When I graduated from high school, I didn't go straight into a four-year university. Instead, I went to a community college. I had friends that went to places like USC, UCLA, or Boston College, and I was somewhat of the laughingstock of my circle of friends because I didn't immediately go to a big name university. I didn't really care what they thought. When I was enrolled, I was paying only about $12 per unit, while they were probably paying $1,200. And I was lucky to have professors who actually cared more about teaching than publishing articles or books. Even though I was at a community college and getting a "cheap" education, I nevertheless got a great education.
One of the best classes I took was a college writing course. I had an amazing professor and one of the things that she stressed was rewriting. She thought that one of the best ways to improve your writing skills and to strengthen your arguments was to constantly rewrite. Some rewording and some restructuring can make a world of difference in your writing. So, having been trained in that way, I'm still constantly reworking everything I write. And that includes this blog. I am not a journalist, and this blog isn't known around the world. This blog is personal and casual and informal, but I usually try my best to sound literate and coherent. I often write in haste, surely leaving behind a trail of errors here and there. But I think I also leave a trail of errors by overwriting. Restructuring sentences and rewording can leave their own trail of embarrassing errors.
Where am I going? What is the point of this post? Oh, I suppose this is in response to my own personal horror that I felt after rereading some of my recent posts and noticing a few errors. Apparently I don't always make use of my career as an editor before posting what I write! Anyway, all of this is a disclaimer to say that eventually I will fix all those errors that you might read in this blog.
There really isn't much of a point in this post...
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Monday, July 06, 2009
Monday, May 12, 2008
Exquisite Corpse
That might seem like an odd or morbid title, but it is something that is pretty cool. Here is a brief explanation taken from Wikipedia.
Exquisite corpse (also known as "exquisite cadaver" or "rotating corpse") is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. "The adjective noun adverb verb the adjective noun") or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.
The technique was invented by Surrealists in 1925, and is similar to an old parlour game called Consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution. Henry Miller often partook of the game to pass the time in French cafes during the 1930s.
The name is derived from a phrase that resulted when Surrealists first played the game, "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau." ("The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.")
One of my co-workers/beautiful and wonderfully talented friend and I decided to try our hands at this type of story. She started out by writing a sentence and e-mailing it to me. I added a sentence, then passed it back to her. So we've been going back and forth and keep adding a sentence or two to whatever the other has written. We're only a few sentences into our story, but it is already getting interesting. I guess the most interesting thing about this whole experiment is how two different people, each with her own creative mind and different backgrounds, experiences, and tastes, can shape one single story. It's really interesting and a lot of fun. Although, I have to admit, when I first started this I was slightly intimidated because my friend has such a strong background with creative writing and because she was just accepted into a graduate program in creative writing. Still, I think that it will be great for me. It will get my creative juices flowing and force me to write prose again. And it will probably challenge me, which I think is a good thing.
So for any of my readers out there who enjoy writing, I suggest you try this little experiment with a friend. So far I've been having a great time! Maybe you will too.
Exquisite corpse (also known as "exquisite cadaver" or "rotating corpse") is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. "The adjective noun adverb verb the adjective noun") or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.
The technique was invented by Surrealists in 1925, and is similar to an old parlour game called Consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution. Henry Miller often partook of the game to pass the time in French cafes during the 1930s.
The name is derived from a phrase that resulted when Surrealists first played the game, "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau." ("The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.")
One of my co-workers/beautiful and wonderfully talented friend and I decided to try our hands at this type of story. She started out by writing a sentence and e-mailing it to me. I added a sentence, then passed it back to her. So we've been going back and forth and keep adding a sentence or two to whatever the other has written. We're only a few sentences into our story, but it is already getting interesting. I guess the most interesting thing about this whole experiment is how two different people, each with her own creative mind and different backgrounds, experiences, and tastes, can shape one single story. It's really interesting and a lot of fun. Although, I have to admit, when I first started this I was slightly intimidated because my friend has such a strong background with creative writing and because she was just accepted into a graduate program in creative writing. Still, I think that it will be great for me. It will get my creative juices flowing and force me to write prose again. And it will probably challenge me, which I think is a good thing.
So for any of my readers out there who enjoy writing, I suggest you try this little experiment with a friend. So far I've been having a great time! Maybe you will too.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Classes, Writing, and Thoughts and Such
Classes: For the most part this as been a typical week. Things are still busy at work, but I'm used to it by now. The one exciting thing about this week is that I start my Italian class tomorrow. It meets every Thursday for two hours and it goes until the end of March. Every time I have taken a language class the class met Monday through Friday. You get a lot of practice and you don't have that much of a chance to get rusty. Since this class meets only once a week, I have to find a way to practice. I suppose I'll figure something out. I already talk to myself a lot, so I guess I'll just have to start talking to myself in Italian. And I also have a feeling that taking this class will inspire me to read a little more Greek and Latin. Or maybe I'll be encouraged to learn another language.
Classes and Writing: As I mentioned in an earlier post, taking this Italian class came from a pact I made with one of my good friends. We were both in somewhat of a rut and wanted to do something new and different. I vowed to take a new language class, and she vowed to take some writing classes. So far she is putting me to shame. She already took a class in food writing, and now she is in a poetry class/workshop. She has to present one of her poems to the class tomorrow. She had two poems and couldn't decide which to present, so she shared them with me and asked which one I thought would be better for the class. Both poems were absolutely beautiful, and that led me to different thoughts as I was driving home from work today. I've been thinking about it all night, actually.
Classes and Writing, and Thoughts and Such: (I have a feeling that what follows will be random and all over the place.) The pact that I made with my friend, the classes we're taking, and the poetry she wrote made me think about a lot of things. For one, I'm really blessed to have such a great group of friends who I would place in the brainy, gifted, talented, and creative group. Even long after we've graduated from college--or *cough* several colleges and grad school--we've never stopped learning and we're always hungry to learn more. Several of us have continued to take classes whether it is to further our careers or skills, to delve into our hobbies, or to indulge in our own personal pursuits. And what makes it more exciting is that our interests run the gamut of editing, stockdog training, poetry, photography, language, and much more. I personally indulge in language and I want to indulge even more. I already know ancient Greek, Latin, and Dutch. I'm taking Italian. I would like to brush up on my German (took that in high school), and I would like to learn French and Spanish and maybe Russian. It would also be cool to learn Hebrew and Sanskrit.
Another thing that I've been thinking about tonight is writing. My friend wrote some beautiful poems, and many of my other friends are also great writers. It makes me hungry for more, and it makes me wish that everyone out there was a great writer. And when I say great writer, I'm not necessarily implying great with spelling or grammar. Although that's nice too. I'm thinking more about content. Since I'm a blogger, I'm always looking for a good blog to read. I've found a few good ones, but, let's be honest, there is a lot of garbage out there. If I roll my eyes and shake my head, that means the content isn't cutting it. I didn't have that reaction when I read my friend's poetry, and I don't get that reaction when I read the blogs of some of my close friends. When I read something, I want to laugh. I want to feel touched or moved. I want to feel good, or I want to feel motivated or inspired to do better things or to be a better person. It is honestly hard to find writing that is capable of that. Frankly, it's hard to find people who are capable of that! Fortunately I have some wonderful people in my life who are. I'm not sure how successful I am at returning the favor to my wonderful friends, but I hope that I have something to offer...
Current mood: inspired
Current music: a random selection. Currently Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery"
Current drink: Remy Martin VSOP Cognac
Classes and Writing: As I mentioned in an earlier post, taking this Italian class came from a pact I made with one of my good friends. We were both in somewhat of a rut and wanted to do something new and different. I vowed to take a new language class, and she vowed to take some writing classes. So far she is putting me to shame. She already took a class in food writing, and now she is in a poetry class/workshop. She has to present one of her poems to the class tomorrow. She had two poems and couldn't decide which to present, so she shared them with me and asked which one I thought would be better for the class. Both poems were absolutely beautiful, and that led me to different thoughts as I was driving home from work today. I've been thinking about it all night, actually.
Classes and Writing, and Thoughts and Such: (I have a feeling that what follows will be random and all over the place.) The pact that I made with my friend, the classes we're taking, and the poetry she wrote made me think about a lot of things. For one, I'm really blessed to have such a great group of friends who I would place in the brainy, gifted, talented, and creative group. Even long after we've graduated from college--or *cough* several colleges and grad school--we've never stopped learning and we're always hungry to learn more. Several of us have continued to take classes whether it is to further our careers or skills, to delve into our hobbies, or to indulge in our own personal pursuits. And what makes it more exciting is that our interests run the gamut of editing, stockdog training, poetry, photography, language, and much more. I personally indulge in language and I want to indulge even more. I already know ancient Greek, Latin, and Dutch. I'm taking Italian. I would like to brush up on my German (took that in high school), and I would like to learn French and Spanish and maybe Russian. It would also be cool to learn Hebrew and Sanskrit.
Another thing that I've been thinking about tonight is writing. My friend wrote some beautiful poems, and many of my other friends are also great writers. It makes me hungry for more, and it makes me wish that everyone out there was a great writer. And when I say great writer, I'm not necessarily implying great with spelling or grammar. Although that's nice too. I'm thinking more about content. Since I'm a blogger, I'm always looking for a good blog to read. I've found a few good ones, but, let's be honest, there is a lot of garbage out there. If I roll my eyes and shake my head, that means the content isn't cutting it. I didn't have that reaction when I read my friend's poetry, and I don't get that reaction when I read the blogs of some of my close friends. When I read something, I want to laugh. I want to feel touched or moved. I want to feel good, or I want to feel motivated or inspired to do better things or to be a better person. It is honestly hard to find writing that is capable of that. Frankly, it's hard to find people who are capable of that! Fortunately I have some wonderful people in my life who are. I'm not sure how successful I am at returning the favor to my wonderful friends, but I hope that I have something to offer...
Current mood: inspired
Current music: a random selection. Currently Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery"
Current drink: Remy Martin VSOP Cognac
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Editing and Conspiracy
Editing: Yes, I'm an editor. And I love reading my blog posts a few days after I post them. There is nothing more special than my own typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors. I'm smarter and better than this sometimes. But when you type fast while under the influence of something (nothing illegal), an error slips through every now and then. Oh well. And don't ask me why I have a tendency to slip into the British spelling of certain words. I tend to blame it on my Greek studies. I blame everything on my Greek studies. Since a lot of early Greek scholarship was written by the Brits, I'm so used to seeing the British spelling of words that I hardly notice it.
Conspiracy: I think that the writer in me often leads me into wild daydreams and wild stories. I think that I often live in some kind of twilight zone, because in my mind I'm often creating alternate versions of my daily life. A boring and mundane day at work makes me want to create something more exciting. When being an editor at a nonprofit legal organization isn't exciting enough, let's believe that there is some secret agenda and that people are out to get me. Or, more fascinating, let's pretend that there is a dark secret to our company--like, maybe the great company secret is that we are really selling body parts and kidneys and other organs on the black market. That would actually make a great short story or novel...
Many thanks to my beautiful friend who pointed out my quirky conspiracy theory nature. :)
Current mood: twilight zone
Current music: more songs from my music library, currently Tori Amos "Cruel"
Current drink: Fat Tire beer
Conspiracy: I think that the writer in me often leads me into wild daydreams and wild stories. I think that I often live in some kind of twilight zone, because in my mind I'm often creating alternate versions of my daily life. A boring and mundane day at work makes me want to create something more exciting. When being an editor at a nonprofit legal organization isn't exciting enough, let's believe that there is some secret agenda and that people are out to get me. Or, more fascinating, let's pretend that there is a dark secret to our company--like, maybe the great company secret is that we are really selling body parts and kidneys and other organs on the black market. That would actually make a great short story or novel...
Many thanks to my beautiful friend who pointed out my quirky conspiracy theory nature. :)
Current mood: twilight zone
Current music: more songs from my music library, currently Tori Amos "Cruel"
Current drink: Fat Tire beer
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