I really liked the beginning of chapter 6. I always find more relevance in Dillard's short anecdotes and stories than in her metaphors. They seem much more relatable and understandable. The story of Ferrar rowing almost uselessly against the tide is definitely something I can identify with, but the detail that Dillard put in about the reversal of the current was encouraging! People should definitely endeavor to the end; there are times when writing will feel slow, and other times where some invisible current, some magical inspiration, will pull the writer through.
Also, I liked the idea of "skying." I'm not sure if i liked it for the point that Dillard was trying to bring up, or the fact that I like nouning and verbing. For instance, I too, enjoy computering, and internetting, and junk-fooding. But the last paragraph of chapter 6 was good, it brought up a critical point. All of the different actions brought to my mind the idea that being a writer really doesn't involve just writing. It involves living, first and foremost, I think, because a person who has no experiences can't write and incorporate themselves into their writing. Our writing, whether we intend to or not, draws so much from our own lives, and though I'm aware Dillard brought this sort of idea up earlier, I think this paragraph has made it the most clear.
Chapter seven was my favorite. The whole things a story, and it definitely brought a huge sense of inspiration--about art in general, and doing art for the sake of art, writing for the sake of writing, for pushing oneself to do something difficult because it has the power to inspire. In a strange, unexpected way, art is addicting--people take on the difficulties and challenges of art merely for the sake of expressing themselves.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Writing Life: Chapter 5
I really didn't get what chapter 4 was about with the exploding-typewriter-earthquake, so.....i'm skipping commenting on that.. ._.
I enjoyed the first part of chapter five. I agree that people shouldn't aim to write about something that they think everyone loves. Writing is so much more lovable, I think, when the reader can see the author in the writing, when the author writes about something he or she loves, something utterly them. Which is why it made me really happy to read the workshop stories--everyone demonstrated such uniqueness in their subject matter and writing styles to a degree where it was fascinating. People read to learn about and experience new viewpoints, not to review something that they already know or enjoy. I think reading should always be accompanied by a sense of surprise, and writing should always be accompanied by a sense of individual truth.
However, I didn't agree with Dillard's idea that it makes more sense to write one big book than to write several stories or essays. perhaps writing multiple introductions over and over again can be tedious--but i think the entire point of a collection of stories is the "piecy-ness." The idea of having multiple stories combine, like a puzzle, is unique and is, in itself, a style. Collections of short stories make me think of a series of postcards, little peeks at life or whatever the topic is that the author is discussing.
I enjoyed the first part of chapter five. I agree that people shouldn't aim to write about something that they think everyone loves. Writing is so much more lovable, I think, when the reader can see the author in the writing, when the author writes about something he or she loves, something utterly them. Which is why it made me really happy to read the workshop stories--everyone demonstrated such uniqueness in their subject matter and writing styles to a degree where it was fascinating. People read to learn about and experience new viewpoints, not to review something that they already know or enjoy. I think reading should always be accompanied by a sense of surprise, and writing should always be accompanied by a sense of individual truth.
However, I didn't agree with Dillard's idea that it makes more sense to write one big book than to write several stories or essays. perhaps writing multiple introductions over and over again can be tedious--but i think the entire point of a collection of stories is the "piecy-ness." The idea of having multiple stories combine, like a puzzle, is unique and is, in itself, a style. Collections of short stories make me think of a series of postcards, little peeks at life or whatever the topic is that the author is discussing.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Writing Life: Chapter 3
...some of the anecdotes in this book are over my head...I don't really understand, but perhaps I haven't been writing enough to relate to evvverything that Dillard says.
BUT I liked the example of the feral works in progress. I can definitely relate to that one. I've started stories or blog posts on one day, skipped a day, and then later scrapped the work because I just felt like I couldn't work with it anymore. It conquered me ._.
I also enjoyed the anecdote about her conversation with the ferryboat man. The first time I read through that part, I didn't quite understand. I thought it was unreasonable for her to be writing if she really hated it that much. So I ended up reading that part again. I suppose it's true, now. I've had a lot of times where I've actually had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to write something I didn't want to forget. I have random index cards with scribbles on them. I've spent hours sitting in front of the computer before, feeling terrible wondering why I was making a blog post I felt too lazy to write, but feeling compelled to see the idea on the screen anyways. Maybe these weren't the experiences that Dillard was thinking about when she wrote that part of her book. But these are the experiences that come to mind when I read that anecdote. Which goes to show, writing is incredible in that it can be understood by different people in different ways, and through it all, it can maintain its power and influence. But before all the influence, I think, the anecdote brings to light that writing is, primarily, for the person doing the writing. You write and write and write....and then, as Dillard puts it, "you die!" but the thing is the writing can't have come to nothing. Though it might not influences millions of people, or even be known by many people, there is something about the writing process itself that inexplicably affects the author personally.
BUT I liked the example of the feral works in progress. I can definitely relate to that one. I've started stories or blog posts on one day, skipped a day, and then later scrapped the work because I just felt like I couldn't work with it anymore. It conquered me ._.
I also enjoyed the anecdote about her conversation with the ferryboat man. The first time I read through that part, I didn't quite understand. I thought it was unreasonable for her to be writing if she really hated it that much. So I ended up reading that part again. I suppose it's true, now. I've had a lot of times where I've actually had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to write something I didn't want to forget. I have random index cards with scribbles on them. I've spent hours sitting in front of the computer before, feeling terrible wondering why I was making a blog post I felt too lazy to write, but feeling compelled to see the idea on the screen anyways. Maybe these weren't the experiences that Dillard was thinking about when she wrote that part of her book. But these are the experiences that come to mind when I read that anecdote. Which goes to show, writing is incredible in that it can be understood by different people in different ways, and through it all, it can maintain its power and influence. But before all the influence, I think, the anecdote brings to light that writing is, primarily, for the person doing the writing. You write and write and write....and then, as Dillard puts it, "you die!" but the thing is the writing can't have come to nothing. Though it might not influences millions of people, or even be known by many people, there is something about the writing process itself that inexplicably affects the author personally.
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Dark
...since I didn't post for a long while, this is a long post.
She rubs her eyes and looks at the walls again. At the moment, they’re looking a sickly, fluorescent sort of color—more lemon yellow than soft green—that makes the pit of her stomach feel even emptier. But it’s not just her stomach. As the hours slip by—midnight, one, two, three, four, five in the morning—she, in her entirety, becomes emptier and emptier, like her mind’s being removed, carved out, gutted out of her body. Turning back to the computer, she tries to conjure up emotion, ideas, thoughts. Something?
The Writing Life....Chapter 2
I haven't posted in a long time. Writing a blog post again seems weird to me. BUT i need to talk about Dillard and her Writing Life, so here we go:
Eh.
I liked this chapter more than the first one. First off, she didn't use the second person, so I had no issues with absolutely everything she said...
it still irks me when she's being sooooo completely detailed, because i like to leave a few things for imagination and it seems unnecessary, but i really did like some parts about the library that she described, and the June bug she imagined knocking on her window. A lot of the stories in this chapter were interesting, my favorites being the one about the Fourth of July and the chess-baby :)
It's nice that a lot of this sort of writing (not the longggggggggg scenery passages of ch 1) can draw a lot of subtle points and aspects of having a writing life. As she writes away on the Fourth of July, it's interesting to imagine how absorbed she must have been, how lost in her writing, to have heard fireworks and thought it was actually a fat beetle.
I had to mull the chess-baby story more in my head. I really wasn't sure what that story was supposed to be about, but....it felt literary, so it's like it had a indescribable tie to writing that wasn't specific, but there nonetheless. after thinking about it, i think i decided that these are the types of things that get interpreted by everyone differently, with no particular answer. So my interpretation is that the story parallels Dillard's writing in that the writing process really does feel like a struggle against some ridiculous, confusing, invisible force. It's something I can relate to. I definitely felt like i was in the losing end of a chess-wit-battle while i was writing my story, and I certainly wanted to beat up whatever "lunatic opponent" was scrambling the board of my story to pieces.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Unread
My blog posts come in floods and droughts. Sometimes I'll write three huge posts a day, then I'll go a week without thinking of anything to say. Today, I have a lot to say. I guess writing in general has been on my mind.
Procrastination. And some thoughts.
This is just going to be a blogpost full of random thoughts while I put off college apps.
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