Showing posts with label prose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prose. Show all posts

Thursday, April 16

Why Do I Write?

What an interested question that I have just posed to myself...

I do not see myself as a Professional Writer because I did not earn a living from writing, nor am I a Published Writer although I did self-publish a book of poetry entitled Reflections In Thought that I sold - 500 copies in all - but, that was mainly because I wanted to teach myself the printing process.  I did all my own layout boards, burned my own printing plates, operated the printing press, collated all the printed sheets, folded, stapled, and trimmed the edges.  I sold them at a local bookstore for $10 each, paying the bookstore a commission of $2 for each one sold.  I have about 50 booklets left that I was giving away as gifts to people with whom I worked to show my appreciation.

But, that really doesn't answer the question, does it?

A wrote a couple of poems in high school but I did not really take writing poetry seriously until after graduating from high school and needed something to do while drinking coffee in the student union waiting for my 9 am classes to begin in college.  I felt self-conscious just sitting there with a cup of coffee.  I doubt those first poems I wrote were worth a damn, but when I stopped writing poetry  on a daily basis in 2015, I had written over 42,000 of those "suckers" and I am sure that some of them had to fairly good.

I write what I feel at the moment and NEVER edit anything unless there is a spelling mistake or a glaring grammatical error.

After writing poetry for several years, I created a fake profile on LinkedIn and started publishing 1,000 word opinion articles on that forum.  I used a fake name in case my employers were checking up on their employees and I did not want to be "fired" for writing something negative about who hired me which I did often.  All totaled, I wrote between 1,200 - 1,500 of those articles.

Why the range?

Well, I decided to merge my fake profile with my real profile and in so doing I lost all my fake profile articles.  I have written and published about 200 articles on my real profile.  All my articles were saved on a file on my personal computer and I have not decided yet whether to take the time to publish them all again.

So, I wrote because I feel something that I want to put down on paper and I write because I have a
personal opinion that I want to share.  Currently I am writing because I want to share my personal experiences being a cancer patient for over 12 years and my attitudes living with the highs and lows of being bipolar...   so, there is a clinical and medical reason why I write as well that was not a foundation for my writing earlier as I wanted to keep my personal and medical life QUIET...  but then, when that is done nobody learns from my experiences or mistakes.

This is why I write...  at least, this is why I think I write today...  tomorrow, I might find another or alternate reason for my public writing.

Tuesday, April 7

MY BLOGS

I maintain several blogs on an irregular or daily basis besides this one.

Reflections: White Scorpion ⇒ is a poetry blog that was started in 2009 to publish the poetry that I had written over my lifetime.  Each poem is accompanied by a photo to draw the reader's attention into the poem's meaning.

We Were Just Wondering ⇒  is a blog that my friend Vic Adamus and I started in 2005.  Vic and I posted everyday until his death from colon cancer in 2015 and I continued for another year until I decided that it was a blog for the two of us not just for the one.  It is full of thoughts, ideas, and opinions that might be interesting to read from a reflective standpoint.

My LinkedIn Profile ⇒  https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-hutchins-bb8b8a2/  this is the link but I am not sure if you can actually see my profile unless you join for free...  I have published numerous articles on this forum that might be interesting to read.

My Facebook Profile ⇒ https://www.facebook.com/alan.catale.1   this is the link but just like LinkedIn, I believe you have to join for free.  My original Facebook profile was hacked and now belongs to someone else, so I started a new one under a different identity.

Other blogs that have active link on the top of the first page of this blog...
My Cancer Odyssey
A  Bipolar Scorpion

Monday, March 30

Write When Wandering

, tumblrI have pretty much been wandering all my life and I guess I will keep wandering until I no longer live...   This blog is not the only blog I maintain...

On this blog, I have links to other blogs I maintain:

Reflections:  White Scorpion
this is where I post all the poems that I have been writing since 1972 and when I stopped concentrating on writing poetry in 2012/2015, I had written over 42,000 of those suckers...

My Cancer Journey
I have been treated for cancer since 2007/2008 and it is only recently that I decided to write about my experiences with cancer over the last decade or so in the hopes that others might benefit from reading about what I endured and continue to endure...

My Bipolar Life
well...  this is mine as well...  sometimes, I think weird thoughts, depressing thoughts, or angry thoughts and so I use this forum to share those with people...  these thoughts happen daily, so I have been posting lately.  I don't if reading my thoughts will help anyone but me but I still need to get them out of my head...

LINKEDIN
I have had an account on LinkedIn since 2001 and created a profile there because it was one of the best and still is one the best business networking forums around.  I used to post my thoughts there daily and still do sometimes but mostly it is every other day or so...  You have to have a profile to see mine.

FACEBOOK
I used to have a profile in my name there for over 5 years but it was recently hacked and my password was changed and I was locked out.  I sent Facebook emails about what had happened but they never responded, so I just created a new profile used a False Name and a very strong password.  In less than a month, I have over 2100 friends...  my name is Alan Catale if you are interested...  You have to have a profile to see mine.

TUMBLR
This blog is not maintained daily and is XXX rated for the most part...  This is where I release my inner devil...   it is listed under Catale2000  Reflections and...  You have to join for free to see this blog...

Anyway, I try to maintain all of these on a daily basis which is not that hard considering that I am retired and don't have anything else to do with my time...