Saturday, March 15, 2008
It began with "hello..."
At the urging of friends and colleagues, I open this weblog. I hope the ancient Muses and the divine being I call God bless its existence. Considering its purposes, I understand two: it is a forum for (hopefully) the exchange of ideas, and it is an opportunity to connect with those who might be interested in participating in my writing research. Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll respond.
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2 comments:
Hi Mrs. Iskra,
I hope your research is going well. I really enjoyed your class while I was in it and took a lot if it with me to college. I hope my responses to your questions are helpful.
~Lindsay Howell~
1. How often do you write? When you do, what are your purposes?
I write pretty often. I'm in the middle of writing a book right now, actually two (I go back and forth between each of them). I also write poetry when I get a spark. Usually when I write my poetry I'm expressing my feelings, but as for my books, I don't believe I really have a purpose. I guess you can say that once my books are done, the purpose will show itself.
2. What is your attitude toward writing? Do you ever do it because you want to?
I'm always writing because I want to. I absolutely love to write and it is definitely a stress reliever for me. I don't think I would be able to get out a lot of the stress I have in life without writing.
3. When you do write, how satisfied are you with what you are able to express (usually, often, sometimes, not usually, never)? What, do you think, contributes to your level of satisfaction?
I'm often satisfied with what I write. Every once in a while I won't like what I have written, but later on I'll go back to read it and I'll realize that I actually did enjoy what I wrote. I believe anything can contribute to my level of satisfaction. It might depend on how the writing sounds, the content, or even how I'm feeling that day. Like I said before, later on I'm usually satisfied after rereading what I've written.
4. How concerned are you with others reading your writing (very, somewhat, not really, not at all)?
Most of the time, I really don't let people read anything I write. I guess it's because I'm self conscious. I believe that others won't like what I write as much as I like it, but I know that I'll have to take that step at one point in order to get my stuff known.
5. If you considered yourself a good writer, would you write more?
I already consider myself a good writer and that's why I write pretty often. I'm really glad that I do write and am able to write when I do.
6. If you had an opportunity to improve your writing, what specifically would you request help with?
I would probably request help in bringing out the imagery in my stories. Sometimes, I believe that I'm not able to express what I'm seeing in my mind as well as I want to in writing.
7. What advice about teaching would you give someone trying to help you learn?
I think thorough explanations are the key. If a student isn't able to understand exactly what's being explained, then the teaching isn't effective. Coming from someone who is studying to become a teacher, I believe that this is one of the most helpful things a teacher can do for their students.
I really hope everything helped, Mrs. Iskra. I really don't mind if you use my name at all and I hope I can come and visit you some time. Good Luck on your Doctorates!!!
1. How often do you write? When you do, what are your purposes?
Thankfully being a student, I am forced to write, and thankfully being a creative writing student, among a great faculty of professors, I am forced to write well. Hopefully by being in school, it is increasing my habit to write good pieces of work, and not just the dinky things that come out if you're writing in something like a facebook note or a myspace blog, places where yeah, you could write well if you really wanted to, but most of the time, it's just to spill all the crappy feelings that are taking precedent for some reason.
My purpose for writing is usually not just to fulfill a prompt, but to learn something about myself in the process. It's probably why now I'm having such a difficult time in my school's honors program. They are asking me to tell them what I will be writing about next year. Um...I don't want to know now! I want to know when I am buried in my essay, when it is a living thing that I'm...living in.
Writing is a reflection of myself, just like any other creative project.
2. What is your attitude toward writing? Do you ever do it because you want to?
Writing is something that in my heart of hearts I think anyone can do. Or I guess I believe that anyone can be creative. I guess it doesn't have to be writing. But here is the beautiful thing about writing. It's...physically a lot easier to produce than some other pieces of art. I guess I'm biased because I'm also a choreographer. I'm dependent on other people when it comes to choreography. I'm dependent on people to get what I have in my head out of my head. With writing, it's paper and ink, and I can say whatever I want. There is such a shorter space between what is going on in the head and what ends up on paper compared to choreography.
Most of the time, I'm writing because I want to write, even when I'm assigned to write. I know for me personally, I need to get over my moodiness with writing, to not depend on the muses to start talking in order to start writing!
3. When you do write, how satisfied are you with what you are able to express (usually, often, sometimes, not usually, never)? What, do you think, contributes to your level of satisfaction?
I guess I have to say often. Sometimes, I'm incredibly satisfied in the work itself. I guess there is something as a peak writing experience just like there is a peak reading experience. The one I remember the most was when I was writing during a blizzard and wrote about...30 something pages in one sitting, double the amount of work that was due. I loved that paper, and I wanted it to be great, and I wanted to write. Same with poetry, sometimes I will write the poem and I think that it is awesome when I'm writing it, and then I get comments back and I realize, "No...I didn't get there...not yet." That's the worst revision process for me; poetry.
My level of satisfaction is dependent on when I feel like I'm writing in a clear voice. Then, after it's written, I want approval. I want approval if I'm going to be satisfied. But even well given comments, criticism can be satisfying as well.
4. How concerned are you with others reading your writing (very, somewhat, not really, not at all)?
With good writing, VERY. With writing where I'm just blabbing, getting something out, not at all or not really.
I guess I can't erase reading out loud to a group of peers my last year of high school. That image has really stuck with me. I wrote literally to communicate, not just to...entertain myself. So I do want other people to read what I'm writing cause...I always feel I'm writing to someone.
5. If you considered yourself a good writer, would you write more?
Thank goodness I do consider myself a good writer, but I had to have other people tell me that fact. When I first started writing, I had a need to communicate, and that was the main reason for writing. And I can't help but just feel lucky, lucky that I fell into writing somehow.
But I can also remember wanting to write well, to not just slap words together, to actually...try. Just for the hell of it. And...it worked!
But I've talked to a lot of people about writing, and those that consider themselves not "writers" keep their writing to themselves. Or people who approach writing as this enormous task, this horrible assignment that has been given to them. Their writing comes out at a snails past. It's not a thought stream through the fingers, which makes me sad cause I love that feeling!
If people have a chance to write in a way that will help them find their writing voice, to connect writing with themselves personally, like a conversation, I think more people would write.
6. If you had an opportunity to improve your writing, what specifically would you request help with?
Establishing a habit of writing. I think this will develop through the writing of my senior thesis, if not before.
Um...fiction. I'm scared to death of it.
Revision. Not being scared of it. Because sometimes it's good and other times it's pulling teeth.
And I ask a lot of questions in my writing. Sometimes I wonder if that's okay.
7. What advice about teaching would you give someone trying to help you learn?
Share.
The teachers I enjoy most have been the same and different at the same time. I've had teachers who have had a strong belief in my talent, in what I can do. Potential is a powerful word for me, and something I believe in strongly. I have the feeling with good teachers that yes, they believe in my work, but they believe in my potential more. In their eyes, I see a me that is great, amazing, and sometimes someone so awesome I never thought to imagine that version of me, until I met such and such a teacher.
Here are my answers! I'm incredibly biased because I'm a creative non-fiction writer. A lot of what I say is a part of the theory of non-fiction.
Hope you are doing well! I always look back on your class with a lot of fondness. For me, your class was the beginning.
Claire Augustine
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