Monday, 13 February 2012

Origins blogfest - how'd you get started writing?



Today's the day when we're sharing our "how I got started with writing" stories as part of the Origins blogfest. For more details on what's involved, see the blogs of any of our gracious kick-arse hosts: DL Hammons, Katie Mills, Matthew MacNish and Alex J. Cavanaugh. But now it's my turn to tell you how I started out writing, and...well, I want to take you on a little illustrated journey.

So far in my life, I've written...

Heathen short stories

Heathen rhyming poetry

Dramatic tales full of ellipses...

Fictional stories (no really, they weren't true) about my cats
(and yes, I meant "dork", but wrote "daulk")


Tragically overbloated epic fantasy (not finished)

Illustrated biography

Horribly 'emo' high school poetry

Raunchily illustrated poetry intended to be lyrics
(is still not lyrics)

Actual real lyrics (with music to match)!

Fan fiction

Instruction manuals

Travel memoir

Travel fiction
(I lied in this primary school assignment, I'd never been to Tasmania - still haven't)


A nonsensical language that every linguist would roll their eyes at
(for the aforementioned epic fantasy mess)

Fantasy? Magic realism? The tree talked

 
Compelling literature

Makeshift picture books

And novels that actually got finished

I've received a fair bit of critique, starting back here:

I was also quite open with my self-critique:

I've written by hand, by typewriter, by awful dot matrix printer, and by fancier (20th century. Gasp!) laser printers...

I've written by candle light and even by starlight.

I've written on planes and in coffee shops around the world. Mostly, I've written in my living room while trying out for the Couch Potato Olympics.

I've written songs the day after heartbreak (very cathartic!). I've written songs in tribute to friends' loves and losses.

I've written crappy poetry, and poetry I think is actually half decent.

I've written umm, I think 7 novels, and I have a few more not far off being finished.

I haven't had anything published except a poem in a University "street publication", but nor have I got around to trying yet.

I've written for myself, and for others. For friends and yes, for strangers, in the hopes that there'll be something entertaining, invigorating, inspiring in what I write.

I write to make people happy.

But mostly, I write to make myself happy.

I guess writing (and spelling, and English) has always been my thing:

Really, I'm just glad I didn't have to rely on my Maths grades for sustenance:

I can probably thank my parents - both their creative genes and the fact that they read to me as a baby/toddler/what have you - for how I turned out. They are, after all, my origins. My dad would argue that I was my own person from the get go - that he had nothing to do with how I turned out. But I just don't buy that. And I'm happy to give my parents credit where it's due. 'Cause I'm happy to be a writer, and a part of this great community with all of you!

44 comments:

  1. Awesome glimpse into your writing journey!

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  2. Wow - I love the visuals. That's fantastic :D
    Being a writer is probably part you and part your origins :D What a great story!

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  3. Very prolific! Your blog sums up my big regret - that I didn't keep every single piece of fiction I ever wrote. .

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    1. I'm sure I've lost a few. For this post I was wanting to find a story I co-wrote with a friend that was called SELLY THE PAIN (yes, instead of Sally it was Selly), but I must have stored it somewhere *really* safe. ;)

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  4. Well now, you certainly have an eclectic writing background, don't you? Fun post. It's very nice to meet you, and please count me in as your newest follower. (Fun blogfest!)

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  5. Love the pictures. Awesome. What I love more is that you kept all of it. I wish I did.

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  6. Writing through Genes---awesome

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  7. LOVE this! haha. What a flipping awesome post. And um ... yes, we share those English vs. Maths grades ...

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    1. Makes me wonder...are there any mathematicians who are awesome writers too? I know there are scientists!

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  8. This is very fun journey. I wish I had some of my old writting.

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  9. Thoroughly enjoyed the progression. The pictures are fantastic!
    I write for me, too.

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  10. Always enjoyable to read (or see!) your posts! Does any writer not have emo-high school-poetry? I love the new background, too!

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  11. Sweet look Trisha. Cool skin. I loved reading all your writerly stuff but as you say your origins are from your parents and you wouldn't have achieved all your goals without them.

    PS - Who cares about maths eh? That part of my brain didn't get a look in. The creative side got it all, lol!

    Denise

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    1. Glad you like the new look :) I was trying to find something that wouldn't tile. Had to make it. Just hoping it doesn't tile at different resolutions. hehe

      I certainly don't care about maths - if I did, I'd be in trouble. haha

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  12. I loved reading your post! Thanks for sharing all the pictures. :)

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  13. How fun to look back on all your past writing! :) Thanks for sharing

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  14. I remember talking trees. But that was in high school and I was probably under the influence. You have had a well rounded background of just about every kind of writing. Very impressive!

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    1. I'm one of those dorks who was never under the influence...unless it was alcohol ;)

      Thanks for your comment!

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  15. I can only hope that my writing background turns out this versatile. :D I really wish I had kept my first attempt at a novel. I don't know why I threw it away. Most of been one of those random "It's too cluttered, have to organize, have to organize!" days. I have a lot of those...

    Loved how you ended the post on a rhyme.

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    1. I think I've probably lost a bit of my early stuff, but not intentionally! I always aimed to hoard everything until the end of time. I still have floppy disks those early works were saved on. ;) Yep, I'm old!

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  16. I loved your journey (and pictures). I can't believe you still have your stuff. My family moved around so much, nothing of my writing got save. Probably a good thing too. ;)

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  17. LOVED THIS!! The most uniquely original Origin story yet! Thank you for sharing this amazing story. And it is so nice to meet you. I'm a new follower via the Origins bloghop.

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    1. Thank you, I'm glad you liked it - and I'm glad to meet you too! :)

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  18. Oh my goodness-- those pictures are priceless! How incredible! I love love love them!

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  19. That was a great post. I didn't have time to do this blogfest but you make me wish I had!

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  20. OMG, this was awesome! Loved seeing all the ways you wrote growing up and how cool is it that you kept all of your old stuff! Loved this! Thanks so much for sharing your origins!

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    1. Thanks Katie - for commenting AND for co-hosting this great blogfest! :)

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  21. Ahh, my heart melted. Nice post and I'm amazed you kept all that work! Way cool! Really like it. Thanks for sharing your origin story.

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  22. That is awesome. In the words of VeggieTales, "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob." :P this makes me want to go hunt up some of my old stories...

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  23. Trisha, love what you did with your post. Guess that would have brought back lots of memories for you.

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  24. I loved this picturesque trip down memory lane. Such an awesome and creative ORIGIN! You've caught my attention! Thank you for sharing this with us!! :)

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  25. Aww! I love the visuals for your origins story! The abundance of ellipses makes my grammar brain twitch, though.

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  26. I adore all the pictures! It's like flipping through the personal file my mom kept for each of us kids (fortunately NOT full of my math assignments!). i have so many random stories from over the years too . . .

    It was a lot of fun reading this post, thanks for the trip down memory lane!

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    1. Well, I kept my own Maths assignments - I'm a weirdo! - so can't blame mum for that. hehe

      Thanks for commenting :)

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  27. Hey everyone - thanks so much for your comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the journey back through time. :) I'm going to get around to all your blogs too!

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  28. Wow, that was different and entertaining!
    Awesome journey! Thanks for sharing =)

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  29. I so love this Origins post. I love the pictures most of all. I'm jealous you managed to keep all those treasured writings.
    Great to meet you on this blogfest.

    your newest follower,
    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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    1. Hi, thanks for following & for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed the post! :)

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  30. Love love love the way you presented this. I *still* use too many ellipses. And I love writing by candlelight.
    How lucky, to be able to illustrate your writing - my drawing is even worse than my math!

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    1. Yep, I've noticed a bit of over-ellipsesing too in some of my current works. haha

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  31. That was a great post. I loved all of the pictures and things.

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  32. Awesome post. My favorite is the one with the ellipses.

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  33. That was fun and cool! Thanks for sharing.

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!