What's in a grain?

I want to say I contemplated for a long time on what to name my blog.  Something related to write, though cheesy, but it would be simple for people to associate with writing, the life of writing, all things that have to do with writing.  In reality, it took me about a minute to call it "A Fallen Grain."  Why?  Because grains remind me of rice, and rice is food, and I like food.  :)

No.  "A Fallen Grain" is more about a seed that falls on the earth and starts to sprout, maybe into a plant or a new idea.  This "plant idea" will grow and grow, be able to sustain itself, fighting through harsh weather, long nights, cold days.

This blog is merely a blog to encourage writers, mostly creatively, but creative writing still has to have some seriousness in it.

I follow a few writing blogs:

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing - The name says it all.  The writer, Joe Konrath, provides great insight and statistics on independent publishing.

Pub(lishing) Crawl) - Kind of a blog, but this site is for traditional publishing.  They are a collection of authors who are pretty encouraging and nice, and provide great advice on writing in general.

Both are inspiring and motivating.  For me, anyway.

And an excellent article I just found:

Publishing Is Broken, We're Drowning In Indie Books - And That's A Good Thing, by David Vinjamuri

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At the moment, I have lots of topics I want to discuss.  Writing: characters, plots, descriptions, etc.  Editing, things to do for inspiration.  Daydreaming, if you're distracted.  All that good stuff.  And we can't forget criticism.  My favorite phrase is, "No matter how much you love something, somebody out there hates it."  It's kind of pessimistic, but it keeps my ego deflated.  On the other hand, you shouldn't care too much what others think about you, because it's always the negative things that drag you down more than the positive.  It's a human thing, though, psychological, can't help it.

I'm kind detached from the world, very practical, so you'll come to learn that I try not to bullshit.  I'm a realist who's cynical, or, as a creative writing instructor once told me, a "disappointed idealist."  I totally agree.  I wonder why people can't just get past their differences and get along, communicate.  It would cause less drama and annoyances.  But without these complications, life would be boring.  We can't have it both ways, unfortunately.  I contradict myself a lot, and I'm a hypocrite (wanting less drama, but knowing it would be boring, so I don't mind the drama in the end).  Watch out.

I forgot to mention how sarcastic I can be.  Don't take what I say too seriously, and have fun.

The First Grain

I've never really had a blog.  What do I write about?

I'll start with who I am: I write as a hobby.  I want to be published, and I used to have dreams of finding a publishing.  Except I fear my stories will be altered, since even I know it should be on some parts, and then there's the cover.  I like to have control over every aspect of my life.  But decisions are difficult to make, so if someone directs me, I would feel less pressure.  I tend to be contradicting, and a total hypocrite.  But I try to be nice and not a know-it-all (of course, I can be really mean).

I am first and foremost a landscape architect.  What is landscape architecture?  It is not civil engineering, horticulture, architecture... it is almost a combination of all of that.  Landscape architects look at the land and attempt to beautify it, to create a space for humans to enjoy.  This can be residential properties, neighborhoods, parks.  (Eg.: Central Park in New York, designed by the father of landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted.)  LAs not only make these spaces aesthetically pleasing, they also strive to incorporate environmental qualities into them (water conservation, energy reduction).  From sustainable designs to walkable cities, landscape architecture is a broad field that deals with more than just plants and architecture.

This is a blog for my writing life, but I will occasionally talk about landscape architecture if it pertains to the post.

By the way, food is awesome.