Discussion»Questions»answerMug Members» I just had an epiphany. I want to say thanks to Randy D~ AND Bookworm for helping me write. SERIOUSLY. Who do you wish to thank on here?
Did you know that Kurt Vonnegut and many other famous writers were bi-polar? I'm sure you know bi-polar is more frequently associated with creativity and genius than any other condition. About 30% overlap, if I remember correctly - an unusually high correlation.
What you may find is that you can write well during normal phases, brilliantly on the upswing towards mania, very well but with effort and difficulty on the downswing into depression, but not at all during the zenith and nadir of the extreme states.
If you take Lithium or other drugs to help even out the swings, this does not impede your ability to write.
Between 18 and 20 years of age, I lived with a bi-polar man (11 years older than me.) Ed Howard was an American, born in Ohio, from a family who used to own and run a huge advertising company. He had studied English, History and Communications at New York and Stanford Universities before his family migrated to Sydney, Australia. When I met him, he had an excellent job as a sub-editor (one below the chief) on one of Australia's top newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald. The paper understood his condition and was happy to let him have time off during episodes and return when well. He was incredibly bright and strongly influenced the development of my values. He introduced me to alternative thinking and festivals, ethical investment, philosophy, and many aspects of literature. Among his favourite thinkers were Marshal McCluhan and Naum Chomsky - just to give a hint of the flavour of his mind.
If you would like to have a literary friendship (that's where two writers give each other critical feedback on their work) - I'd be open to exploring it and seeing how well we might go. Critique involves chunks of up to 1000 words, usually; less is always OK but more usually requires checking and negotiating. Most writers would say no to more than 1,000 unless paid $125 per hour for the job. 1,000 takes around 10 minutes to read closely and another 30 minutes to critique thoroughly. Initially, I could explain how critiques are done, and after five or six practice runs you'd most likely have got the hang of it.
Writing well is far more difficult than it might seem. Think of Barishnakov - how he made a grande jetté seem effortless - but it took years of training to achieve it, and hours of daily practice to maintain the fitness and strength. Writing requires an average of ten years of writing an average of five hours daily to reach a minimum standard at which publisher might consider the work - and that's not counting whether the subject fits with what readers will buy. In addition, writers need to be excellent and copious readers, reading most widely in the specific genres in which they write. The better the writers one reads, the more that quality filters through one's unconscious and improves one's own skills. Many of the skills can be acquired with deliberate study and practise; things like how to write character, setting, dialogue, plot, theme, pace etc, as well as the prosody - how to achieve musicality in the language. Writing in other genres like journalism or poetry can help to improve both fiction and non-fiction prose.
I don't know if you're thinking of taking up writing seriously, or interested in it for fun and self-expression. Either is fine, of course. Or if it's just a passing moment of inspiration. One thing is likely. It's hard to keep at massage as a profession indefinitely. It takes energy, fitness and strength. It takes a high toll on the body; most masseurs end up with bad arthritis and tenosinovitis forcing them out of the job (except for Kahuna and Shiatsu practitioners). So in old age, writing is one of the few activities that easy to continue - as long as one is still compis mentis.
Looking forward to hearing how you respond, love Manna.
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I'd like to thank everyone here: JA for creating and maintaining the site, the mods for making it a safe place, the people for making it varied and interesting.
I'm especially happy that I can connect with some people here - those who have linked to me as friends - the ones with whom I share similar values - especially the ones with free-spirited, creative and zany sparks.
I'm not always be able to be here regularly, but I love returning.
This post was edited by inky at September 22, 2019 6:27 PM MDT
Sharonna, I thought you’re bi-polar because you wrote that you are. Now you write that you a not bi-polar. Isn’t all that a sign of someone who is bi-polar?
I've read where you mentioned being bi-polar on several other occasions over the years. For writing, it doesn't matter either way.
If your daughter has it, that will no doubt have affected your life in all sorts of ways. How old is she now? Does she live at home with you? What are her interests?
Randy D 