Metaphorically lost for words... I don't think so
Despite having a father who was a railway engine 'steamriser' and a mother who was an engineer’s mate at the same LMS railway freight locomotive sheds when I was a toddler in WW II, I became a writer. I reckon I was born with verbal diarrhoea in my fingers!
I wrote my first newspaper report in 1948 as a copy boy for sports reporter Taffy Williams ghosting his stuff when he became inebriated in the hospitality tent during a Derbyshire vs Glamorgan county cricket match. A couple of years later I found myself covering a boxing match at Southey Green doing something similar for another missing scribe and eventually became a sort of ‘Jack of all freelance’ with a provincial news agency. By the time I was in my early 20s I had become a ‘stringer’ photo-reporter for such national papers as the Daily Herald, Mirror and Sunday Graphic with ‘hit and miss’ pay cheques. I later discovered that being an ‘Ad-man’ paid better but I did a bit of crafty out of town ‘reporting’ on the side. I wrote promotional copy for advertisers too so it would be acceptable to consider that after 50 years or so, I had learned a bit about manipulation of the etymological wrinkles of the 'Writing Game.' I can even recall one martinet of a lady editor who would rattle my knuckles with a ruler if I missed a name out of a funeral report. Yes, my training was that basic.
Since that time I've done a lot of writing, more recently as a hobby since retirement. I've written about politics, literature, travel, food, history, obituaries the lot… but I prefer humour.
I've knocked out a couple of satirical books, been contributor, editor and publisher of a newspaper and several periodical magazines. I even put the Sierra Bernia school magazine together when the students' parents decided to have one!
It might be said that I'm a compulsive publizidat (not samizdat) and it's now too late to change.
What I have learned over the years is to try to entertain and possibly inform anyone who has the temerity to tackle it!
I have always enjoyed writing and I still do. I am also a copious reader which helps.
Amongst the first necessities of any writer is the ability to READ. In my opinion without reading one cannot possibly write successfully. Precept
and example immediately spring to mind.
One may not immediately achieve the desired result but this method is a lead into how ideas are born whilst style and flow become recognised and even mimicry and duplication often common.
It is not unusual for a feature writer to browse through back numbers of a periodical and 're-write' what he (or she) has previously read, occasionally having the audacity/ mendacity to submit it as their own work! Plagiarism goes even further though. The 'Travel Writer' often resorts to re-using flowing verbosity milked from tourist brochures and guides.
I do not claim to be a puritan, if a phrase or metaphor fits….so be it!
When writing a book review it is often helpful to check other reviewers comments. I often did whether I agreed with the critic’s sentiments or not. Attribution of this ilk leaves a clean taste.
Reporters, journalists, scribblers, call 'em what you may are known to resort to dubious pranks. Writers often write letters 'To The Editor' commending an article they have themselves written. Such correspondence usually comes from an untraceable address signed off with a 'nom-de-plume’ or ‘anon.’ Most ‘letter’ editors however are wise to these ‘self help’ subterfuges.
Pressure often causes a reporter to behave cunningly when chasing a story which loses feasibility. Harry Proctor, a legendary Fleet Street ace in the 50s described some of the tricks of the trade used in an exposure book. He related an occasion when a lead fell dead whilst pursuing a story. Time was ebbing away. He needed to file something quickly. He had been visiting a prison and outside the gates came up with a ‘sob’ story winner when he spotting a flea bitten mangy dog. Quickly he nipped to a nearby butcher's shop and bought greasy bone. He let the dog sniff it and then thrust in beneath the gaol’s forbidding gates. The hungry dog wriggled on its belly attempting to reach the lure. Harry's photographer shot an alluring picture. A poignant story about a jailed criminal whose abandoned dog was pining outside prison gates made front page. At least that was Harry’s tale! Just one of many 'manufactured' stories .... I could go on all day.
On the more genuine ‘exposure’ level Jim Tully, of Jack The Ripper fame, spent years researching his subject and collated his findings (oddly enough in Altea) with a cheap Olivetti portable.
Such efforts are commendable but hard work. Today’s writers have it easy with word processors and computers.
Writing can be a tiring task and unfortunately inspiration often comes at the most inopportune times.
I may sit around for days and cringe at the idea of getting to grips with 'the keyboard' even when my subject matter is at hand in longhand! Perversely, I sometimes wake up in the early hours of the morning with the urge to tap my thoughts into ‘save’ instantly.
As an obsessed everyday writer I do not believe in time regulation.
A writer is an artist and has to perform when the muse is active. The mind functions in mysterious ways. Ideas, plots, schemes cannot be motivated to fit a clock or calendar. In my experience they are instantaneous and often instantaneously active. The moving finger writes and having writ moves on or loses its way!
Ideas are inspirational but can disappear just as rapidly. They cannot be stored to be used “when you have the time.” Therefore to allocate a certain amount of time per day etc., to writing is a definite NO-NO !
N.B. A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with Joy Lennick of Writers’ Ink who is a very dedicated and hard working member of her group. I knocked together this ’ad lib’ piece which might make an ‘odd ball’ talking point with her group.