Push Harder
"The few pages of this chapter have taken you a few minutes to read; they have taken me, I'm sorry to say, days and days to write ... And lateral thinking is what we're really discussing: the way writers can keep their eye on the target ... I used to think this was a great gift 'literary geniuses' have, but I'm not so sure anymore ... It's something that starts happening when a reader/writer and a sheet of paper get locked in a room together."
How to Read Literature Like a Professor--Thomas C. Foster (p. 85)
Every time I manage to become unduly self critical, in terms of my ability to write, this proverb becomes a light of hope at the end of my tunnel-vision. Because: it's a truth repeated by possibly anyone who has ever desired to put pen to paper. I tend to inflict upon myself an expectation level unequal to my current position of capability, presently a beginners level, resulting in discouragement. But conveniently, somehow, I always seem to stumble across one of these encouraging notes. For instance, before I found this one, I had been skimming John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and saw this statement--apparently from the authors own journal--expressing, in a more poignant language than my own, those same insecure feelings:
"If I could do this book properly it would be one of the really fine books and a truly American book. But I am assailed with my own ignorance and inability. I'll just have to work from a background of theses. Honesty. If I can keep an honesty it is all I can expect of my poor brain.... If I can do that it will be all my lack of genius can produce. For no one else knows my lack of ability the way I do. I am pushing against it all the time."
Always are own worst critiques--this ended up becoming his greatest novel. My point is writing is not, as I also once believed it to be, a natural genius; it is a perfected craft. And this isn't only important for the writer to remember but the reader also. Writing can be tedious, and the writer, always "pushing against" his/her inabilities, chooses everything going into the process with care. I believe anybody can be a better writer! I think it was Emerson who said, "It's none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way."
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Sara Benaquista on Push Harder: I really, really love this blo
Julianne Banda on Push Harder: I like what Carlos said about
Carlos Peredo on Push Harder: Writing is a profession. As su
Alyssa Sanow on Push Harder: Your blog made me think of a s
Your blog made me think of a similar idea about Dr. Suess. While trying to encourage me to edit my papers more willing me, my English teacher informed that Dr. Suess editing his books over fifty times just to get the right rhythm and wording. Like all other literature we interpret as the reader, our own writing will only be as sucessful and as meaningful as the effort we put in it. As we read, it is also important to keep the effort of the author in mind. As Foster says writers "attempt to control every facet of their creative output and who intend virtually every effect in their works" (Foster 83).
Writing is a profession. As such, it is something that a writer will devote their entire life to. How long does a policeman work on a case? How long will a lawyer work on a case?
If writing was something that we could do without devoting time and effort into it, then it wouldn't be special. And if writing could be done by anybody...it would basically just be day time television. Images of Jerry Springer in book form instantly make me thankful for the time and effort required to become a good writer.
I like what Carlos said about "If writing was something that we could do without devoting time and effort into it, then it wouldn't be special." I was thinking about this as well. I am the worst writer ever, so that is why I'm not an English major or doing anything in an English field, I chose the science route instead because I am better at it. Anyone who is a writer though s very critical with themselves because every novel they write can either make or break them, they can get praised or shot down. No writer ever wants o get shot down because they spent so long on one story that they put their heart and soul into, only to have it criticized.
I really, really love this blog entry you put together. I completely agree that 'we are our own worst critics," and I'm finding it out more and more with age, and being a music major, you learn that critique in any art form is always worse coming from yourself than anyone else. When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer. I remember sitting in my room and reading thousands of stories about stupid things, like my friends going on a road trip, etc, and every time, it would take me hours and hours. Just recently, (while procrastinating from REAL work, as many of us do,) I started writing this little story about a girl who my head just completely made up out of the blue, and I started asking myself Foster-type questions, and found that if I really wanted to make this story good, it would take hours of my life, which I didn't have at that moment. Writing is a true art, but I don't know that it's neccessarily what the writer puts on the page that is the art, I think it's more HOW to writer manages to take all those crazy-long strings of thought, and puts them together to form a coherent sentance, let alone page, or a full novel. I think that's one of the most artistic things one can do, and I'm really glad Foster talked about it, and I have soooo much respect for writers. (I'm not an English/writing major, because I lost faith in myself to be able to accomplish that. Ironic how we are our own worst critics. hmmm.)
Writing can be frustrating because unlike speaking, facial expressions or fluctuation in voice can't be relied on to express the point: all of the sensory experience has to come across in word form. What writers do, especially novelists, is admirable because, as Carlos said, they devote their lives to it. For that reason, better put that choice, these individuals are often great at this art. That is why I believe with effort anyone can improve his or her own ability to write well.