mental notes

lately as i listen to npr while i'm working, or hear an interview on tv, i have been making mental notes of phrases or words not to use for awhile. "that being said." anything with the word "quantum" in it. "experience," "freeing" "awareness" "going the distance." "cutting edge" "21st century" if that refers to surging into the future. "Being" with a capital B. "Conscious awareness." I made a note to take a little pad around with me so when something catches my attention i can jot it down. These words are not wrong. but i find there are certain phrases and words that are stand ins for being vague in my writing. i can plug in a phrase instead of thinking through what i want to say. Like waving my hand in the air and saying "whatever," while smiling knowingly.

Mary and i are going through old essays we have written and i find it useful at this point to pare down what i wrote. what is it i want to say. less decoration and more intent.

Writing right

The rite of writing right is wrong. So many of you tell us that you "can't write." Now think about it. do you make grocery lists? take notes in class? text? email? blog? tweet? Then you are writing. Think about what's going on behind the assertion that you cannot write. Is it a response to getting a poor grade on a paper about existentialism when you were in college? (oh, wait, that was me.) Did your middle school teacher tell you that your handwriting was sloppy? (mine did) Maybe it was the art teacher in kindergarten who told you that your drawing of a tree looked like a bunch of worms (do teachers still say things like that?)

Regardless of where the can't-write message comes from, if it still manifests itself as a block to your creativity, then you need to erase it with some better experience of writing. Try stream of consciousness writing. Pick up the pen or poise your fingers over the keyboard and...just...begin...to...write. Are your fingers frozen? Look at them as if they live independently from you and just let them do their thing. If it's gibberish the first time they have a life of their own, that's okay. You can then ask them to write for you. If you can only think I don't know what to write, then write that.

this probably sounds silly until you try it. It won't work for everyone but I bet the results will surprise you. If it doesn't work, we have plenty of exercises to free the writer in you. Come back next week.

plain jane

I love that universal scene in old movies, where the handsome fellow goes up to Miss Smith and says, "Do you need those glasses?" and she says, "Well, no..." and before my eyes Miss Smith turns into Veronica or Gabriella.

With my writing I often find that I need to go the opposite route. A paragraph will be embellished with an unusual verb, moody adjectives, turns of phrase that shift the piece self-consciously into the minor key.

So I've been going through some past writing, taking off the false eyelashes of the piece. paring down the adjectives. saying just what a mean first and foremost. toning down a verb that jangles. Being straightforward. I turn Veronica back into Jane. Then, with my plain Jane in front of me, I can view her with compassion. I might add a few curlycues back here and there - "one little flower in your hair," I concede.

It is a good excercise to go back to reread anything at all that is heartfelt. Cringe a bit and then pare down. Is there at the heart of the piece something I want to say? Start with the meaning and work out from there. I appreciate Plain Jane.