xxxThe following writer has been kind enough
to share his story with us.
xxxIf you would like
to contribute your story and photo to me, email them to:
xxxrob@easywaytowrite.com
xxxThank you.
xxxLeonardo Clerici
Hello, my name is
Leonardo Clerici.
I'm Italian, and though I use English every day for my
work it's a little awing to do it into a community of
writers. Please, bear with my poor wording.
I've been a no-profit blogger for several years, and I
think I can say I was successful and credited for being a
good analyst of world affairs, which was my focus. But by
and by the blog was becoming too demanding on my time,
and I decided to either simply close it, or turn my
online writing - or writing altogether - into a
profession. And pursue my true calling, creative writing;
especially the genres of which I am a very strong reader:
science fiction, horror, mystery.
This is what I am set out right now, though I haven't
published anything yet.
Before coming across Rob's websites, my first great
discovery was free writing. It blew my mind. I couldn't
believe the feeling of self-fulfillment I felt by just
sitting down and letting my fingers go freely on the
keyboard. I think I could do it for four or five hours a
day, no stop but for little pauses to have my fingers
resting, and be happy with it without writing anything
else. But of course no one is going to pay you for your
free writing, and I knew that sooner or later I had to
face the reality of market.
When that moment came, I realised that I needed to put a
focus on free writing, because by just free writing I
wasn't getting the kind of stories I would have liked to
read. They lacked structure and consistence, and what's
worse they seemed to branch out in areas remote from the
rest of the intellectual interests I cultivate. I
couldn't stand this separation, I wanted to have a
control on what I wrote.
And this is when Rob popped out. I didn't need Rob to
know what an outline is, and how helpful it may be to
write a story. There are scores of manuals that explain
how to make the blueprint of a story before starting to
write it. But I have a feeling that the authors of these
manual weren't being completely honest, and that they
were pretending that their techniques are what the
writers ordinarily do, while they were just telling what
they think is the logical process to plan a novel or a
short story.
Rob doesn't explain the "logical" pathway to
write a story, doesn't speculate on writing. Rob knows
what writing IS, and it shows at any word he writes. Most
importantly, Rob can describe in simple words the real
process of writing in a way that makes it replicable by
others that don't have his solid background. I owe Rob
the sense of control that I enjoy when I work on my
stories at any stage of their development.