Sunday, May 29, 2005

Writing

Currently in the throes of a basic training food writers class, one thing has repeatedly been thwacked into my brain about what, among many things, makes a good writer. And that is RE-writing. That's right. You write, you think it's great, you find out there's room for improvement (sometimes a LOT of room), and you re-write. And re-write. And re-write.

Never have I been so mortified than when my writing instructor ever so gently told me that my article was, in effect, "navel gazing". Navel gazing is an introspective, self-absorbed style of writing that leaves readers bored out of their minds, saying to themselves, "Who gives a shit?"
This was a hard lesson to learn and an even harder excercise in discipline to get out of. (Eeeuuww, there's that preposition at the end of a sentence!) I have such a long way to go and so much more to learn.

Lest you're wondering, the purpose of this little blurb is two-fold: 1- sometimes I just need to share, and 2- if you read a post in this blog, then come back to it later (don't I wish!) and find it changed, NOW you know why.

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