Writers block.

Hi, Kashaf!

A friend showed me a trick that makes writing with this defective keyboard faster than using the on-screen keyboard: you just hold down the "Fn" [function] key while you're typing, and the letters come out as they're meant to do. Isn't technology amazing?

I've just read Albert Roy's comment, including:

"I have read your profile, have you gone online to read about Gaza, not merely the news but anything from the people (young and old) who live there? The history of the place, geography, to get a feeling of the place? Read up on it, absorb it. Dream about it."

So I went to your profile and read it for myself. I got the idea that you actually live in Gaza, which would make his advice a little bit superfluous.

I write "a little bit" because it's sometimes a good idea for a writer to take a step back and have a look at their position from an outsider's point of view; to TRY and be objective.

But the Deary knows (an Irish expression) that there's very little objective information about Gaza to be found on the Internet. And there ARE a lot of lies.

So - if you DO live in Gaza - my advice is to be as SUBJECTIVE as you can. Let us, your readers, FEEL what it's like to be there. The more original voices that come out of Gaza the better. The world needs to stop turning a blind eye towards it.

If you DON'T live in Gaza, then Albert's advice is excellent: try to get a feeling for the place and the people who live there before you write about it.

I got very dispirited for several years about ANYTHING doing ANY lasting good. I gave up on writing. It was reading material about AND by Rachel Corrie (and if you live in Gaza, you're sure to know who she was) that gave me a kick up the backside and told me that we don't have the RIGHT to give up. So I started writing again. I started with some poems about her death:

http://jimmsfairytales.com/shelives.htm

Keep safe, Kashaf! And keep writing. Your voice is important.

JImmy

p.s Please consider submitting your writing to La Gr@not@.

Hi Kashaf.

And, oh dear!

You've taken on a terrible responsibility. Writing at 13. That's about the same age as I started. At 18 I became a journalist, at 28 I left and went into business. Many (many) more years have since past and I'm still writing and I'm still trying to get my first book published.

I don't say this to put you off. I say it because if it's within you, you won't ever give up. You have all my sympathy and respect.

No, you be truthful, you don't have enough knowledge. As you get older you will gain knowledge, but you will never have enough. Growing older is merely another way of gaining knowledge. It never stops. Nobody has enough knowledge.

But - you don't need absolute knowledge to write. You need aspiration and ambition and you've already shown that by starting and getting as far as three pages. When I was about 25 I tried (once again) to write the brilliant novel that every journalist has inside them. I tried maybe twenty times to write it. I never got further than half a page of demented scribble.

The best guidance? Whenever you get what is romantically called 'writer's block' don't over force yourself to push on. Take a little break. I always go off and read something, it might be a book I've read a hundred times before, or go out for a long wander. I have read your profile, have you gone online to read about Gaza, not merely the news but anything from the people (young and old) who live there? The history of the place, geography, to get a feeling of the place? Read up on it, absorb it. Dream about it.

Somewhere, somehow, you'll find inspiration. But you won't find it staring at a keyboard.

Good luck. I really wish you well.

AR