“I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.” – E. B. White
CJ Writer is a blog started by CJ Levinson in 2006. The CJ stands for Christopher John, if you’re interested (I’ve always liked CJ or Chris more). I’m 23 and I live in Sydney. I’ve been writing for eight years and I use the blog as a window to my thoughts on writing and life, with a touch of social commentary thrown in.
I finished my first story when I was seven, an adaptation of Tim Burton’s Batman that ended up being nothing like the movie. I killed Batman; I guess I’ve always had a thing for sad endings. I’ve been writing seriously since I was sixteen and have had a few small publications, as well as feedback from people including Greg Bear, Jodi Picoult, Mike Moorcock and Zoran Zivkovik.
Some of my favourite authors are Stephen King, Philip K. Dick, Margaret Atwood, Cormac McCarthy, Kazuo Ishiguro and Kelly Link; they’ve all influenced me in some way, big or small. I also write poetry and the occasional song. Away from writing I do a lot of troubleshooting work and I’m a member of the WordPress forums. I’m a big music fan and always have something new on my iPod; I love anything from U2 and Coldplay to KT Tunstall, Sarah Blasko, Gotye and The White Stripes. I also love movies and a good tennis or cricket match.
I try to be honest and if you read my blog for long enough you’ll see I’m a bit eccentric and stubborn, but extremely loyal and I love nothing more than discussing different ideas. So I hope you stick around. Feel free to check out my writing if you’re interested - and thanks for stopping by. 
I picked up on your blog because of the ‘blogging’ tag you used in your recent post.
Would you consider becoming one of ‘1001 bloggers’ to take part at http://mencap.wordpress.com ? We are working on building up the first few dozen links. Take a look and see what you think. We are raising funds for the learning disability charity Mencap by trying to link 1001 people together.
Apologies of you’ve been asked about this before. Any queries or to check this is ‘real’ please email be on david {at) theheads.co.uk.
Kind regards
David
david (at) theheads.co.uk
CJ: Thanks, David. I’ll pop across and check out your blog later. Sounds like a worthy cause and definitely something I’d be interested in supporting in some way.
Hi CJ,
You recently left a comment on my blog, so thought I’d follow the link and take a look at yours. I was able to read a couple of your pieces and enjoyed your writing very much.
Thanks again for taking the time to read my poem.
CJ: Hi teeveebee, thanks for the compliment! I feel like I still have a long way to go with writing but I’m glad you liked what you read.
Your poem was beautiful, so I was very happy to have stumbled across it. Look forward to reading more.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hi CJ, thanks for coming to my blog yesterday. I’ve read some of your work and i have to say that i like your style. I especially like “The Garden’s End”. It certainly made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up which, i have come to learn, means that it’s very good indeed.
I’ve tried poetry so many times in the past but have never been very pleased with what i have come up with. I still continue to mess around with it, and although I’m not brilliant at it i sort of enjoy the way poetry doesn’t have any rules in terms of how one structures each line and so on.
CJ: Hi Katherine, thanks for stopping by! And for the kind words about my writing; I’m glad you liked it. I liked writing the The Garden’s End; it felt very introspective and I hadn’t been as open as that in my poetry before.
I’m still never completely happy with what I write; I always see little things to change or something’s not quite what I want it to be… in the end I have to let it go and I’ve learnt to enjoy the process more now. I think that’s why I like poetry; it doesn’t have to follow a structure and that’s very liberating.
Hope you get some good news about your freelancing; sounds exciting!
Hello CJ,
I found your link on Sulz’s blog and thought I’d check it out. I’ve read some of your works and am very impressed. I write constantly but am far to self - conscious to share with others. Reading your work how ever inspires me to reach out to others with what i have written so far.
Hope you don’t mind me linking to you from my blog.
Thanks,
NW
CJ: Hi NW, thanks for stopping by. I owe sulz a big thanks as I get a lot of people coming from her blog. I need to send her a blogging award or something.
And thank you for the kind words about my writing. I have a long way to go but I love writing and it’s an amazing feeling, putting something of yourself out there for others to read… it’s scary but when you connect with someone it’s like nothing else. If you do share your work I’d love to see it.
Thanks for commenting and for the link. I’ll be having a look at your blog later.
no prob, and I’d be honored if you read my work.
CJ: Great because I actually read one of your poems earlier!
I loved it; just haven’t had a chance to comment yet. Shall fix that later.
oh gee, thanks!
CJ: No worries. Just popping over now.