A Writer's Notebook, Day Eight-Hundred-And--Seventy-Four

 For some reason, I am having an issue with the word processing software on my computer.  I do not know what it is that happened, but I couldn't use it tonight.  It is a bit ironic, as I have often been working on my phone, writing in my email or such, and I chose to come up here to work tonight instead.  I find the computer an easier device to utilize, but the phone is more convenient, and is always present when I am struck by an idea for a poem and want to get to work straight away.  The resulting work is often different, depending on the mode in use, I think, and I felt a strong push to do the work on the computer.  I did write with the computer, I just had to do it as an email, in spite of being on my PC.  I hope it is not a major issue and I can resolve it easily.  But I am going to let that wait for tomorrow, as I have already had enough tonight.  Earlier, I spent a prolonged time attempting to connect my phone to our new printer.  I installed the print service and thought it would be easy from that point, but there was some issue that kept persisting.  Both Melissa and my brother (he had come by to help set the printer up in the first place) were able to print with ease, but my phone refused, even after we went through all the troubleshooting.  Eventually, we got it to work, but it is not at all clear what we did or why it had been a problem in the first place.  That is resolved, though, and I am going to rest on that victory, and worry about the issue with my word processing software tomorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Writer's Notebook, Day Two-Hundred-And-Fifty

Each of the three pieces I wrote today was a bit of a struggle to get going, if I am honest.  That happens, as I have mentioned, and my answer is generally to just wait it out, and the results vary.  A lot of the time, if I am really stuck, I might try to force something out, often it winds up being a bit meta, with me writing about being stuck without much in terms of inspiration, and it feels a bit like I am working scales in a way.  All the aesthetic decisions are there, they just don't always have a lot of purpose behind them, and that is fine in that context.  Essentially, I am just forcing myself to do the work, and getting it done, and I am showing myself that I can and will do it even if inspiration never strikes.  This can often take pressure off, and that lack of pressure opens up creative thinking and inspiration. Now, that is a fine thing for me to do, and I am likely to use that approach again many times in the future, but today I felt that I want...
Read more

Le Guin, Steering The Craft, Chapter Five: Adjectives and Adverbs (Exercise Five, Chastity)

A note of apology for my lateness with this.  I had expected to have time earlier in the day, but it was not to be, alas.  Anyhow, I am still a bit nervous about this exercise, though it is clearly of significant import to Le Guin, as she points out that it is the only exercise that she has given to all of her workshops.  That, of course, does not alter my feelings about it, excepting that I am aware of it as something valuable and worth doing, so the fact that it is a bit daunting might well be seen, through that light, as a promise of reward, perhaps.  The more difficult the task, the more one has to gain, at least by some logic... Exercise Five: Chastity Mr. Torino was in charge.  He had his way.  It was the way.  Desktops are clean.  Nothing but work.  No pictures: not your kids; not your girl or wife; not (as Allen recounted) your car.   None of that.  No plants.  No cartoons.  That is for home, this is work....
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, Two-Thousand-And-Fifty-Nine

I have been thinking about how I can discuss certain aspects of my poetry and the choices I make as a writer.  In particular, I tend to write without as much reliance on sensory details and descriptions, instead choosing more abstract depictions.  This is something that I know many writers would call an odd choice, as specificity seems inherently to demand the application of detail, but I tend to be a bit hesitant about relying on depictions that utilize the senses, as I find that approach somewhat problematic.  For one thing, sensory description is always going to be less than universal, and not only because of the reality that there are individuals who lack one or more sense.  In many ways, for me, the deeper problem is one related to language itself.  Our use of language creates our experiences in a very real way, though I can't necessarily offer a full explanation of what I mean by that right here, but using a word for an object bestows qualities on it....
Read more