Woe to thee, mine heart, mine breath, all known to me as whimsy and flair.
I hear you speak in words yet to be spoken, I see you clear.
Vision is fancy, a perilous play to the sanity of one.
Infected is this mind, fool—perhaps, is what I have become.
Victim, I refuse to fall.
I choose your light to flow from mine hand and gasp life as you have asked me to pen.
Survive—my dearest of friends, for expression has meaning.
Your story deserves to be written down.
CUE-MICHAEL SEMBELLO “MANIAC.”
Now that I have my ‘purply-ness’ out of the way, I welcome you once again to Thursday, the day after the proposed marked posting for IWSG, but none-the-less an entry in a just cause we writer types should acknowledge.
Thank You, Mr. Cavanaugh, and I bid you, yet, another, pardon for my tardiness. Friends, colleagues, individuals known as my peers, I present to you the label me NOT post.
In the beginning, I understood writers were categorized into 2 groups-“Pantser or Planner.” You were one or the other—you could not be both. So I fell for it.
-CLARIFICATION-
Let us define “Pantser” straight from the valuable archives of the Urban Dictionary…
A NaNoWriMo term that means that you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ when you are writing your novel. You have nothing but the absolute basics planned out for your novel.
This outlook towards writing is often opposed by the ‘planner,’ who knows exactly what is going to happen when it will happen, and where it will happen. There is often enmity between the two types of writers.
Another pantser?! Seriously, GTFO.
Truly their words-I am less inclined to believe it comes directly from NaNoWriMo..but who am I? My understanding is that even the basics need not be planned. The specifics flow their blue+red=purple path as each sentence is written. Everything naturally falls into place, and you’re tasked with the minimal effort of showing up.
We will then turn to their term of “Planner.”
An underpaid, overworked employee that takes endless shit and abuse, while trying to organize work for thankless assholes that don’t want to do the work in the first place.
(Okay, that did not turn out so well but I found it hugely entertaining. Dear Urban Dictionary, you slay me.)
We could try the other famous terminology of “Plotter.”
A person who plots.
A person who plots on a regular basis.
A person who has indeed plotted before.
A person who is currently plotting.
Now we are getting a little closer.
#WTF am I talking about? Let me not digress, I believed I was a “Pantser,” and at the time the thought was liberating. I belonged to TYPE 1 or TYPE 2 of writing academia.
Reality-
I was a fish out of water in the endless sea of my scribbles
Word vomit, my chosen mastered skill. After all, I have no problems sitting down and typing the whole of the live-long day. These voices inside keep me well entertained, and a gazillion thoughts and storylines fill me. I write well and say nothing at the same time.
Cue “Taps.”
Advice often speaks that writing takes years to develop, the understanding of craft, your individual voice, definition. I have 4 works finished, but not finished. And one day something resonated—zapping my staggering mass, “Aha!”
Cue prayers for this person. (not literally me)
We have to be neither. All is for not if we don’t have THE master plan, and not the one we originally imagined, but a working, real, tangible guide that will guarantee results if indeed this is what we are after.
Hello, my friend Mr. Larry Brooks and his friend Mr. Art Holcomb. You both may have just saved my writing life. No longer shall I make more difficult what is already half way there. Thank you for this post. (Every writer MUST read, honestly, the ultimate in time well spent.)
When I see you in Starbucks I look forward to giving you my answer.
“The Tragedy I See At Starbucks Every Day” – a new post by Art Holcomb
And I Write On-<3 Jess
PS…have I ever mentioned I would find great satisfaction in being re-blogged by Chris the story reading ape? (A 2017 resolution of mine) Another great writer’s resource blog!
American Writers Exposed 
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