night's good when i'm in one piece

Another day of not having written. (Contradictory, for I am now typing here). I had planned to. But work got in the way. At least it wasn't the tedious stupid work like yesterday. Besides typing here, I had a few other options: 1) Read. I'm still sauntering through Nellcott Is My Darling and I'm on the last chapter of Alice in Wonderland. 2) Watch the baseball game on TV. But late night TV is always unwise.

So I'm here.

About this story I'm working on, I've set a few pointers for myself:

• Use short and clear sentences
• Narrow the scope of your story
• Catch yourself when you start to speak in metaphors and stringy sentences
• Tell it in 1500 words
• Really really know your characters before you write

So yes, these pointers are to guide me to write a better story. The point is for me to improve on each story I write. I want to be a great writer. I want to be great like Raymond Carver and Julio Cortazar.

On a night in which I haven't written, I did produce the following composition in response to a rather undefined question posed to me in an online discussion board: What do you do when you're sad?

I stay away from people who are negative. There are people out there whom you talk to and they either make you feel like you want to kill them or you want to kill yourself. Yes, those are the type I'd stay away from.

It won't be so bad to be with another sad person if his/her sadness relates to mine, or if we could relate to each other's sadness.

I'll find some happy people to be with, but not people who are so happy their heads appear disconnected from their bodies. Those are the 'high' ones. There are many 'happy' people who are quite empty inside. I stay away from those.

It's rare to find someone happy who at the same time retains depth. A happy person who can genuinely relate to sadness is rare, and the vice versa, the same.

After walking around and around, I often find it best to sit with myself, arrive at a thought, then move forward.