tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post2918287284610923259..comments2024-03-18T15:17:26.003-05:00Comments on l'astronave: Writing about WritingFrescahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-81102016362917911652008-12-09T11:47:00.000-06:002008-12-09T11:47:00.000-06:00No, no, Salinger and I write on e-mail.Blog ARE ma...No, no, Salinger and I write on e-mail.<BR/><BR/>Blog ARE marvelous! I forget that you never know who's reading you. This was a nice reminder, as opposed to the occasional nutter, much more the sort from the local.Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-81129459076804814362008-12-08T00:55:00.000-06:002008-12-08T00:55:00.000-06:00Blimey!I've not missed Salinger posting, have I?Bl...Blimey!<BR/><BR/>I've not missed Salinger posting, have I?<BR/><BR/>Blogs are marvelous, arent they? Suddenly, in a group of friends, appears the author you happen to be talking about. This doesnt happen down the pub, but in blogland, its possible....ooooooooooooooooooooooooooohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15347076050510425951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-16976027042086776982008-12-04T13:42:00.000-06:002008-12-04T13:42:00.000-06:00BINK: I fail. It must be the comic-book artist in ...BINK: I fail. It must be the comic-book artist in you that sees the potential. (I'm so glad I know you!)<BR/><BR/>RUDY, MOMO, DEANNA, et al.:<BR/>Astronave often gets good comments (thanks!), and I've sometimes wanted to pull them out of the comments section and into a post, but decided part of the fun of blogs is uncovering their chewy/creamy centers. <BR/><BR/>Sometimes they're hollow centers though ...I notice some famous people's blogs get tons of comments, but they're mostly of the "yeah, me too" type.Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-18045178323496965702008-12-03T22:03:00.000-06:002008-12-03T22:03:00.000-06:00Adding my happiness for you in a great post with s...Adding my happiness for you in a great post with super comments. When my kids were young, we'd spend afternoons at the library, where I hung out in the writing books aisle, browsing. A library card cost too much, so I'd read and jot notes (and then I bought used copies of William Zinsser, Strunk and White, and others). And yes, some writers were better at the writing books than their own stories. And some books and classes gave me nothing very practical, but most of them fueled a fire that's still burning. :o)deannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16352855975153416194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-39252535316191803562008-12-03T21:18:00.000-06:002008-12-03T21:18:00.000-06:00*swoon* your post + comments= joys of the internet...*swoon* <BR/>your post + comments= joys of the internets! <BR/><BR/>capcha: crymobmomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12149328149132703479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-24868503256703979852008-12-03T18:48:00.000-06:002008-12-03T18:48:00.000-06:00Whoever thought the sentence "Tanzania is a large ...Whoever thought the sentence "Tanzania is a large country in East Africa" would ever make me feel like I could very well start crying?Rudyinparishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13527306418916412817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-68657719814571816152008-12-03T16:25:00.000-06:002008-12-03T16:25:00.000-06:00Ohhh...I was going to write about how wonderful yo...Ohhh...I was going to write about how wonderful your post is...and it is wonderful...but then I saw my verification word down below. "cretchab"...only it's broken up so it reads more like "cret-chab". I don't know why, but this word that seems at first glance about grabbing crabs really caught my fancy. It also seems like one of those words you see in a thought bubble in a comic. Cret-chab! right up there with Boom! and Pow! Say it outloud--Cret-chab! Cret-chab!--it must be my graphic novel mind.<BR/><BR/>You are a wonderful writer...can you use cret-chab in a sentence?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-20157950718044577432008-12-03T15:04:00.000-06:002008-12-03T15:04:00.000-06:00MATT: Thanks! You bet, drill it into those student...MATT: Thanks! You bet, drill it into those students: Eschew the passive voice. Drill, baby, drill!<BR/><BR/>CHIP: Oh honorable guest, thank you for your wonderful comment! I've been spinning about with glee that my sentence is in the same ball park as the "longest strongest bone"... It's nice to be on the same planet with people who care about these things. Thanks.<BR/><BR/>JENN: Yeah, of course it's fine to "write for yourself"--it truly did save my life (along with Star Trek, Bruce Springsteen, etc.)--just <I>don't expect anyone else to want to read it.</I><BR/><BR/>Yes, too, to being transparent. I wrote that "the key was in my psyche"--but I almost wrote "the key was in the window."<BR/>Do you know that line? It's what Allan Ginsberg records his crazy mother wrote to him shortly before she died--from his poem "Kaddish."<BR/>Anyway, I thought just that--that I had become a window pane in the best of my writing.<BR/>I would like to be that even when I'm writing for and about myself too...<BR/>There's a trick!Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-8521897942058644162008-12-03T08:29:00.000-06:002008-12-03T08:29:00.000-06:00*looks at previous comments**blinks**rallies*In fa...*looks at previous comments*<BR/><BR/>*blinks*<BR/><BR/>*rallies*<BR/><BR/>In fandom circles, I often hear people saying they "write for themselves." "I never think of my audience, I write just to make myself happy." Which is nifty as far as it goes, self-expression is a valid thing. But there is a quick tendency to consider "writing for others" to be the same thing as "pandering," which it doesn't have to be at all. I think the difference between the two lies in how much one values and cares about the topic being written as well as the audience. Because you cared so intensely about the countries you were trying to explain, it was totally natural (inevitable!) to care deeply about your audience. You become the bridge between the two, and the connection between the kids and the country was what was paramount, not the connection between the kids and your personal style of writing. It's selfless writing--maybe in a more Eastern than Western sense, not "altruistic" per se but where the writer becomes more transparent. My favorite writers tend to be like that...Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13923745480765984429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-41299038884440382742008-12-03T07:33:00.000-06:002008-12-03T07:33:00.000-06:00Years ago when I was in elementary school, my olde...Years ago when I was in elementary school, my older cousin Boyd, then a medical student, told me that, as well as an fine anatomist, the author of *Gray's Anatomy*, Henry Gray, had also been a brilliant prose stylest, which was another reason his great book had endured. From memory, Boyd quoted to me, "The femur is the longest, strongest bone in the human body," and commented: "There's nothing you can do to improve that sentence." It *is* beautiful in its economy; I've never forgotten it. I think "Tanzania is a large country in East Africa" is in the same ball park, and I'll always remember it as a smilar example of clear expression.<BR/>It's a sentence to be proud of.<BR/>Best wishes--<BR/>Samuel R. DelanyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-71041584899764803002008-12-03T06:24:00.000-06:002008-12-03T06:24:00.000-06:00This good, thanks! I may show it to my students in...This good, thanks! <BR/>I may show it to my students in Scientific Writing.Matt_Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00139378448055540977noreply@blogger.com