Writing – John J Langan

November 6, 2019November 7, 2019

Oil Me Up, You Cheeky Monkey

“A bit of advice… come up with a title for your blog post that is purposely misleading and intended to trick prospective readers into thinking what follows is interesting and vital to their existence.” ~ John Langan, Guru

That noise you hear is the creaking of my rusty knuckles… crying out in pain as I attack my keyboard to produce my first blog post in almost two years.

OH, THE DRAMA!

Yeah, I haven’t been doing much writing. I have a bunch of excuses but no good ones. Work has been keeping me busy, and because much of my daily thoughts are about politics I’ve grown tired of wallowing in negativity and dealing with the unfortunate people that disagree with my unparalleled logic.

I’ve been writing in this space since May of 2013. Looking for some inspiration for this new post, I decided to read some of my old ones. Yes. I look for inspiration from myself – my ego is that meta-human!

This blog has always been something of a diary for me… organizing thoughts that have always been unorganized, and sometimes still crave to be. Reading through this diary did a few things for me, but mostly confirmed that my life is pretty damn good. I’ve got a great family and many great friends. And even though I am sometimes critical of it – I live in a wonderful city and country. Despite some down turns, I’m in a good place.

Some old posts also made me sad, as I remembered my parents and others loved and lost. But I was happy to make myself laugh, cry and appreciate.

I was pleased that I felt comfortable in other posts to address a wide range of subjects – politics, music, sports, marketing, etc. It made me realize that, for me, writing is the sincerest form of expression. So I’m glad to be back at it… hopefully! There are tons of things I’d like to revisit and share my awesome opinions. And my world has changed much in the last two years – new career path, pushing 60, and I’m a grandfather. There is no lack of content to share, so we’ll see what I spew.

So I’ll kick off John J. Langan blog post number 91 – my resurgence – with this tasty bit of “knowledge”:

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type any given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.

So Romeo and Juliet walk into a bar…

May 25, 2015

The Summer of Words

This summer may be the busiest I have ever experienced. I’m at my desk looking at the calendar, contemplating how I’m going to do what I really want most… reading and writing.

writing The craziness kicks off this week with a wedding that I AM OFFICIATING. The circumstances of how that came to be will be the subject of another post. But it is truly humbling to be asked, and I’ve spent most of the past week preparing for this great event.

After that I start a schedule of coaching soccer practices and games, Union soccer games, graduations and grad parties, birthdays, business trips, weekend shore trips, school reunions, bachelor parties… and five more weddings!! Oh, and work… both jobs!

At this point, you must be thinking, “Boo Frigging Hoo!” Please don’t misunderstand, I am not complaining. Clearly I am very fortunate to have a schedule full of fun and frivolity.

2015PWClogo2-300x196 Last weekend I attended the Pennsylvania Writers Conference in Pittsburgh. It was a solid two days of education and inspiration about the craft and business of writing. My biggest takeaway was that I have to make a commitment to work at it. To write.

One of the conference speakers attempted to motivate us with this question… “Are you willing to say that you ALMOST wrote a book?”

I am not. So she succeeded in the motivation part.

I’ve been full of ideas this week… too many! So yesterday I cleared off the extremely cluttered desk at home, attempting to make a space for myself. I’m hoping that this physical organization leads to mental organization… we will see.

FullSizeRender I’ve realized that the key is to understand and prioritize time, and commit. I am vowing to read more, to be inspired. Observe more, to see things differently. And share time with creative people, to be uplifted. I’m writing this blog post as a public promise to myself… hopefully those who read this will hold me to it.

Writing is no longer something I have to squeeze in between events. These things are my leisure, respite, and sometimes my inspiration.

After family, writing is life.

November 30, 2014

Am I A Writer?

“I’m a writer. You are a writer. Everybody writes.” ~ Anne Handley

Although I have been writing in one form or another for many years, I have never considered myself a “writer”. Part of my work in marketing every day is producing emails, website copy and social media content. And I have this silly little blog… but is it really “writing”?

As I’ve stated here many times, “Surround yourself with creative people.” It’s become my mantra, and if I ever muster up the courage it could be part of my first tattoo. I’ve been fortunate over the past two years to have met a lot of writers – authors who have a true commitment to the written word. They are artists who are true storytellers, some who I now call friends.

I’ve also attended conferences, workshops, book signings, and more than a few get-togethers in bars and restaurants. Besides the fun, I’ve used these opportunities to sponge whatever information and inspiration I could. And while I have always felt very welcome, my lack of cred certainly left me on the fringes.

That “cred” was my perspective of what goes into producing the written word – the hours, the research, the sweating over each syllable and turn of phrase. George Orwell said that “writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.” I’ve always kept that in mind when reading a story. I continue to find myself in awe of the journey… going from the smallest spark of an idea to an actual novel.

I know a few people who are full-time authors, but most I’ve met are just like me – working people with families, bills and other responsibilities. Writing is not their primary source of income. Still, they produce novels and stories in varying frequency and with vastly different levels of success. But what most have in common is a strong desire to help and promote each other, and give back to the writing community space they occupy. And as I learn more about all of the things that must happen to get published, it seems that the writing is the easiest part.

Last week I posted on Facebook and Twitter that I was proud of myself because “I was very productive, finally finishing a long term project.” Anyone that follows me on social media knows that I’m usually not that coy, but it was very personal. That project was a work of fiction, a short story that I have been writing – off and on – for about a year. A few weeks ago I had made a promise to myself that I would finish it by Thanksgiving, so I powered through for about eight hours last weekend and completed my first draft. Yeah, it doesn’t sound like much. But when I lifted my fingers from the keyboard after applying the last bit of punctuation to that last sentence, I will admit that I allowed myself some celebration… an actual yell and fist pump. The poor dog was very confused…

So what I have now is a story… clocking in at 9,651 words over forty-five pages. It’s been put away for now, and I think I will look at it again in a couple weeks. I’ve given it to a few select people and I’m looking forward to any feedback. I don’t know what is next… a second draft? A third? Maybe it will be published one day, or maybe it completely sucks. Clearly, I haven’t thought this through! What I do know is that now I have two more ideas and can’t wait to start again!

To be honest, I don’t think I have ever felt such a sense of accomplishment. It’s partly because I did what I set out to do – getting that spark of an idea out of my head and onto paper. I also experienced what I’ve always appreciated in others – sweating over each word and sentence of my own story. But mostly, it’s because when I finally finished that first draft and threw that fist pump on the air, I was a writer.

Yes, I am a writer. That’s cred, baby…