. Spinning .

In a recent discussion elsewhere on the internet, a poet proclaimed that her English Professor had described her work as prolific, a word often used to describe a writer and his work. This was after defending her right to post forty or more poems to a shared writing website and rebuffing helpful comments on what was at best, nice and varied ideas. Although I agree that it must be considered poetry, I must argue that there is good and bad poetry. I most certainly do not come from a position as anywhere near accomplished in this writing form—it simply is not something I do well—but these were honest-to-God bad I believe. After rudely telling others that she was indeed good in both her opinion and backing that up with her professor’s claim that she was prolific, I can only come up with his use of the word in its true meaning as producing in great quantity, and understand it to carry about the same weight as the word, “different” when pushed to offer an opinion. This is where true feedback and honesty would have helped, had she been open to it. The need to write, the ideas and feelings were all there, but the more stringent elements of poetry must be followed to some degree, and these were flagrantly abused. Such writers unfortunately, will not get beyond the Johnny-One-Note stage in their creative endeavors. It is human nature to want to be considered brilliant. It is open-mindedness that can help get us there.

As an aside, while I am certainly prolific myself lately, I do not claim this weblog to be truly good writing. It is my own way of bettering my work through practice I hope, and enjoying it at the same time.

I am outright stealing a post from Jerz’s Literacy Log because it is a subject near and dear to my heart, the semicolon. Here then, from The Telegraph, is Oliver Pritchett’s Review of Lynne Truss’ book, Eats, Shoots, and Leaves:

“Oliver Pritchett reviews Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

I have always had a great affection for the semicolon; it has a certain discreet charm. On the other hand, there is just one word to describe the colon: bossy. A colon says: “Pay attention, this next bit is really important.” If the colon is a fanfare, the semicolon is more like a polite cough. It is a nasty shock to discover that it has enemies. Gertrude Stein, who might, in her time, have been considered a bit of a bossyboots herself, suggested that semicolons were simply commas with pretensions.

Others have even claimed that semicolons were middle class. (I was tempted to put an exclamation mark at the end of the last sentence to draw attention to the absurdity of the notion, but good manners restrained me.) As Lynne Truss says in this witty, clear-headed and altogether enchanting book, “If they are middle class, I’m a serviette.” (Continued)

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As necessary as it is to enter into the mind of a character when writing first person POV, or being objective as a third person narrator, it is almost mandatory to be in the proper mood in order to produce the story as it flows. If a writer is in a down frame of mind, I should think it practically impossible to create a Mary Poppins. I’m not sure if the reverse situation holds as true, as a stable and untroubled state may actually grant license to vary and explore more freely without restriction. I have found that a character’s troubles often affect my own mood as well. If the character is pervasive and insistent, even my time away from him may be burdened with his reality as created by my own hand. Tough to make the break sometimes.

Writers are aware of the strange feeling of being taken over by a character when writing in the first person point of view. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t; but when it does, one loses oneself at the keyboard and writes as if from a different voice living within the mind.

It’s difficult to explain the concept to those who have not attempted this, and whose first person writings must come from truthful experience, or contrived lies, but I believe this effect is in truth itself a part of reality.

I’m working in my frameshop right now, and while hammering nails into frame corners I suddenly realized that my hands look different as they work. There is glitter on my fingernails from last night’s attempts at playing dress-up, and it looks odd in this environment. I was in fact a different person last night than I am this morning. It’s a natural state of affairs that just serves to point out the variety in who we are. At this moment I am Susie Writer, and flashing lights of glittered fingernails on the keyboard are just experience added into this persona.

Just joined a writing group online at Writers Magazine. A few years back I had joined a Garden Web forum similar in style, and found it interesting, informative, and a more personal way of sharing love of gardening. That was also where my comments were read by a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who contacted and interviewed me via telephone with the result of my advice on voles being quoted in the newspaper. Not my proudest literary achievement, but it was kind of neat!

I’ve found these groups to be made up of folks dedicated to a passion or purpose, and members are so open and willing to share and support each other–albeit long distance. Should be fun!