Heartbreakingly powerful story from Pro-Publica and NPR
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/22/134657905/suicide-by-cop-leads-soldier-on-chase-of-his-life
PS It’s been a long time- maybe 2 years? But I am digging back in.I’m going to try to write about writing styles and inspiration for writers.
The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization, identifies teenagers with exceptional artistic and literary talent and brings their remarkable work to a national audience through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. See this site for more details about contests and deadlines:
http://www.artandwriting.org/
Young writer storytelling, from Corin, age 3
Rwor. [do they talk?] They only roar. These ones are good. They can walk and they are nice ones. This one has one leg. He is not standing up. This one is too but the big one doesn’t. The big one does too. This one is the dad one.
Remembering Frank McCourt with gratitude today.The first sentence of Angela’s Ashes is one of the great openers, and succinctly describe’s McCourt’s story:
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”
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The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the
difference between lightning and a lightning bug. ~Mark Twain
How do you find the right word? I have a feeling it is different for every writer. For me, it’s like a Lego snapping into place, but not with a plastic sort of click. Maybe it’s more like a hand in another hand.
I’d like to hear other’s thoughts on this- comment away!
I especially recommend Mike Stellar, Nerves of Steel- request it at your local bookstore if it’s not already there!
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752052
Here is part to in the attempt to answer the question: How do I become a better writer?
In the first installment of this series, I suggested that everyone needs to find a writing partner or coach or group, to keep themselves accountable. It turns out a blog can function in this way, for example, you could start a series, and then you kind of have to post part two in the series : ) .
Read the original entry, here.
Today, I’d like to write about doing the work of writing. It’s not as exciting as you think. It is putting words on paper. And then later, re-reading the words, often recoiling with horror that you strung those words together. It can truly take many many tries to make a sentence evoke the image or emotion you want to convey. The previous sentence is a very good example. I first wrote :it can take many tried to make a sentence say what you want it to. What? First, there was a typo- tried instead of tries. Then, how am I ending a sentence with a preposition while talking about writing? That last question courtesy of KFKD radio…..see Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott for more on that wonderful station that broadcasts in so many writers’ heads.
Also, it must be noted that I became curious about the situation in Honduras and weather trends for the coming month, meal planning and grocery shopping, all while writing the above paragraph. Seemingly bizarre behavior, and this is what I mean by tuning things out. You must treat yourself as you would a two year old in a toy store, kindly, but firmly, guiding through all the distractions. Possibly offering some kind of special treat if you can make it without melting down (or wandering away from the computer) successfully.
The best way to do this, for me, is to focus on portraying emotion and detail, and not worry so much about tying everything up neatly. That can be the last thing to think about, and much easier to take care of in hindsight. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to lead my two yr old inner writer through putting some more words on paper.
This entry is a list of a lot of Don’ts about writing reviews, from San Francisco Chronicle reviewer Mick LaSalle. I think most of what he says are some good points to keep in mind about writing in general.
Read it here.
San Jose State University holds an annual contest to award a prize for the worst writing. It’s called the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, and asks contestents to write a terrible first sentence for a novel. The contest’s namesake is the man responsible for such familiar phrases as “It was a dark and stormy night” and “The pen is mightier than the sword”.
Here is this year’s winning sentence:
Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin’ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin’ for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the Ellie May, a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin’ and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.
The winning writer- David McKenzie. You can hear an audio clip of the author reading his awful sentence here.
Interesting blog here about the daily routines of some current and former writers, including Barack Obama and Fred Rogers. Those are two people I admire as both writers and leaders.
http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/
