Writing

Borzak

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My wife has pushed me to start writing a lot of things that have happened to me. Any tips. I've never written anything that was technically oriented in college and business. I tested out of english class and never took creative writing. Any tips or pit falls to avoid. She keeps saying get the work stuff down, get the relationship stuff down and you can keep it secret just get it down. Possible trap or she thinks I'm losing my memories.

This is not stuff geared toward someone else reading it. She's pushed me for a while to write down all my stuff before I forget it. I keep a journal but it's all mostly a few words at most. XXX job subbed C276, XXX job had to rework 34c2. Not exactly stuff of memories.
 
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Borzak

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I'll answer myself. That didn't last long.

Pitfall. Going over all the details looking back is pretty damn depressing. I did it for a little more than a day. Some things were nice but I had a whole lot "I should of, could of" and after a while it pretty much became a hole I couldn't get out of. For someone that has lead a pretty normal social life it's probably a good ecercise.
 
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Control

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On the other hand, no one says you have to write everything down. There are probably some things that you'd rather not forget, so maybe start with that?
I find it a bit disturbing sometimes how many things that I've entirely forgotten until someone else brings it up, and even afterwards it can still be pretty fuzzy. Trying to document some things is probably a pretty good idea.
 
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Borzak

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Maybe I'll start with another time or different topic. I started with women I dated. That was a bad choice I guess. Apparently (I know now) I kept a fair number of therapist employed thru the years.

Maybe start with elementary school.
 
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TBT-TheBigToe

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Don't try to write something, just write anything. Stream of consciousness. It can be a good way to get rolling.
 
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Borzak

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I did that yesterday and wrote a ton, but I had to put a header in every so often I got way off track. I am the biggest non ladies man in the world. I was incrediably shy, by a large margin. Apparently all my memories in life only started when I discovered women in late middle school.

I got off track and did a few hours on just my wife which kind of defeated the purpose of writing down things about not her.

I wrote more than I have in probably 2 decades. My arm hurts now lol. Such a wimp. And apparently very verbose. A 2 hour memory I can stretch out for pages.

Very off topic. I had to look up a few people to make sure I had their last names right and spelling for the coon asses. A girl I never had sex with has a son named after me apparently. Same first name and middle name. That's just fucking creepy as hell. And yes I'm new to the world of social media. Now I know why.

Edit - I guess I really got into writing. I just realised today was Sunday and not Saturday.
 
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Borzak

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I did a lot more writing today. It's pretty clear now why my wife asked me to sit down and write it all down. The memory holes don't really concern me as much. I am overly memory full at times and rehash stuff constantly. The writing is terrible now. I drop letters and words and substitue them for others. If a word starts with S another word that starts with S will do. I haven't spelled out a lot of stuff in forever. My wife has an odd spelling of her first name. I had to look it up too many times. I may have to make this my primary effort now.

"You are terrible at hiding things" is what I meant and reread it a dozen times. It came out "You are terrible and hiding things".

Couldn't get the phrase I heard 5 years ago now out of my mind all day. "You have massive brain damage". Welcome to my world. Yes I write most stuff in word and spellcheck and then paste it over. Done that for a while.

Pretty sure my wife has noticed for a while and it lead to this recommendation and she was too nice to confront me with the real reason.
 
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Borzak

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I can not follow orders and made my wife cry on Christmas. I got sidetracked in writing. Orders were to write stuff she wasn't there for. I wrote a pretty lengthy composistion about the first time we had sex together and how it worked out to change my life. I did it over several days coming back to it. I let her read it. I took over a week but I guess I got something down that made some sense.

Big bonus to me for using a 19 letter word to describe myself she had to look up. She has a vocabulary that makes mine look tiny. Snuck one in on her.

Edit - writing can be unhealthy apparently. I stayed up almost 24 hours with about 1/4 of that writing stuff out. Once I get going I don't want to stop. Of course now I'm about to start on the boring stuff so probably will doze off often.
 
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Borzak

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The writing of memories experiment has ended. If you want to write down all your memories to keep them. Make damn sure there's not something in there you absolutely want to forget.
 
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Screamfeeder

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Just came across this thread and I applaud you Borzak Borzak . You actually have very similar quirks in writing that many of the professionals I work with do, including myself.

The writing is terrible now. I drop letters and words and substitue them for others. If a word starts with S another word that starts with S will do. I haven't spelled out a lot of stuff in forever. My wife has an odd spelling of her first name. I had to look it up too many times. I may have to make this my primary effort now.

I do this. A lot. And I get paid to be a critical reader and writer. You can see it in my posting and then I go back and edit it. I edit my posts here hours or days after I made them to correct these exact types of things. I see them in scripts all the time and the intention is still there.

It's called a malapropism and it is super common. You see it all of the time from incredibly smart people so don't let that make you think it's just terrible writing. It's more common in verbal speech and is basically what happens when a politician makes a gaff.

Edit - writing can be unhealthy apparently. I stayed up almost 24 hours with about 1/4 of that writing stuff out. Once I get going I don't want to stop. Of course now I'm about to start on the boring stuff so probably will doze off often.
It sure can be. The constant scrutinizing and overanalization of your own thoughts can lead to a spiral that gets out of control. It's best sometimes to just let that be Your Words and not share it. Sometimes it can be fun to let someone you trust see it though.

The writing of memories experiment has ended. If you want to write down all your memories to keep them. Make damn sure there's not something in there you absolutely want to forget.
If you remembered it enough to write it down, you probably won't forget it or don't want to. I have entire journals of drunken nonsense that I will look back on and cringe, but I am happy to have the record of it because it's a record of what I was thinking or a particular mindset. I suppose some might find that kind of thing...unhealthy...but I find it comforting.

Either way, props for giving it a go.
 

Borzak

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I stopped writing down memories. It got too depressing. I started occupying my mind by writing poetry. Go ahead and laugh. I don't care. Not many romantic ones. I share some with friends every so often. In the past I would game to occupy some idle time. That's gotten more and more difficult. At least with writing I can spell check.

I give the poems to friends and let them do whatever they want with them. One friend post it on her facebook and list it as anonymous. I was kind of surprised at the positive response. Good for her lol. My wife normally comes up with the person to write a poem to or about. She also approves and proof reads them. I've spent more time writing poems in the last few weeks than posting on FoH, so be thankful for that. Some short, some long. Some serious, some funny. It is very hard to write a poem about a steel beam FYI.

No I won't post any here. Most of them are not romantic but pretty personal to the person I give them too. One thing I learned pretty quickly is I have to have all music off while writing. Or I wind up stealing parts of songs without even realizing it. My wife would proof read and say "this sounds familar and google it". Mood of the music also impacted the poem. Writing poems after being up for 24 hours is not real productive either.

I thought it some today. I would post my most popular poem except for a few concerns. I'm pretty sure now that it's been posted/shared by the person it could point back to me. Also it is about a super hot topic, not politics but religion. LOL I put it into google and searched just out of curiosity. Death poetry. Death depression is what came up. Interesting take on it.
 
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Borzak

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Low effort rhyming poem, the lowest effort of all. Wrote this about someone I talked to recently. Yes I'm very bored.

We reconnected in lockdown
Couldn't even go to town

Hadn't seen you in 30 or more years
Shared what came of our hopes and fears
Times back then we reminisced
Worked through a 35 year list

Talked for quite a while, made you cry
Not knowing the cause I asked you why
"𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 talking to me"
Made me sad, couldn't leave it be

I asked her, "tell me more?"
Her secret's now mine, I swore
I'm dying now, plain to see
I shed a tear for you, not for me
 
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