Any writers here?

[Azrael]

Anyone on these boards write...poetry, short stories, blah blah blah...anything?  Just curious.  I've been writing seriously for about 2-3 years.  Mostly I write short stories but I've been working on a longer work lately.  Also as part of a class I'm taking I've been forced to write some poetry.  This poem I wrote recently and decided I just wanted to share it with as many people as possible.  I still can't entirely say where it came from.  I reread it and feel like I'm reading something someone else wrote.  Anyway, hopefully someone reads it and can offer any critique.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6NmzAiIOF-3ZTljODZiNzEtMTFiOC00ZWI0LWEyN2ItNDUyNzFlYjUzNDk5&hl=en

I did actually edit it and have a second draft but I'm unable to upload it right now...but this is good enough I think.

[Starmongoose]

When I was in High School a couple of my poems got published in a couple of magazines, which was pretty cool, even though I didn't think they were all that great. I write short stories from time to time, although I never do a second draft of anything I write because I am usually not interested in it any more and go off chasing another idea.

Sometimes, when it's important (English essays, or the california-based fanzine I write for) I can force myself to do a second and third draft but I'm admittedly a lazy writer.

I read your poem and I thought the imagery was really good and you had good word choice. I would say that the use of font can come across as unprofessional - if you were to say, read it out to people they would be going by the words, the structure and the emotion rather than the font. Layouts like that probably go best with pictures, in a graphic novel style. I think that would really work with this piece.

Well done, keep writing.

[D-Rider]

I used to write all the damn time.  Short stories, poems, song lyrics, etc.  That changed in college, when "writing" generally meant a chore like writing 20-page essays.

I bet I'm the only person you'll find whose inclination to write was killed by an English/journalism curriculum. :P

[Adapheon]

I liked your poem, my thoughts actually mirror Sarmongoose's, the imagery, the idea behind it and in general the layout I like, the font choices are not that great, I have a degree in digital media but to be honest I'm a horrible typographer so I couldn't give any feedback on what I personally would think is better. Really though you asked about writing and I like the writing part so go you :P

I personally was out of writing for a bit, I wrote poetry/stories for most of my life since I was 5, the past few years have been unproductive but I'm working on some projects now, got a comic I'm starting with a friend with me as writer her as artist, also have a short story and a novel in the planning stages, the short story I could probably start writing soon in earnest, the novel has a lot of work to get through, an almost overwhelming amount but I'll slog through.

[Azrael]

If you could elaborate on what exactly makes the font choice horrible?  I have no graphic design or really visual art experience so the font choice, while not really random, wasn't something that I guess anyone could call an informed choice.  The layout though was intentional.  I was playing around with the two of them dancing and making the words dance across the page.

And D-Rider, believe me, I'm ALMOST there.  I was there for a while I guess, last semester, when I took 4 Upper Level Lit courses all at once.  Never doing that again.

Thanks for the comments guys.

[Tooker]

Sorry, buddy, but you lost me when you pluralized "writer" by adding an apostrophe. :)

[Azrael]

The great thing about writing is that it's not permanent and is easily edited...

[Tooker]

Haha - well done, sir!  You got me right back there.