John Baker posted some of my thoughts on the writing process today as part of his series on “Creating A Text.” Thanks to John for collecting such diverse and interesting viewpoints.
The other side of the writer’s coin, of course, is reading. Tom Christensen makes the point that many writers, and especially poets, have strange misgivings about being a writer who reads. I, for one, wholeheartedly agree with Tom that reading is “equally important as writing if you want to refine your writing skills.”
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You burn the first free writing daily? woah. I have never done that. Interesting process overall.
Yep. Furthermore, I never look back at it – which is recommended for this process. Just get it out, let it go, open the pipe for something better. I will jot down anything worthwhile that comes up on a separate page (to-do items, inspired phrases – though that’s rare). My sister the psych. major has her own take on the benefits of this as well:
http://tinyurl.com/3ycudb
I’m always shocked to meet writers who aren’t well read. More so, I’m socked at the amount of writers who haven’t read some of the masterpieces of the language, or who read mostly drivel. It must affect their writing, on some level.
I put it down, in part, to first-world narcissism, which has misinterpreted the literary arts as necessarily individualistic – all about “mak[ing] it new” when, in fact, it is as much about appreciating and understanding all that is “old” as the only means to true originality. We enter the conversation crying old platitudes, rather than listen long enough to understand the threads of discourse and enter, in our own way, having earned the authority of our speech.
thanks for the link. It’s a subject another friend and I were just talking about. Might give it a shot.
Just finished doing some this morning. Helps me unload work stress as much as it helps prime the pump for creative endeavor. More and more, I realize my life and my expression are inextricably tied.