Week 11: Great Hits!

Hello class You submitted some fantastic work last week. :-) Continue on with your reading and writing, and check out the following posts by your classmates. Week 11: Great Hits Jesse's "There's Always Money in the Banana Stand" http://cynicalgraycrayon.blogspot.com/2011/03/33-theres-always-money-in-banana-stand_24.html Jesse's voice in his writing is so familiar to us at this point in the semester, yet still so effective. His original, yet consistent, style allows for all of his posts to feel as though they are scenes from a single "movie" or book. I love this post. In it, Jesse describes a scene with a friend he'd rather not be seeing. Rather than coming off as a judgmental, Jesse creates a thoughtful persona which depicts well his own vulnerability in the situation. It's an observant, efficiently written, beautifully edited post about being the odd-guy out in an unsavory situation. Excellent work, Jesse! John's "Unusual Place" prompt response http://jasmit8.blogspot.com/2011/03/writing-prompt-33-unsual-place.html The richness of detail in this post makes John's "unusual place" come to life. And it certainly is unusual, if not for the fact that John's ability to guide us through this space makes it feel extraordinarily normal. He is a witness to our prison system. Writing about a subject like this one is not just interesting, it's important. I think of other effective guides in literature... Plato, guiding us through Socrates' dialogues, or Virgil leading us through Dante's "Inferno"... John has a similar presence in the prison landscape. You did a wonderful job, John. Katie's, "The Inescapable" http://xkatie-ann.blogspot.com/2011/03/inescapable-prompt-33.html I love the scene created in this post! It is accessible, especially for students, because nervousness before/during classroom presentations is such a familiar feeling. (I feel it, too... every time I teach. I tell students that their general facial expressions range between the looks of boredom and hatred in an effort to get them to lighten up. It doesn't really work.) I also love the introductory line: "Many things make me uncomfortable." Beginning with this type of opening paragraph allows readers to feel a sense of closeness and friendliness with the writer. This is a great feeling to create. This post is one of your best, Katie. Great work! Kayla's "Lunch Time and the Anxious Consumer" http://kbailey-danceintherain.blogspot.com/2011/03/lunch-time-and-anxious-consumer-prompt.html Like Katie's post, Kayla's is another scene that's accessible, familiar, descriptive, and loveable for those reasons. In it, she develops a considerate characterization about the anxiety of lunchtime. It works well for readers because the "you" address allows us to project certain personal anxieties into the scene described, and because it allows Kayla to get away with a gorgeous set of final lines: "You are the anxious consumer - I understand. Every lunch time, I'm right there with you." Thanks for sharing this, Kayla! This is a great post! Writing Tip of the Week What Helps You Write? Just as it's useful to reflect on craft, style, and topics as you pursue your writing, it's also tremendously useful to think about what helps you write. For instance, it's difficult for me to step away from my writing once I start, so I do best if I eat before I write. That way, even if I refuse to step away from my laptop, my eyes don't start getting blurry from lack of nutrients as one, two, three, or even four hours pass me by. One of my writer friends once threw his back out because he was sitting at his computer too much while writing a novel. Sometimes it's important to stretch, drink water, go for a walk, or otherwise. Think about what things help you to write. Does it help you to talk out an idea with a friend before you type anything out? Does it help you to take a shower, turn off your cellphone, light a candle, smell a peach, stare at a lampshade, or turn on the television? Does it help you to work in silence, or in a busy coffee shop? Creating the best scenarios for yourself as a writer will help to make writing feel less like work and more like the treat that it is. Happy Writing! :-) -AP