[Quiet Man Cometh]

I can have problems at all stages of writing. It seems to depend on each individual piece. Some I can't start, some I can't end, and some I can't seem to find a middle for. Inspiration seems to be a problematic point for me. When I have a clear idea going, I am confident in what I'm writing. Otherwise I can think, search, edit, and tweek until the piece is hardly recognizable. One piece I'm working on now I erased entirely and started again because it was getting too cluttered for all the editing.


I write short pieces, and I find that when I have a lot of trouple getting an idea out, switching styles or mediums can help. I might start intending to write a prose piece and change it to a poem or piece of flash fiction if the idea would be better suited in that direction. I once started a poem that turned into one of my novel attempts. The most successful one so far actually.

As for how good someone's writing it, or how publishable it is, I find the only way to find out is just to try. I've sent out some pieces for publication and had acceptances and rejections, though more of the latter. On two occasions I was surprised by the poems the editor selected for their magazines. They were little poems I had tacked onto the submissions to round them out. The ones I expected to be accepted weren't commented on.

I've never actually taken any lessons or anything on creative writing. What I know comes from my reading and my literature degree. I might have an easier time actually plotting out storylines and such if I did have some classroom experience in creative writing.