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Susan Oleksiw's avatar

I used to keep a list of projects on my computer so I could remind myself to finish them and get them out; and then I'd forget about it/them and write something else. I look back and wish I'd had the time to finish everything, or wonder if I wasted time on this series of shorts or essays or whatever. There is never enough time and I've tried to just stop thinking about it. But, I can't. Everything I look at turns into a part of a story or a topic for a blog post. good post.

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Lev Raphael's avatar

Thanks! I haven't listed the dozens of personal essays that were in progress, but each one of them got its own title folder inside a larger folder so I wouldn't forget they were there. Despite that, in combing through lost and then reconstituted emails I discovered an essay that has been 1) accepted for publication and 2) that I had completely forgotten about. :-)

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Ernie Brill's avatar

I started writing a comment that got knocked out; I also made, have a list of unfinished and finished work. I try to prioritize. Im sending out one novel about two Vietnam vets,and I entered Drue Heinz Short Story contest with a collectiion about growing up in the McCarthy period and seeing one of my favorite teachers fired after thirty yeqr of teaching American history in a fairly unorthodox manner.

Loveyour work,comraderie, and faith in working hard, Lev.

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Lev Raphael's avatar

Thanks, and good luck with the novel and the collection!

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Richard Donnelly's avatar

Lev when you feel like that you know. You're a real writer

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Margo Siegel's avatar

Love this piece Lev! Your mind is amazing!

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Lev Raphael's avatar

Thanks, glad you liked it!

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Karl Straub's avatar

This observation of mine is perhaps more bitchy than helpful, but i can’t work out how someone imagines themselves as a writer but doesn’t know what to write about. I feel that writers are, at the very least, people who have something they can’t wait to write about. I think a good first step for any writer would be to stop thinking about “being” a writer and start thinking about “doing”what a writer does.

I’m not going to a restaurant where the chef can’t decide what to cook, because I don’t see how a chef could know anything about food and not know what to cook. I think it works the other way; you’re thinking about food all day, you start trying to cook some food to see what happens, and eventually you realize you’re a chef. Maybe these writers with no ideas should read more.

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Lev Raphael's avatar

I wonder about writers who ask for help with titles, etc. on social media....

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Aug 21
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Lev Raphael's avatar

Well, I did the same thing with my memoir My Germany. I went there to do some research and wound up writing a book about subsequent visits, a book I never intended to write.

I'm tired of books and have been publishing essays, many of which grew out of my travels to Italy, Germany, England and more.

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