When I was in college, I was a mediocre writer. I got a bit better over the years thanks in no small part to an excellent creative writing prof who frequently eviscerated my verbose poetry, but in a really nice, upper-Midwest way, with a smile on her face, until it stopped being overwrought brain dumps and started to be lean distillations of emotional experience.
In seminary, writing dullsville reports on the minutiae of evangelistic techniques and scrambling for essay topics that wouldn't put me or the grader to sleep, my writing got both better and worse. More technical, perhaps a bit more precise, but thudding and heavy.
When I started writing this blog, I went through phases. One week I'd toss out the same overwrought brain dumps I'd been carefully trained not to write, and the next obsess over word choice and syntax for hours before deleting the lot. Now, having been out of seminary for going on three years, not having had to write a paper for anyone's approval, not having deadlines and due dates looming, I've gotten sloppy. I want that taut academic precision back in my writing. I want to stop sounding like a cross between the Fug Girls and Ree Drummond, which, I fear, is the voice that's developed.
So, all that to say, I will probably be writing here quite a bit more than usual, because practice, as they say, makes perfect.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
You have never been a mediocre writer.
You're just better now than you were before.
Wish I could right half as well as you do!
Just came to check out your new blog...remember me from Confessions of a Recovering Food Waster?? Two long years ago!
love your post about music...I so share your frustrations, and I see this in my own church (Which we're thinking about leaving. Sigh.).
So...writing more than usual turned into a long silence. Everything OK? I only visit occasionally and catch up on posts, but I do enjoy reading your blog!
Post a Comment