At one time if you were a black writer you had to be one of the best writers in the world to be published. You had to be great. Now you can be good. Mediocre. And that's good.
quote by Walter Mosley

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Four Main Types of Writers (personal opinion)
The Lonely Writer
Some writings tell me
This person is lonely
And is reaching out
For the touch of a friendly comment
These writers are sad, solitary,
Isolated, but good persons
And quite often very good writers
The needy juvenile writer
Some writings contain words
Or language meant to shock
And to offend.
These writers are lonely also
But in a different way.
These writers are simply saying
Like a little child
“hey! I exist! Someone better
Acknowledge me! ”
These writers can often write well
But usually don’t, can’t, or choose not to
The Spite Writer
This writer can be of either gender
But seems to be in a female majority
They’ve been spurned or rejected
Two-timed or lied to.
And they are going to vent their ire
In the most public way they can.
These writers can also be very good writers
But too often let their anger get in the way.
The Religious Writer
These writers show people passionate
And zealously devoted to singing the praises
Of the Lord and goodness and charity.
They’re probably austere, honest people
Who almost always write very well.
For the most part these writers seem
To want to spread the word and
At the same time tend to be rather singular
In the subject matter of their writings,
Rarely attempting other genres.
poem by David Whalen

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After The Poems What Will Be For Me?
After the poems, what will be for me?
I am now wholly in them
But they are not as good
As I dreamed
And I as a poet am not the answer to my own ambition.
Will it be ‘Stories’ next?
And then on to ‘Aphoristic reflections’ Pascal- like?
How will I do it?
Or will, as seems most likely now, how will I never do it?
I am the mediocre poet who is the mediocre writer who is the mediocre thinker who is mediocre in all he does
I am the mediocrity and my mediocrity makes me me.
Mediocre me- Pity pity the poor ambitious soul
Who would have been great, and is not.
poem by Shalom Freedman

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Most Writers
Most writers 'twould seem have moments of self doubt
But they never go short of things to write about
And to become a top writer of one a big ask
And to succeed as a writer for many seems too daunting a task.
Most writers do not write for wealth or for fame
And despite lack of success they pen on just the same
For every one hundred thousand writers perhaps one writing millionaire
Amongst the ranks of the wealthy the writers are rare.
Few writers can hope for to scale success height
For the love of writing they only do write
Few writers get published and fewer know of success
But in their writings on paper their thoughts they express.
Most writers will never know wealth and renown
And they are not even well known in their own Hometown
They never will be known beyond their home shore
They write for the love of it and little more.
poem by Francis Duggan

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A Well Crafted Word
Why am I so philosophical, a philosopher a long time ago once wrote.
The song writer, script writer, poet and novelist like to use a great quote.
Some poems are written with a catchy rhyme and a theme.
A well crafted word can help and be a great writers dream.
Everyone knows that the pen is mightier than the sword.
A well crafted word can give the reader great reward.
'A metaphor is just like a simile'; An unknown author once quoted.
It's true about all writers I know, they all hate their words being misquoted.
To writers one and all, a well crafted word is always a must to write down.
Just remember this about all writers, they can make great use of a pronoun.
poem by Nichole Kaci McKnight

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Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite.
quote by Edward Albee

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Good writers define reality bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite.
quote by Edward Albee

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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And If I Am A Mediocrity?
AND IF I AM A MEDIOCRITY?
And if I am a mediocrity?
And what I have written is not worthy of remembrance?
And if I belong to the great mass of those not good enough?
And if all I have done disappears as if it never were?
And I also?
Should I blame myself
Or simply say God made me not good enough?
Should I feel sad and a failure
Or simply resign myself to what is the case?
Should I protest in anger
Or simply go on meeting the obligations of my life
As best I can?
I know the answer.
Being the best person I can
Especially to those closest to me
Is what is most important.
Mediocre or not as a writer
I must try to be a decent human being-
This is what the service of God really means-
And this is what all of us can try to do,
Wherever we are in the world of work and accomplishment.
poem by Shalom Freedman

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Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.
quote by Aaron Sorkin

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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On My Worth As A Writer
On my worth as a writer I do cast great doubt
Though one could never run out of things to write about
And poetasters are many and poets they are rare
Yet so much to write on of the big World out there
One can say I've written a whole heap of stuff
Yet out of millions of writers few are good enough
To make a success out of the wordsmith trade
So many there are and so few make the grade
Not many writers the literary critics impress
And so few out of writing become a success
For every literary success of which we do read
So many are destined to never succeed
And only a tiny minority do make writing pay
But then such is life as some are known to say.
poem by Francis Duggan

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Control Freak
Her father was a control freak.
He had to know what she was
reading and seeing and hearing
and whom she was meeting and
hey he said who was that kid I saw
you talking to outside school today?
Archie she said he's just a friend who
likes the bands I like oh so he says
her father said you know what he's
really after? I'll tell you shall I? she
hated it when he went on like that.
Hated his presumption of knowing
what other's thought or what their
deep desires were. He wants to get
inside your panties that's what he's
after her father said and she blushed
and said no he's not he's not that kind
of boy oh what you telling me the kid's
batting for his own team? Huh? Huh?
And some other time as she was reading
a Dostoevsky book he said who's he?
some Russian writer? You read the enemy?
What's a matter with good old American
writers? Not good enough? She closed
the book and put it away in her schoolbag
and took out a battered copy of Naked Lunch
by William Burroughs and started to read.
That's better a good old American writer
her father said and smiled and sat back in
his chair by the fire not knowing the book
opened out a different world for her and
a whole new other kind of deeper desire.
poem by Terry Collett

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Anyone who claims to be good at lying is obviously bad at lying. Thus - as a writer myself - I cannot comment on whether or not writers are exceptionally good liars, because whatever I said would actually mean its complete opposite.
quote by Chuck Klosterman

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Writer's Drought
You've heard of a thing called writer's block and you've heard of writer's drought
But writers are never short of things on which they can write about
It's just at times their inspiration well does seem to run dry
And they cannot seem to pen a line though hard enough they try.
The writers drought it causes writers moments of self doubt
Till the words that seem locked in them eventually flow out
Through their pens to their notebooks their dry spells do not last
And on time lost out on penning words they seem to catch up fast.
Some writers in their writing drought cannot seem to feel inspired
To write even a single line they feel mentally tired
But when fresh inspiration comes to them much better stuff they do write
And feeling re-invigorated they sit and pen all night.
Most writers you will talk to of writers drought can tell
When there is no inspiration in their inspiration well
But when inspiration returns to them and their creative juices flow
They become much better writers and in self confidence grow.
poem by Francis Duggan

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Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are supposed to write about, or who black writers are supposed to be, are condemned to silences in black literary circles that are as total and as destructive as any imposed by racism.
quote by Audre Lorde

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Now Is A Good Time
Now is a time to say to someone I love you
When you see him or she
Now is a good time to celebrate who you were born to be
Now is the good time to say forgiveness to someone that you hurt in the past and move on with your life
Now is a good time to put money for your retirement away
So you can have a pension
Now it is a good time to learn to love yourself
Now it is a good time to discover what you love to do
Now it is a good time to worship God
Now it is a good time to pray for the people of the world
Now it is a good time to lend a hand in the community
Now it is a good time to write your feelings in your note book
Now it is a good time to plant the seeds in the garden so that they Come up during the summer
Now it is a good time to celebrate life
poem by Aldo Kraas

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The New World
The gift and the curse
With this I'm spreading all my messages to the world.
One then the next
Another new pretext.
A systematic absorption through what I read.
Ideas all my own
A conversation with whole world at the same time.
Intriguing this must be to great minds
Imagine Edgar Allan Poe was living today
What would he write about?
Who would he talk too?
Would it be you?
Would it me?
Are you starting to see?
The great minds of the time stand before you.
People all over the world sharing in intellect.
Conversation with people twenty messages long.
This is the new world of the great poets, writers, and authors all rolled into one.
poem by Ace Of Black Hearts

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I hope to read a Harry Potter novel soon, to see what it's all about. I admit to being annoyed that many good light fantasy writers have had trouble getting published, in England and elsewhere, when it is obvious the readers were waiting for us all along.
quote by Piers Anthony

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Right Down To It
(brian greenway)
Published by greentunes, inc. - bmi
Whoa yeah
She was down and out, had just enough
Of the things to keep a young girl alive
It was gettin rough, but she soon got tough
To the fact of makin sure she survived
She was out of luck, she didnt have a buck
So I laid it to her straight on the line
Get up for me baby
Come on were gonna have a good time
My my baby, come on were gonna have a good time
Over here
Sooner or later, girl, I will persuade ya
Just to gimme gimme gimme what you got
Well I dont have a lover, that would blow my cover
Come on and give some of your rock n roll love
I was feelin great, I didnt hesitate
So I looked the girl right in the eye
Baby baby baby, come on were gonna have a good time
So I got right down to it
Sweet sixteen never looked so good before
You know I always knew it
But this time I knew better than before, oh dig it
You know I didnt say much, but I guess I said enough
Cause the two of us were doin really good
When the sun came a risin, I was realizin
That I had to have her with me if I could
I was feelin great, I didnt hesitate
So I looked the girl right in the eye
Baby baby baby, come on were gonna have a good time
So I got right down to it
Sweet sixteen never looked so good before
You know I always knew it
But this time I knew better than before
You know, I almost blew it
But she held me back away from the door
And we got right down to it, ooh, we did
song performed by by April Wine

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ain't It Good
Ain't it funny, time goes by, you forget about your pain,
Find yourself, with someone else, fall in love again.
Ain't it good, so good, you and me, against the world
Ain't it good, so good, it's plain to see, it's you and me baby.
Spend your life, wasting time, always chasing something.
I found out what it's all about, I got my love for certain.
Ain't it good, so good, you and me, against the world
Ain't it good, so good, it's plain to see, its you and me baby.
I used to be so lonely, I used to be so blue,
I had nothing, till I found you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ain't it good, so good, you and me against the world.
Ain't it good, so good, it's plain to see, it's you and me baby.
Ain't it good, so good, you and me against the world.
Ain't it good, so good, it's plain to see, it's you and me baby
song performed by by Bad Company

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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For a country to have a great writer is like having another government. That's why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.
quote by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.
quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

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