You could take a wild guess that I would like to talk about my so-called inner critic. Well, I'm sure "so-called" is an aggressive term, because it definitely exists, and I definitely have one. However, contrary to how some other people may view it, I view my inner critic in a very nice light. To me, my inner critic is what helps make me great. I don't think I have gotten to the level of a great writer yet. I am an aspiring writer. Whoops, sorry...One who aspires to write things. But, again, aspiring but not yet great. I will get there. My inner critic is one who challenges my work, not challenging me on the basis that it is wrong, but on the basis of what exactly could be done to make it even better. It challenges me to bring out even more creativity than I already have in my work. My inner critic tells me to think about what other greats have done and tells me not to try to be like them, no, but to think about how they thought. What were their strategies to get to the points that they did? My inner critic is something that tells me to look back at my work and say, "You should have done this."
Now, if you have read the article that was assigned to my Intro to Essay class, you may catch wind of what i was doing in the first paragraph. If you haven't, here it is: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/banishing-your-inner-critic/
Anyways, after reading the article that this idiot scrounged together at some attempt to look like a new and creative thinker, you can see that I spent the first paragraph of this post speaking very highly of all the things that Denise Jacobs says are evil and hurtful for the writer; the things that are holding me back...? Jacobs thinks it makes sense to compare the thing about me that could potentially make my writing great to a troll under a bridge. According to Jacobs, improvement is holding me back. The should's and could's of my critiquing are much less my inner critic as much as they are an outer critic. It's this crazy thing called critiquing my work. Crazy, I know. Vince Lombardi once said, "perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." now, doesn't that just make sense? There's not really much to it. I almost feel dumber writing this post because I am trying to explain why it does not make sense for Jacobs to be arguing that constructively trying to improve in your writing is this troll under a bridge just trying to hold you back.
Then Jacobs takes a big turn for the worst. With all of her wisdom, she tells us how the key to conquering this evil aspect of our mind is to make partnership with it so that we can, yes, you guessed it, be constructive with our inner critic. I feel like hypocrisy is too mild of a term for the end of this article. Congratulations Denise Jacobs, you made me dumber today. That being said, I think I can honestly say that I think Denise spent less time in her article that I do on these blog posts...
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Dead Book Review
I definitely wouldn't call myself an aspiring writer. This may come as a shock (I guess "shock is a little extreme, but there would at least be surprise) to many of those in my "Intro to Essay" class, seeing how it is a class designed for students who seem to be determined to do just that. To be honest, I'm not completely sure whether or not I want to stay in the major. I probably should have come into school as an exploratory. I just thought "writing" sounded like the safest description of the kind of area i wanted to study. Because it's true! I want to write things. That's why I think that, instead of an aspiring writer, I would rather call myself some some aspiring to write stuff. I like the way that sounds...it really rolls off the tongue.
Anyways, that being said, no matter where you may find yourself in the area of writing things, there are certain pieces of work that just apply to you, no matter what you're doing. "The Dead Book" did just that for me. In fact, "The Dead Book" probably would've done this for me had I not even been aspiring to write anything. Churchon's essay tells her narrative of the part of her job as a nurse where she has to pronounce deceased patients. Churchon gives a much different aspect to this practice than one might think. The procedures, the effects, the emotions, and the lessons learned that come with the responsibility that Churchon and many other nurses are faced with is one that i was, for the most part, very unaware of going into my reading of the piece.
The piece really made me think about when one day someone will be pronouncing me once I have passed and what the transition is like between my last breath and when I'm on the table being pronounced. But, jeez, enough of that. That's getting a little too emotional. Basically, I just recommend that you read this essay. Look it up somewhere. It has taken so many great strategies from many famous crafters of the essay and molds them into a piece on a subject that no one would really ever think would even be written about, let alone shown in the light of such emotion.
By the way, if you're still on the fence about reading it, it's only five pages...
Anyways, that being said, no matter where you may find yourself in the area of writing things, there are certain pieces of work that just apply to you, no matter what you're doing. "The Dead Book" did just that for me. In fact, "The Dead Book" probably would've done this for me had I not even been aspiring to write anything. Churchon's essay tells her narrative of the part of her job as a nurse where she has to pronounce deceased patients. Churchon gives a much different aspect to this practice than one might think. The procedures, the effects, the emotions, and the lessons learned that come with the responsibility that Churchon and many other nurses are faced with is one that i was, for the most part, very unaware of going into my reading of the piece.
The piece really made me think about when one day someone will be pronouncing me once I have passed and what the transition is like between my last breath and when I'm on the table being pronounced. But, jeez, enough of that. That's getting a little too emotional. Basically, I just recommend that you read this essay. Look it up somewhere. It has taken so many great strategies from many famous crafters of the essay and molds them into a piece on a subject that no one would really ever think would even be written about, let alone shown in the light of such emotion.
By the way, if you're still on the fence about reading it, it's only five pages...
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The "Art" Of The Personal Essay
So, as you all know (Sorry, that was a little narcissistic. you may very well not know), my knowledge of what an essay exactly is has been getting farther and farther away from me as I have progressed in my Intro To Essay course at Ithaca. Again, this is not a bad thing. I think it's a great thing, and I would like to talk about a friend of mine (Well, I wish...) that only helped me become less knowledgable about the essay, but helped me become more knowledgable as a writer, Phillip Lopate.
Lopate's work in "The Art Of The Personal Essay" has certainly laid some ground for me as to what I can do as an Essayist. What I think has affected me the most is his ideas on "The Idler Figure". Lopate describes the idler figure as something that can give the writer the ability to have a more personal feel. To be more specific, many times the idler figure can have the feel of someone who's just going on rambling about whatever may pop into their head. this sort of thing makes me think of Virginia Woolf and her style of writing. As much as I love her work (She is probably my favorite writer. Not a creative pick, I know), sometimes it just seems to eloquent to count as what Lopate is describing.
But then I found the best example of what I was looking for. Montaigne's "Of Books" gave the best example for me of a man who could truly portray himself, the narrator, the speaker, as the idler figure. He truly gave me feel of an old man that was just rambling on whatever came to his mind. It's not as bad as it sounds. I mean it to be a good thing. You'd get it if you read it. What he also does is put himself on the level of the reader. He basically makes every confession about his thinking as a writer that most writers want to keep from their readers. Montaigne tells me that he reads many books, but often times to does understand them. He even goes as far as to tell me that when he does read a book that he understands, he forgets it easily? Really? That's pretty honest of the guy. But I love it.
Another element of the idler figure is surely the ability for a character or persona to be in the action, however connecting with the reader one what the main ideas are of the writing. No one did this better, in my opinion, than F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Great Gatsby". Nick Caraway was described as a character that was "within and without". He was the best observer in the history of literature, while still being one of the central characters of the novel. This is how I connected with him so easily, and how the books like "The Great Gatsby" and "This Side Of Paradise" become some of my most treasured reads.
So, to sum it up, I still don't know what an essay is, and writers like Woolf, Fitzgerald, Montaigne, and Lopate are the ones who are making me better at not knowing what it is every single day.
Lopate's work in "The Art Of The Personal Essay" has certainly laid some ground for me as to what I can do as an Essayist. What I think has affected me the most is his ideas on "The Idler Figure". Lopate describes the idler figure as something that can give the writer the ability to have a more personal feel. To be more specific, many times the idler figure can have the feel of someone who's just going on rambling about whatever may pop into their head. this sort of thing makes me think of Virginia Woolf and her style of writing. As much as I love her work (She is probably my favorite writer. Not a creative pick, I know), sometimes it just seems to eloquent to count as what Lopate is describing.
But then I found the best example of what I was looking for. Montaigne's "Of Books" gave the best example for me of a man who could truly portray himself, the narrator, the speaker, as the idler figure. He truly gave me feel of an old man that was just rambling on whatever came to his mind. It's not as bad as it sounds. I mean it to be a good thing. You'd get it if you read it. What he also does is put himself on the level of the reader. He basically makes every confession about his thinking as a writer that most writers want to keep from their readers. Montaigne tells me that he reads many books, but often times to does understand them. He even goes as far as to tell me that when he does read a book that he understands, he forgets it easily? Really? That's pretty honest of the guy. But I love it.
Another element of the idler figure is surely the ability for a character or persona to be in the action, however connecting with the reader one what the main ideas are of the writing. No one did this better, in my opinion, than F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Great Gatsby". Nick Caraway was described as a character that was "within and without". He was the best observer in the history of literature, while still being one of the central characters of the novel. This is how I connected with him so easily, and how the books like "The Great Gatsby" and "This Side Of Paradise" become some of my most treasured reads.
So, to sum it up, I still don't know what an essay is, and writers like Woolf, Fitzgerald, Montaigne, and Lopate are the ones who are making me better at not knowing what it is every single day.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Bloggers Recommending Blogs
Life as an amateur blogger (Ha. Oxymoron) is pretty sweet. It gives me a lot of liberties. it lets me do things that people can look at and say, "Pfft, what an amateur." That's fine! Everyone has to start somewhere. And since this blog isn't that good, I'm going to do someone else a good service. I'd like to recommend to you, another blog that you might find interesting.
http://dooce.com/ is probably the reason that I originally did not want to start my own blogs. I viewed blogs as superfluous, self-centered, and generally focused around things that i just didn't give a flying shit about. Then, through the teachings of one of my writing professors, I discovered that a lot of blogs can do people a great service. There are blogs that give cooking recipes (Not that i can cook), there are blogs that give political news and updates, and even many that give sports updates...Now I'm just off topic.
The blog I would like to recommend to all of my loyal readers (Irony. I have none.) is Dooce. Dooce represents basically the factors of a blog that I don't like. HOWEVER, it's just funny. It's as simple as that. Heather Armstrong basically just talks about the simple, casual, and everyday factors of her life that can sometimes drive her crazy. A lot of it focuses around her husband, which makes for some decent comedy. Girl power!!! (Just kidding) Not only is it funny, but it made me realize that what attracts us to these pointless, conceited, narcissistic blogs is the simple, comedic way that we ourselves can relate to the issues of the blogger. It's as if, by reading their posts, we can have a conversation with them about without ever having to meet them (Thank God). So as you can see, what I hate(d) about most blogs is really what I admire about Dooce. So I really recommend that anyone who is bored enough to read my blog, to give Dooce a read. If it doesn't at least give you a chuckle or two, you can come back here and listen to me bitch about college.
http://dooce.com/ is probably the reason that I originally did not want to start my own blogs. I viewed blogs as superfluous, self-centered, and generally focused around things that i just didn't give a flying shit about. Then, through the teachings of one of my writing professors, I discovered that a lot of blogs can do people a great service. There are blogs that give cooking recipes (Not that i can cook), there are blogs that give political news and updates, and even many that give sports updates...Now I'm just off topic.
The blog I would like to recommend to all of my loyal readers (Irony. I have none.) is Dooce. Dooce represents basically the factors of a blog that I don't like. HOWEVER, it's just funny. It's as simple as that. Heather Armstrong basically just talks about the simple, casual, and everyday factors of her life that can sometimes drive her crazy. A lot of it focuses around her husband, which makes for some decent comedy. Girl power!!! (Just kidding) Not only is it funny, but it made me realize that what attracts us to these pointless, conceited, narcissistic blogs is the simple, comedic way that we ourselves can relate to the issues of the blogger. It's as if, by reading their posts, we can have a conversation with them about without ever having to meet them (Thank God). So as you can see, what I hate(d) about most blogs is really what I admire about Dooce. So I really recommend that anyone who is bored enough to read my blog, to give Dooce a read. If it doesn't at least give you a chuckle or two, you can come back here and listen to me bitch about college.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
My Weaknesses Make My Strengths
It's hard to think about my strengths as a writer. I must say, I think they became much better once I sat through one or two of our classes. I guess that simply regards the essay. In high school, I don't think I was ever really able to use the best of my strengths as a writer, being how formal everything was.
Now, I'm not a very formal guy. Hell, I don't even know how to tie a tie. I brought two pre-tied ties to college with me incase I ever needed to look snazzy for anything. I think that right there might be one of my biggest strengths as a writer; my ability, or comfort level and desire rather (I guess it's not an ability), to be open, honest, and casual. Now, I know every piece of writing cannot be casual. There are many things that must always be written in a formal fashion. What a spoiled child I would be if I could just write all the time about the strange morning smells of the dorm or what debauchery i like to take part in on weekends. One can only wish. I would say that would be my specialty though. I think that when I do it correctly (kind of ironic) and do it well, I think I can really draw people in with a very personal feel to everything I write.
I want to write personally and causally to you for a simple reason. I'm not better than you. I just want to talk to you. I want to have fun. I feel like I can maybe make a friendly connection with a reader by writing this way. So, that being said, I really hope anyone reading this is finding it enjoyable, because as of right now, this is the best I got. Maybe when I'm in the mood you'll hear something better, but for now, you'll have to deal with this, so I hope you like it.
Now, I'm not a very formal guy. Hell, I don't even know how to tie a tie. I brought two pre-tied ties to college with me incase I ever needed to look snazzy for anything. I think that right there might be one of my biggest strengths as a writer; my ability, or comfort level and desire rather (I guess it's not an ability), to be open, honest, and casual. Now, I know every piece of writing cannot be casual. There are many things that must always be written in a formal fashion. What a spoiled child I would be if I could just write all the time about the strange morning smells of the dorm or what debauchery i like to take part in on weekends. One can only wish. I would say that would be my specialty though. I think that when I do it correctly (kind of ironic) and do it well, I think I can really draw people in with a very personal feel to everything I write.
I want to write personally and causally to you for a simple reason. I'm not better than you. I just want to talk to you. I want to have fun. I feel like I can maybe make a friendly connection with a reader by writing this way. So, that being said, I really hope anyone reading this is finding it enjoyable, because as of right now, this is the best I got. Maybe when I'm in the mood you'll hear something better, but for now, you'll have to deal with this, so I hope you like it.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Starting A Blog...For Real This Time
So, I'd like to start off my mythical second blog entry by skipping to my conclusion. I'm completely fucked. You may take the time to notice that fact, by seeing that this is in fact only the second blog entry on my stream after, I want to say, three weeks of class. Oh well, you win some and lose some. Wow, what a plethora of subjects I have at my finger tips for me to blog about, especially since I haven't done any. So, theoretically, this could be a pretty juicy post. Well if you think that, you're probably shit out of luck. On the contrary, I'm probably make most of these posts pretty bland so I can make sure to just get enough posts to get me caught up in the class...At least I'm honest.
What can i talk about? How about what I've learned about the essay? Before I entered my essay course, i viewed the essay with a lot of discuss, even though I like to joke with myself that i might be a writer. I simply thought of it as something that I just have to do once I'm given the prompt from my teacher. Or maybe, if I'm really lucky, maybe I get to read a book and then make my own thesis and my own argument. What a thrill. What a plunge...I should get out more.
Luck at this. This is my second post on my blog. Everybody, get ready to avoid "Whatcha Got Chaz?" for a while because it's going to be constant and rapid postings of what will probably be sheer crap. I just hope this post is relevant to any of you. wasn't this the subject of our first or second post out of like twelve? There's another hint. Avoid this blog. You'll be reading the stressed out writings of a student that's pretty behind. Or maybe it'll amuse you...Maybe even make you feel better about yourself? Whatever it does, i wish you the best.
Anyways. Where was I? Right. The bloody essay. I think I left off with how I always thought the essay was the blandest task to be asked of the student. Well, after reading a few spiels by some of our favorite authors, well, I have a little different of a perspective. I've actually had my perception of the essay made much less clear. I have no idea what an essay is anymore. An essay is a piece of writing about a subject. So here I present to you my latest essay. Are you ready for this?
"Essay"
How wild was that? So contemporary. It's an essay about an essay. God, I'm new age. Anyways, I'm really happy with my new perception of the essay; this perception really being nothing. This perception lets me write the stream of consciousness piece about the pencil. It lets me write that piece of shit and call it a work of art. I love what i think of the essay. I think Virginia Woolf loved what she thought of the essay. I think the poet Allen Ginsberg loved what he thought of the essay. I think I want to keep this outlook.
What can i talk about? How about what I've learned about the essay? Before I entered my essay course, i viewed the essay with a lot of discuss, even though I like to joke with myself that i might be a writer. I simply thought of it as something that I just have to do once I'm given the prompt from my teacher. Or maybe, if I'm really lucky, maybe I get to read a book and then make my own thesis and my own argument. What a thrill. What a plunge...I should get out more.
Luck at this. This is my second post on my blog. Everybody, get ready to avoid "Whatcha Got Chaz?" for a while because it's going to be constant and rapid postings of what will probably be sheer crap. I just hope this post is relevant to any of you. wasn't this the subject of our first or second post out of like twelve? There's another hint. Avoid this blog. You'll be reading the stressed out writings of a student that's pretty behind. Or maybe it'll amuse you...Maybe even make you feel better about yourself? Whatever it does, i wish you the best.
Anyways. Where was I? Right. The bloody essay. I think I left off with how I always thought the essay was the blandest task to be asked of the student. Well, after reading a few spiels by some of our favorite authors, well, I have a little different of a perspective. I've actually had my perception of the essay made much less clear. I have no idea what an essay is anymore. An essay is a piece of writing about a subject. So here I present to you my latest essay. Are you ready for this?
"Essay"
How wild was that? So contemporary. It's an essay about an essay. God, I'm new age. Anyways, I'm really happy with my new perception of the essay; this perception really being nothing. This perception lets me write the stream of consciousness piece about the pencil. It lets me write that piece of shit and call it a work of art. I love what i think of the essay. I think Virginia Woolf loved what she thought of the essay. I think the poet Allen Ginsberg loved what he thought of the essay. I think I want to keep this outlook.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Procrastination
I have such a love/hate relationship with procrastination. It has caused me more pain than even the worst of injuries, yet it has provided me with some of the best times of my life. It's because most of the best times of my life have come when I could have and should have been doing something just a little more productive! This entry even probably could have came a little earlier. But hey, a man has laundry to do, skins episodes to watch, mario karts courses to conquer, music to download, lives to save, etc... That in itself may be why I procrastinate, because I look at the amount of time that I have to get something done and give that amount of time much more credit than it deserves. I give it this level of confidence that I should not give even the closest of my friends. I look at this enormous black hole of time that I have to get a piece of work done and tell myself that most of that can be spent at the gorges instead of inside at my desk. On that note, it can definitely be looked at as something just just simply happens but also as something that is a choice. It is a choice because I am making a decision that writing this blog is just not that important. That's why I made sure to conquer the all-cup tour on mario kart double dash before writing this entry. But it is also something that just happens because I'm completely aware that one of these days, it't going to be a lot later than 8:45pm and I'm going to keep telling myself that I have so much time. The world of my procrastinating decision making is something that just happens without my control. The decisions i make within that world happen on the part of greed, lust, and all other things unholy. It's even happening right now as I write this piece. I'm not too focused on this anymore. Mainly because I'm kind of over the name "Whatcha Got Chaz?" for my blog. I think I like TypicalChaz better. Well, that's it for now. I have more worlds to conquer.
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