Rick’s Writing Questions

Quick note: If you would like to have a go you can read Rick’s here and copy the list of questions in the later part of his piece. I started this a couple of weeks ago and only just got around to finishing.

What type of writer do you feel you are? ✍️

One who keeps all his ideas in his head instead of sharing and working with these. I know I need to improve.

What type of writer do you not want to be? (sorry, I’ve just realised the NOT in the question- so obviously I answered what I’d like to be instead!)

I would like to branch out into other poetry besides free verse.. I’d also like to write more short stories. I need to improve my skills there though as they are not very well practised. Perhaps a short course. I also want to improve my film reviews and find an audience for these.

What do you like about yourself as a writer?

Hmm, I think I can be candid in showing how I feel about something with little filter. I.e a film review. I also think my free verse poems are quite candid as well, so I like I can be this truth teller of myself. I find this empowering to have my voice out there even if only a few read it.

What do you look for in other writers?

I like to laugh a lot.. you guys have shown me how funny writing can be. I like subversive humour, the absurd - either in short stories or poetry. I like to come away from something happy that I read it in that moment to make me think about my own life or give me a new perspective etc.

What do you not like about yourself as a writer?

I procrastinate. I often don’t post what I’ve written and it lives in WIP. Low confidence, anxiety, inspiration does not strike near enough. I’d like to have more motivation for research, planning and trying different styles of writing than what I am use to like many of you here on Vocal.

Which writing genre or category do you feel is your best?

I feel my dialogue is okay but I don’t write enough short stories.

I am obviously most comfortable with free verse poetry and film reviews as generally that makes up most of my pieces on here.

In which genre or category do you feel the most challenged?

I struggle with vocal prompts, rules and rhyming. What am I doing on Vocal? 😅 Also, narrative structure.

When did you first start writing?

I didn’t really write outside of school as a kid. I think when I was about 15 years old I wrote a short story for fun that was about 8-10 thousand words. I was really proud of that at the time & would look forward to writing it on our old PC a few nights a week for a few months. It was a cliche-ridden psycho-romance but I had fun with it. I recently found a rough version of it. The completed version no longer exists. It’s not amazing or anything, but was such a time warp feeling reading those words of mine again from so long ago.

I’d also occasionally write short film reviews for myself, as I liked the form. I use to get super excited reading the film reviews in the Sunday paper as a kid and later in life the Empire movie mags which I collected for over 20 years.

Fast forward 18 years or so I started writing creatively again mostly to deal with some chronic mental health stuff I’d been through and was still going through. This was really cathartic, then I joined vocal a couple of years later and uploaded some of these little pieces and here we are! 😊

Why do you write?

I write when I feel inspired and it feels like I have to either clear something out from my brain or to share something with others. When I am in a state of flow I really enjoy it. I can also get my thoughts down more easily in writing than in speaking. Stringing a sentence together in person is rough! 😅😆

This last question is off-topic. If you could be part of any television sitcom family, which one would it be and why?

Seinfeld. I am highly neurotic so this fits the brief for me. I also use to dream (as a late teenager) of having a group of friends to hang out with. There was not an equality to the friendship groups I had at the time. You need to have certain types of friends to just hang out and that enjoy “the hang” where you don’t have to be doing much, but just sorta going with the flow..and bar a few, these people they have been hard to come by over the years. I also have a repressed mischievous/misadventure side so I would like to partake in their crazy schemes. As an introvert, I think they would help bring that side out of me again! 😁

Thanks for the great questions Rick! ☺️👍

Thank you for reading. Hope you give it a go.

Here is Mother Combs’ piece: