Writing Gooder

I’m trying not to think about it, because if I do, I feel a strange hotness come into my cheeks. Let’s face it — when it gets late, your mind turns about itself and you begin writing some of the weirdest things you’ve ever written. Some of it can be good, mind you, but in my case it usually is bad. Very bad. So bad that one of the first comments of such a early morning writing started with this lovely intro: “Unfortunately, I really hate this.”

You know it’s bad when they say that.

So why exactly did I stay up till three last night, writing, when I probably should have been doing physics, math, or chemistry homework? Or, better yet, sleeping? I have no clue. I think it’s probably because, as writers, we are a funny species who should probably get our heads examined.

(As a side note, yes I have actually gotten my head examined. You will be happy to know that my head is in perfect condition!)

Anyway, so right now I am wondering if I should open up the Word document that contains my — er — early morning revision. If one could call it that. At two o’clock this morning, I was sure that it was the most brilliant thing ever, but now that it’s actually a somewhat lucid hour, I’m pretty sure it holds much potential for random comedy. That, or the rubbish bin.

Oh well!

If it sucks, then I shall laugh myself silly. And if it’s not that bad? Who knows! But for tonight, I think I shall actually go to bed early…

By complete accident, I found a very nice way to rewrite essays!

I was writing the rough draft to my essay for Lit. class in my school computer lab, and I couldn’t get it to save to computer so I could email myself, I could only print it. Because of that, I had to rewrite my whole essay today. I thought this would be horrible. Rewrite the whole thing…? It actually turned out to be the best thing for me. I had to look at what I had written, and make it better. I was forced to forget what I had written, and write new, better, amazing sentences. My second draft was 1,000 times better than an edited version of the first draft could have been.

I suggest you try this technique out.  I’ve never done it before, and I’m not sure how it would work for fiction (it’s probably been suggested before?) but it forced me to improve my work, and read everything I had written. In the end, I have an amazing essay!

“To me, the greatest pleasure in writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make.”

-Truman Capote (1924-1984)

If you enjoy pain, then check out the first episode of YWS Radio at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yws

I’m actually listening to it right now, and it wasn’t that bad.  I think with more preparation on my part, and if I manage to figure out why people couldn’t call in, then it will be much better.  I may actually end up doing a 15 minute test program on Wednesday again just to find out what went wrong.

Next time around, I intend to have a 15 minute radio show in the middle, along with a more well-defined news segment.  This program was a bit chaotic.

Obviously enough, I wasn’t pleased with how it turned out, but it was the first episode and it still was fun.  What did everyone else think?

While procrastinating, I got kind of bored. I found some jokes about writing, and some of them are pretty good:

A linguistics professor was lecturing to his English class one day. “In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.”

A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.”

—

A writer died and was given the option of going to heaven or hell.

She decided to check out each place first. As the writer descended into the fiery pits, she saw row upon row of writers chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they were repeatedly whipped with thorny lashes.

“Oh my,” said the writer. “Let me see heaven now.”

A few moments later, as she ascended into heaven, she saw rows of writers, chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they, too, were whipped with thorny lashes.

“Wait a minute,” said the writer. “This is just as bad as hell!”

“Oh no, it’s not,” replied an unseen voice. “Here, your work gets published.”
—

For more writing jokes, check out these links:

Link 1
Link 2

Letters!!

 While rummaging through your attic, you find an old dusty typewriter with a half-completed letter in it. Immediately, you realize who the author was and her intentions. In honor of that person, finish the letter.

 

Fairytale of New York by The Pogues

The United States Library of Congress is holding a contest entitled “Letters About Literature.” To enter, all you have to do is write a letter to an author (living or dead) about how that author’s work affected you. Anybody in grades 4 through 12 can enter, although I assume you have to be living in the United States to enter.

It might actually be a fun idea to run a similar contest on the Young Writers Society…

Check out the contest here. It runs until December 1st and the winners receive cash awards.

By the way, the picture above is of the interior of the Library of Congress. If you’re ever in Washington, DC, go check it out. The crowds aren’t large and the Library has some of the best architecture in Washington.

If you’re interesting in writing stories for video games, then I have great news!  The Writers Guild has decided to create an award for video game writing for the Writers Guild Awards.  The first such trophy will be presented on February 9.

I remember playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time on my neighbor’s TV back in 1988, so it’s really interesting to see just how far video games have come.  Back then, they were mostly just games.  Today though, it’s almost more about the storyline than the game itself.

Well besides the massive Naval training base in Chicago, they both abhor chatspeak:

Schoolkids today tap out the cryptic shorthand of text messages and e-mails E123 (Translation: Easy as one, two, three.) But when it comes to actual writing? Grrrr.

So it’s good that the Chicago Public Schools took the first step this week to require eighth-graders to show they can write standard English before they enter high school. In the laser-focus on reading and math under No Child Left Behind, writing has become the forgotten ”third R.” That did not serve students very well.

Good to see another public school system remember the all important third ‘R’, writing, which is actually the second ‘R’ (Reading, writing, and arithmetic). Math is extremely important, but writing even more so. After all, your first job after you graduate is not going to ask you to find out the height of a flag-pole based upon the length of it’s shadow at noon. However, they may very well ask you to write up a report about the flag-pole.