"Reading Like a Writer" was a great read to me. A few years ago, when my English wasn't as good as it is now, I asked my journalism professor the best way to expand my vocabulary. She said "the only way I know is to read. Read books, articles, anything you can get your hands on."
So I started doing just that. However, even though I read a lot and try to get into the authors' heads, I don't write comments in the margins, and I don't actively think about the style of a sentence or paragraph or entire book, or the effect of the way it's written.
This text was a little bit of an eye opener, and after reading it, I feel like reading will be more fun than usual. The article made me want to become more engaged in whatever it is that I'm reading for school or recreationally.
Chapter 13 - "Style in Arguments" was also an interesting read considering my personal style is to go with the flow of how the sentences "feel" to me. I often reread my sentences (unless I'm in a hurry) and make sure that it flows nicely.
But the way I do that is to "listen" to it, to find a pleasing rhythm, and I don't think I've thought about why something I write might have a specific effect. I know what I want to say, and mostly I hope that it'll come across the way I want it.
What I'm trying to say is that maybe I'm not as aware as I'd like of the power of how one period, comma, word, or sentence structure might affect a reader/s. I feel like I know by the way it sounds to my ears, but these readings help me see why a certain style or word is effective to use in a certain genre for example.
Rubin's "Pay Attention: Mindfulness" chapter was a good reminder of the mindfulness that I'm trying to implement into my everyday life. Of all the mantras Rubin mentioned that she tells herself daily, I could resonate with a few of them, or similar ones.
The "I'm in a hurry" mantra was what stood out to me the most since I constantly tell myself: "I don't have enough time to do everything that I need to do today" and because of that way of thinking, I truly believe it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Instead, I will follow her advise and think "I have more than enough time to complete all tasks for today." I do believe we create our own realities and sometimes we can be self-destructive or self-sabotaging without even being particularly aware of it.
Rubin's list of what she tells herself every day is something that I will implement. I will try to become more aware of the stories I tell myself and do my best to change the negative ones so I can benefit from them.
I am glad to have read your response to the readings and seen that you enjoys them and took something helpful away. The thought that I concluded the most after reading Bunn and Rubin was that these must be written for someone, even though it wasn't me. When I read I like to think about what the writer was intending to convey and to whom. It's challenging not to assume that a paper or story isn't very good simply because I or any reader didn't care for it, so when I read and I don't like what I'm reading I try to imagine who then it was written for. Even when I do like a reading it is still fun to do this. If a story was written hundreds of years ago I try to recreate the time and therefore what the author might have meant to convey and how that would be both different and the same were it written today.
ReplyDeleteTo read that what wasn't written for me at this stage in my life was written for someone else keeps me open minded and reminds me that we all find our own way with our unique tools. Rather than criticizing something for not being suitable for me, I can enjoy what expansion of mind it can bring to others.
Sturesson,
ReplyDelete(Quick pre-message message: this is in response to your 310 and 339 posts.)
You volunteer at an animal shelter? Be still, my beating heart. Good for you. My mom (also named Linda… my advisor in grad school—another important woman in my life is also named Linda… you have big shoes to fill…) always told me that you could tell a LOT about a person by the way they treat animals. ☺
In class last week, you mentioned that you found people’s speech patterns (my words right there) interesting—ie, the way that people respond in an interview can give you clues to who they are, where they’re coming from, what they value, etc… So this, in and of itself, could be considered an argument. If you really do find that super-interesting, I have two suggestions: (1) you could make that the backbone of your paper/project in this class. We’re studying writers, writing, language, and communication—and although that isn’t “textual writing” per se, it’s still very relevant.
Note #2: (and again, I don’t know just how groovy you find this stuff, but I thought I’d mention it) there are some serious research/grad programs out there that study what’s called “discourse analysis” – from what I understand, it’s essentially the science, psychology, and culture of/within people’s speech patterns. “Major”-wise, you’d be looking at linguistics, communication, or even education. Hey… why not, right?
With respect to your thoughts on the Bunn piece: yeah, reading—that’s 50% of the battle. I think that a lot of us tend to read for information (only) and we bypass some of the structural/architectural components of writing. There’s a lot of wisdom lurking between the lines, and trying to find out how/why a writer did X is really useful as someone who wants to become a better writer/thinker/communicator.
I’ll leave it at that for now. Keep up the good work and awesome thinking, L-Stu.
Z
Linda,
ReplyDeleteThats really interesting what your old professor said about your reading. I guess I also never really thought about annotating as I go. I suppose it could be more fun to read as a result, but possibly one could also get a little lost in thought don't you think? I than rather than actively reading its fun to just get lost in the words and let it take you into the world of the book rather than reading it like from an all-seeing-eye point of view. That's just my thought though, and cool idea none the less.
- Nick