A few weeks ago, I read a post about writing through the ugly middle. When a writer is in the midst of writing a draft, he or she can’t stop. The writer has to reach the end, even if the end is ugly or is a return to the beginning. The writer has to follow where the middle goes.
writing
Ingenious Title, Where Are You?
I hate titling my works. While I often begin a draft for a blog post with a title, I may edit the title more than I edit the post. My poems begin without titles. I get the words on the page, then I worry about a title.
How I Edit
For a creative person, the difference between reading “You suck!” and reading “Here’s where I think you made some wrong decisions” is the difference between being shamed into crawling under the covers and never putting their work out there ever again, and being encouraged to make their product better. We should always, always aim to do the latter. – Rian
I have an odd relationship with editing, primarily because I’ve followed different veins of it. I’ve been a copy editor for a newspaper (Ancient history, but still.). I’ve been an editor for a few journals, mostly ones from my undergraduate and graduate school days. I’ve also been an editor of other people’s writing, both their professional or creative work.
Writers Have to Read
I believe writers have to read. I don’t have scientific data to prove the “why” of the claim; I only know that my writing improves the more I immerse myself in the writing of others. Such writing may be easy to read, and some of it may be difficult. Almost all of it makes me uncomfortable in some way. It challenges me to think through a subject, to explore how ideas in the work interact with my own, or to study how the writing itself works. As I do so, my own work grows. It initially takes on characteristics of what I’m reading, then my writing absorbs what I’ve learned and experienced. The form becomes something that is mine, something that is distinctively “Erin.”
Of Perfectionists and Abandoning Projects
One of my favorite musicians is a perfectionist. I know this because, in my sporadic attempts to be a dedicated fan, I spent some time reading this musician’s comments about one of his albums. He described himself as a perfectionist musician, then stated his work was never finished, only abandoned.
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Tone is Everywhere
Tone is, according to Perrine’s Literature, “the emotional coloring, or the emotional meaning, of the work.” Not only is it the “coloring,” but it also is the writer’s or speaker’s “attitude toward the subject, the reader, or herself or himself.” Tone, then, is found in speech. It’s found in writing. It’s found in music, and it’s found in art. Tone is everywhere.