so many varied and evocative ways? Do you notice how often "fabric" metaphors appear in your writing? Do you sew, weave, knit?

Never doubt your gifts as a writer. You're special.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I am an INFP. I know it seems like a contradiction.

But if you lived with me you would be startled by my poor powers of observation. Monday evening I dropped by Sylvie's bachelor apartment and failed to notice the beautiful unfinished evening gown on a mannakin in the middle of the room. She finally had to point out her project to me. It is typical for me to be utterly distracted by my own inner world and my intuitive experience of the people around me.

I tried sewing a quilt once. It has hung unfinished on my livingroom wall for more than four years. I couldn't handle the brooding that went on while my fingers were busy but my mind was unoccupied. I live in my head.

The use of sensory detail is one of the qualities of great literature. I do it deliberately. It is something I have practiced in my daily walks and in the dozens of handwritten notebooks beside my desk, choosing to pay more attention to my physical experience of the world and its people.

That's why I wrote an article about Texture in May, and why I chose a theme for my June instalments on 100words.com.

The theme was texture. Even on the days when I didn't use the word, you might have noticed textural undercurrents. I chose a focus that would encourage me to write vividly.

I'm delighted that you noticed, intrigued that the exercise had such a profound effect on the writing that you would interpret it as an aspect of my personality. The fact that it has become a quality of my writer's voice is a triumph, because I didn't always write that way.

I am, however, a very tactile person with respect to sexual pleasure. This puzzles me, considering my INFP personality. I suppose sensuality has offered an escape from the complexities of my inner world. I have become relatively self-indulgent with my last few lovers. To become more generous and well-rounded I need to return to the intuitive function, the part of me that takes pleasure in being aware of, and responding to, his partner's needs. Now is an excellent time for me to consider this.

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

"I am an INFP. I know it seems like a contradiction."

I can think of a couple of reasonable explanations:

a) You've practiced damned hard at some things critical to good writing: observation (if not about dresses :-) and getting observations down in powerful words. Very well done!

b) You've worked on what the Jungians call your "shadow": the extravert to your introversion, the sensation to your intuition, etc.

I'm delighted to have been somewhat mistaken. (Introverted, I would certainly have guessed! :-) I score 100% introvert on most Meyers-Briggs exams, myself.)

I usually score INTJ, though I'm often close to the 50/50 mark on the T/F scale. Taking the test clarified much for me about why I've always felt that thoughts and feelings are so intertwined ... why people who've told me I "overintellectualize" often seem to miss so much of how deeply I'm also feeling things ....

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

P.S.

Ever notice how much my journal is about thoughts in my head

You would see how much complaining, analyzing and brooding I do if you read my handwritten journals. You won't see them unless you outlive me, except for the parts that morph into something higher. I mostly use LJ to experiment with creative writing. That's why I tell so many stories here.

I would like my intuition to produce some more mature, thoughtful and even philosophical writing. But at this phase of my life that function is busy struggling with some basic problems like self-confidence, unemployment and resentment towards my parents.

Perhaps you will notice that my comments reveal a different aspect of my from the things I post in my journal. I put more thought into my comments.

My creative writing is highly spontaneous. It doesn't seem to come from myself at all. The task of the writer is to get his personality out of the way so the universe can blast something beautiful on the page.

Here is another way of looking at it. My creative work is often penned as quickly as I can, without stopping to analyze or critique. I believe I rely much more on my subconscious mind which picks up all those sensory details my intuition ignores. I sometimes recover memories this way. It's a bit like dreaming or being under hypnosis.

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

"busy struggling with some basic problems like self-confidence, unemployment and resentment towards my parents"

Item 1, check, item 2, thank goodness no, and hugs, item 3: my lord, I spent YEARS on that, know just how it feels.

"The task of the writer is to get his personality out of the way so the universe can blast something beautiful on the page."

Grin. This may explain why I never felt like a particularly good writer. My personality obsesses me! :)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

You are a fine writer, obviously more interested in writing social commentary than literature. There is nothing inferior about that.