Jeffrey Alexander Martin

There are thirteen writers' processes that I want to explore today. I've studied more, but I find these thirteen to be revealing and interesting. One thing that I've noticed as I've been doing this studying, and you may too, is that there are no rules in writing other than two. The first rule in writing is don't bore the reader. The second rule in writing is don't confuse the reader. Other than that, do whatever you want. This has some bearing on the process of writing too. You will probably be surprised at the wide variety of processes that are employed, I was. I traditionally thought of writing as something akin to reading. Writing is needed for reading, but they are somewhat less related than they at first appear. When you read, especially a work of fiction, you start at the beginning and read forward one sentence at a time with the unknown slowly being revealed to you until you're at the end, or until the writer bores or confuses you, at which poi...

I fell into a pure consummatory phase, and yet my mind churns with ideas. Without execution our inspiration finds itself more than transient, more and more limited by temporal bounds, until at last it has only been a whim. Perhaps it was a fancy whim, but a whim nevertheless. And so it must pass, from our immediate awareness to the past, and without the consolation of having been written. So write, I must. I have about nineteen things I want to talk about. We shall see how it actually comes out. First, Mithra. 1) It would be amazing for someone to construct the epic tales of Mithra, an ancient Roman god. We have the pictures, but we don't have the words. An epic the likes of the Illiad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, or Paradise Lost seems like it would be appropriate. How much better would it be if it could actually be sung? Also, you could make a book that tells the tale in verse, and prose, and a type of hieroglyphics. Now that would be an epic. You could have various editio...

I haven't been able to write. I want to, I've tried, I've even started a few articles, but it just won't come. And, I know why. "Why am I writing?" I asked myself that question around 6 months ago and said, "Because I want to, if feels good, and I like it." That answer was enough to carry me these past months. For some reason I asked myself that question again a few weeks ago. I answered in the same way, but the answer fell flat this time. I've had some really good feedback, my views keep increasing, but something's off. At first I thought it had to do with writing. But, that's not it. My skill has been increasing, and I have a never ending supply of ideas. So, what's been wrong? Well... the short answer is - life. My writing is just a microcosm of a more general set of dilemmas. I've entered a few contests. I haven't won, but that's to be expected. Judging contests are purely subjective, even rejection rates from p...