What works / what doesn't
Hey there, and welcome to another week of Expository Writing. You might be interested to note that my bud Kathleen wrote about this little experiment of ours: she says that y'all hate blogging and that I'm evil for forcing you to try it. Hmmm. We'll leave that in the "no comment" category.
Congratulations to Scribble whose cat post earned her some link-love on Kathryn's Mindful Life. This goes to show that you never know when or how you'll earn fans in the blogosphere.
Another approach to earning fans (or enemies) is evident in ged's comments on Chris's dog post (yes, we seem to have an animal theme in the blogosphere this morning). Although I'm certainly used to students telling me to fuck off, this is the first time someone has said the same to one of my blog-buds. Let's hope Tom is as "gleefully open to dissent" as one commenter on ged's metablogging post suggests I am.
One question this all raises in my mind is how a writer should or shouldn't treat her or his readers: what is the best approach? Chris's dog post used a sort of wry humor that some might be uncomfortable with: humor can be a very powerful way of attracting readers, but sometimes it can backfire. By the same token, engaging in an intellectual sparring contest with one's readers can be very invigorating and can attract readers who are interested in intellectual debate and/or a good verbal fight...but it too can backfire if readers take offense and stop reading. As always, writing is a matter of choice: what choices do each of us as a writer make, and how do those choices impact our readers?
Speaking of approaches that work and those that don't, for class today we read another passage out of Peter Elbow's Writing with Power. As I explained the first day of class, Elbow's approach to writing is that you should write a sloppy first draft and then fix it up in revision: he says the impulse to write it first the first time is "dangerous" because it so often leads to writer's block. In light of what Elbow says about what writing approaches work and what writing approaches don't, I'm curious to hear how YOU go about writing. Given today's free-blog assignment, how did you go about writing it? When faced with a more formal writing assignment such as a research paper, how do you go about writing that? Honestly, what is your writing approach: what does/doesn't work? In your experience, what is the most "dangerous" method of writing: what's the surefire recipe for a nasty case of writer's block, and how in the past have you gone about getting over the block?
I look forward to hearing the TRUTH about your writing habits. We all know what the books say we should do. I'm interested in hearing what you actually do. In a word, do or don't you think that Peter Elbow should "fuck off," and why?
Congratulations to Scribble whose cat post earned her some link-love on Kathryn's Mindful Life. This goes to show that you never know when or how you'll earn fans in the blogosphere.
Another approach to earning fans (or enemies) is evident in ged's comments on Chris's dog post (yes, we seem to have an animal theme in the blogosphere this morning). Although I'm certainly used to students telling me to fuck off, this is the first time someone has said the same to one of my blog-buds. Let's hope Tom is as "gleefully open to dissent" as one commenter on ged's metablogging post suggests I am.
One question this all raises in my mind is how a writer should or shouldn't treat her or his readers: what is the best approach? Chris's dog post used a sort of wry humor that some might be uncomfortable with: humor can be a very powerful way of attracting readers, but sometimes it can backfire. By the same token, engaging in an intellectual sparring contest with one's readers can be very invigorating and can attract readers who are interested in intellectual debate and/or a good verbal fight...but it too can backfire if readers take offense and stop reading. As always, writing is a matter of choice: what choices do each of us as a writer make, and how do those choices impact our readers?
Speaking of approaches that work and those that don't, for class today we read another passage out of Peter Elbow's Writing with Power. As I explained the first day of class, Elbow's approach to writing is that you should write a sloppy first draft and then fix it up in revision: he says the impulse to write it first the first time is "dangerous" because it so often leads to writer's block. In light of what Elbow says about what writing approaches work and what writing approaches don't, I'm curious to hear how YOU go about writing. Given today's free-blog assignment, how did you go about writing it? When faced with a more formal writing assignment such as a research paper, how do you go about writing that? Honestly, what is your writing approach: what does/doesn't work? In your experience, what is the most "dangerous" method of writing: what's the surefire recipe for a nasty case of writer's block, and how in the past have you gone about getting over the block?
I look forward to hearing the TRUTH about your writing habits. We all know what the books say we should do. I'm interested in hearing what you actually do. In a word, do or don't you think that Peter Elbow should "fuck off," and why?
posted by Lorianne at
5:51 AM
1 Comments:
Well, perhaps not quite as "gleefully as thee," but I'm okay with it. I observed that he told the next guy to fuck off too, so that deflated the stink a little bit.
What I'd be more concerned about what the fact that the fellow was reacting emotionally, and (1) without fully understanding what it was I said; and (2) without at least considering the questions I raised before dismissing them.
Further, I had the sense that because I *raised questions* about Chris's dog post, he thought I was being negative. Actually, I wasn't intending to be negative in the least; what I wanted him to do was just follow what he'd started to wherever it led. Sometimes when we're stuck in our own little universe, someone's question can help us see it from another perspective.
As for the question about protecting copyright - load a copyright notice onto the page, as I have on mine. Work is protected from the moment you write it; and if you make it public, you have to assert your copyright, yes. If you ever want to sue someone for infringement of your copyright, you have got to *register* your copyright with the appropriate authorities (you can find the forms on the internet, now, I believe). But your copyright is protected whether you ever register the copyright or not. I think it costs about $12-$16 now to register a copyright.
By
Tom, at 10:38 AM
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