my current favorite word is "legit"
So it's been about four.5 months since I've updated this journal situation. I think Facebook really has stolen my soul because I don't write in this, I hardly ever write for anything outside of class, and I generally spend hours there per day, checking statuses, obsessing over that little red Notifications tab. My dad said he's disappointed when there aren't any new Notifications; I understand. If I go there and there are less than five, I'm saddened. But not as saddened as I am if all the Notifications are from applications. Wow, is this a sad paragraph or what?
Or what! See, recently I've determined that I'm pretty awesome. It comes in bursts, sporadic revelations that I am brilliant and adorable. Not physically. I mean I'm not Shirley Temple, and a lot of this is sounding like a dumb blonde moment. But I can write really well, but you'd never know it. I was telling Jeremy that in the car a few weeks ago. I sound like a Valley Girl most of the time, sans words like "tubular." But I sprinkle the word "like" into my conversations like it's going extinct and I am the sole savior of its kind. Seriously. I also say "seriously" and "ridiculous" and "hilarious" way too often, for things that might just be "amusing" or "outlandish" or "absurd." One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes (and I know, it's supposed to be "quotations," but short of sounding pretentious, I opt for the colloquial version) is:
"Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left for when you want to talk about something really infinite."
I bear that in mind when I'm writing. It's easy nowadays to pull out a thesaurus or even use the built-in one in Microsoft Word to substitute grandiose words for 2-dollar words that'll do just fine. I think it's because I'm a schizo when it comes to writing. On the one hand, I like words and what they mean and how they appear; I like grammar, even if I don't strictly abide by it. I like to know that apostrophes never make something plural, only possessive. (And I like the self-righteous indignation that comes with knowing it and pointing it out to the less-informed.) But on the other hand, I like using contractions frequently. I like making my characters speak like real humans because I speak like a real human, and more than that, I prefer to narrate my stories with a sense of commonality. John Updike said something like, If you don't have an audience, why are you doing this? Meaning writing. Why write if not to be understood?
Recently I've been reading David Foster Wallace for class, and he's a doozy. But he's oddly accessible-- not to the average reader, for sure, but for those of us priveleged enough to be in writing/literature courses. He's far more accessible than James Joyce, who was (perhaps) the true originator of the postmodern shtick-- this stream-of-consciousness business sprinkled with highly-educated language & "high art." But at the same time, he's inaccessible to a lot of people. I've just been mulling over lately the dichotomy between wanting to be a writer who's "taken seriously" (published/critiqued/etc.) and wanting to be a writer who's read & enjoyed. I think I can be both. John Irving can be both, and he was 25 when he published his first book (Setting Free the Bears).
I'm taking a novel-writing class in the fall. Wouldn't it be cool to follow in John Irving's footsteps?
Or what! See, recently I've determined that I'm pretty awesome. It comes in bursts, sporadic revelations that I am brilliant and adorable. Not physically. I mean I'm not Shirley Temple, and a lot of this is sounding like a dumb blonde moment. But I can write really well, but you'd never know it. I was telling Jeremy that in the car a few weeks ago. I sound like a Valley Girl most of the time, sans words like "tubular." But I sprinkle the word "like" into my conversations like it's going extinct and I am the sole savior of its kind. Seriously. I also say "seriously" and "ridiculous" and "hilarious" way too often, for things that might just be "amusing" or "outlandish" or "absurd." One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes (and I know, it's supposed to be "quotations," but short of sounding pretentious, I opt for the colloquial version) is:
"Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left for when you want to talk about something really infinite."
I bear that in mind when I'm writing. It's easy nowadays to pull out a thesaurus or even use the built-in one in Microsoft Word to substitute grandiose words for 2-dollar words that'll do just fine. I think it's because I'm a schizo when it comes to writing. On the one hand, I like words and what they mean and how they appear; I like grammar, even if I don't strictly abide by it. I like to know that apostrophes never make something plural, only possessive. (And I like the self-righteous indignation that comes with knowing it and pointing it out to the less-informed.) But on the other hand, I like using contractions frequently. I like making my characters speak like real humans because I speak like a real human, and more than that, I prefer to narrate my stories with a sense of commonality. John Updike said something like, If you don't have an audience, why are you doing this? Meaning writing. Why write if not to be understood?
Recently I've been reading David Foster Wallace for class, and he's a doozy. But he's oddly accessible-- not to the average reader, for sure, but for those of us priveleged enough to be in writing/literature courses. He's far more accessible than James Joyce, who was (perhaps) the true originator of the postmodern shtick-- this stream-of-consciousness business sprinkled with highly-educated language & "high art." But at the same time, he's inaccessible to a lot of people. I've just been mulling over lately the dichotomy between wanting to be a writer who's "taken seriously" (published/critiqued/etc.) and wanting to be a writer who's read & enjoyed. I think I can be both. John Irving can be both, and he was 25 when he published his first book (Setting Free the Bears).
I'm taking a novel-writing class in the fall. Wouldn't it be cool to follow in John Irving's footsteps?