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Yeah, I've had a lot of people tell me this so I'm reasonably certain I could make some kind of living in the literary industry.
I just have a couple of problems, however:
1. I can't meet deadlines. Since I never know when I'm going to get a miserable streak of pain and for how long it may last, I would need the freedom to take as long as I needed to write something. Even with voice recognition software, the pain makes even being able to think nigh on impossible.
2. Depression. Yep, I'm one of *those* people. And since my depression stems from my circumstances rather than a chemical imbalance, they can't really treat it with medication. I tried talk therapy for awhile, but as I sorta figured, it didn't help much. You can't talk away a miserable hand of cards like the one I've been dealt, and no, there isn't always a silver lining in every cloud. My therapist always expected me to pin my hopes on extremely long odds. The thing about depression is that it makes *everything* difficult because you lose the motivation to do anything -- including the things you enjoy.
3. Lack of inspiration. My muse left me, I suppose. I actually started work on a novel; I have some 500 pages in this manuscript. But, I dunno. I guess I lost interest when the bottom fell out of my life.
But, who knows. Maybe you'll see my name on the best seller list one day.
Unfortunately, I'm somewhat limited to writing fiction since I don't have the stamina to do the legwork in terms of research for a credible non-fiction work.
I can only imagine the daily challenges and obstacles you are having to face and the depression is completely unsurprising. And I know what depression is like. I didn't have any concept of it really until I had a bout of it later in life. Twice actually - once as you say was circumstantial - a three year period in hospital with my son, and the other one was I think a true depression - that's hard to explain but you know that something has switched over in your brain. It's like a dark cloud surrounding you that just won't go away and nobody can do or say anything that can drag you out of it.
As you said, what you need is inspiration. It's difficult to know how to help since writing isn't my forte or anything I know much about.
I can tell you what inspires me though. For about the last 5 or 6 years I've been following a number of artists and watching their careers flourish from humble beginnings. I listen to 1 or 2 podcasts a week that interview either artists I already follow or new and emerging artists. I love listening to their stories and how they grew (I also follow a number of their blogs). I've always been fascinated by how people tick so hearing the stories of people in a field I'm interested in just ticks all the boxes for me.
So do I.
But reps are one thing. Changing someones mind is something else. The bulk of the reps you get are likely from people who already agree with you or because you confirm a point of view they already have or were at least leaning that way.
I'm not saying changing someones mind never happens, it does on a rare occasion but people are largely here for clarity, confirmation and reasurrance about what they already believe and to argue their own side. That's been my observation at least with my time on the forum.
I think your expectations are too high.
Do I expect to change anyone's mind of C-D on any of the forums? Usually no. That doesn't mean that the POV of the other person doesn't adjust at least a little bit. It doesn't mean that they don't glean additional understanding of the other POV. It doesn't mean they don't walk away thinking, "Gee, I never thought of it that way". Of course, the adjustment one makes in their POV may be the opposite of what you expect it to be; I have become more aggressive in my thinking in terms of being anti-religion since joining this sub-forum.
I think I've learned more about a variety of topics here (in this general forum) than I have anywhere else in the last 8 years. And part of that learning is participating in a discussion and having to look things up that I wasn't familiar with.
I mean my response here is NOT directed towards Shirina whom I wish all the best in her future endeavors and good health.
However, in the light of analyzing the mindset and thought process of an Atheist, we see that a miracle is something that is not explainable by using a scientific method supported by repeatable, quantifiable, tangible and concrete evidence. And hence, the Atheists should ideally never believe in a "miracle". This should be a laughable term to Atheists, just as the word "God" is. I think the word "hope" also falls in the same category.
...
I disagree with you. I know at least one person who had a dramatic and unexpected remission from cancer. And it had nothing to do with Christianity. One of the secondary definitions of "miracle" is "a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences". But again, you Christians want to co-opt everything as if you own the entire world and everything in it. Get over yourselves.
I mean my response here is NOT directed towards Shirina whom I wish all the best in her future endeavors and good health.
However, in the light of analyzing the mindset and thought process of an Atheist, we see that a miracle is something that is not explainable by using a scientific method supported by repeatable, quantifiable, tangible and concrete evidence. And hence, the Atheists should ideally never believe in a "miracle". This should be a laughable term to Atheists, just as the word "God" is. I think the word "hope" also falls in the same category.
I hope Shirina does not take the word "miracle" as offense to her, and again, I wish her all the best !
Go back and read my response in post #60. There is a reason I put quotations around the word "miracle".
I disagree with you. I know at least one person who had a dramatic and unexpected remission from cancer. And it had nothing to do with Christianity. One of the secondary definitions of "miracle" is "a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences". But again, you Christians want to co-opt everything as if you own the entire world and everything in it. Get over yourselves.
Not only do they think they own the entire world they think they own the meaning of words.
After thinking about it over the past few days, I decided not to try and quit cold turkey. I don't think that will work any better than quitting smoking cold turkey.
I've considered lying about my intentions to leave the forum forever, just to see what sort of "No, please stay" compliments I could gather.
However, having now announced this possible intention and purpose, everyone would know that it was a staged act designed to buff my ego. So, how about I skip the fake announcement , but we have the "Oh, no, we can't do without you Grandstander" festival anyway? It would be very much in keeping with my notion that eulogies are wasted on the corpse....he or she is past being able to be either flattered or insulted by such doings. Praise or condemnation should be reserved for while the target lives.
Oh, I won't, but I'll be sure to slam it in your face, jackass.
Y'know, I purposefully started my thread in the A&A forum both because I figured only the atheists would care anyway AND to avoid the idiocy that I knew people like you would insist on indulging in.
I see you've gone out of your way to come to THIS forum to indulge in it anyway. It's like you're addicted to stupid.
At least I can say that is something I've never done. In all of my thousands of posts, not a single one of them was written for the sole purpose of being mean. *shrug* But you're a prime example of why humanity is a doomed species. Have fun with that.
When I see this kind of crap, it makes me regret not having invaded the Christian subforum and wreaking havoc in there -- just because people like you deserve it.
Part of the problem with this forum is that the scope is forced to be limited thanks to overzealous moderating. Some of the most interesting threads have been locked quickly due to their being 'off-topic.' Well, strictly speaking, that may be true, but the alternative is a forum that can easily become stale and monotonous.
I had a 21-day 'involuntary vacation' from the forum semi-recently, and hopefully this criticism doesn't garner something similar.
I've considered lying about my intentions to leave the forum forever, just to see what sort of "No, please stay" compliments I could gather.
However, having now announced this possible intention and purpose, everyone would know that it was a staged act designed to buff my ego. So, how about I skip the fake announcement , but we have the "Oh, no, we can't do without you Grandstander" festival anyway? It would be very much in keeping with my notion that eulogies are wasted on the corpse....he or she is past being able to be either flattered or insulted by such doings. Praise or condemnation should be reserved for while the target lives.
I'd miss you Grandstander. Nobody tells a better comedic story about patron saints and zealous relatives.
I wonder how many of us will still be here in 10 years, still complaining about the forum?
Can't believe I've been on here 7 years TBH.
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