Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Why You Should Write

I am currently reading Bright Shiny Morning, by James Frey. I am nearly done. What a gem. In the back of that book is an essay Jim entitled Music and Talking. He points out that he nearly always writes to loud music in the background. He points out that he always talks first what he writes and that if you talk you will see that language is only partially guided by grammar and mainly guided by context. Thus because he seriously writes as he speaks, he tends to write without many grammatical conventions, which do not show up in speech. He doesn't say, but he knows he should write. I know I should write.

Why You Should Write

The writing you do
reveals the design not yet
in God's world until
your hands and heart place
it precisely, a jewel.
That is what you do.

February 16, 2009 8:28 AM

14 comments:

  1. It makes me really happy that you put the comment about language. I probably never mentioned, but currently I'm going to grad school for sociolinguistics, and this is the kind of thing we talk about all the time. It's amazing how prejudice can be so deeply encoded in us that even varieties of language are considered "unequal" or "messy" or "wrong", when they're really just that: varieties. No one should have to talk any way that is unnatural to them. [/soapbox]

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  2. Why YOU should write....

    Daily
    I read
    something
    always
    makes me feel
    inspired
    less tired
    or alone

    that's why

    This is very bad but I am very tired and grumpy. You will,, no doubt, get my drift...

    Love

    xxx

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  3. I like that :) I wonder now :) hmmmm when i talk i smile at you and make other sounds. shall i add those too :)? thanks!

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  4. Coming from a region that bears much ridicule for its speech patterns and accents, I find a beauty in the rhythms, idioms, and grammatical "messes" of the Appalachian people. Thank you, Joseph!

    Words have power and weight and purpose and beauty. How can one not write?

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  5. Joseph, I am a lay student of linguistics, have a couple of survey courses on cd, college level on the history of the english language and languages in the world, have learned how languages change and know that people are nuts when they think the language they use is either stable or proper. Wait a couple hundred years and things will change enough to be really noticeable.

    The game has changed a little with the advent of recorded speech and more universal education, but not as much as one might think.

    Michelle, okay. I write just for you. :) I like that idea.

    Wait. I write just for you Jozien. Or for Liz. Or Erin. Or Karen... Uh oh. I fell in love with everyone, write just for them.

    Karen, you know not everyone is in love with writing. :)

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  6. Interesting. I feel like the grammar in my posts is abysmal, but I cannot convey the lilt and timbre in my phrasing with conventional grammar. I've been dinged for it of course, so I appreciate this post. I tend to write as I would speak...although never having considered actually speaking as I write.

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  7. G'mornin W&W, Writing as one speaks has in the past been considered a specialty form. I do think I "sound it out" as I go, but not usually out loud. That's what James Frey seems to mean, though. He means full out loud and with emotion. He relates that he's up and down, dancing around, and even breaks things sometimes. I guess that's what they mean by writing as an activity.

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  8. Why not just for me, for Karen, for Jozien...whatever. I take something, nice or not, away each time and that's what counts, for me, (being self involved and all).....language from the heart.

    I am idealistic and I kinda like it that way. I also like to say what I write out loud, sometimes that works and sometimes not.....
    so not a purist in any way. *shrugs*

    xxx

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  9. I'm willing to share you, but I'll have to admit, I've never been part of a harem before! ;-)

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  10. I know i have to say something now too....gggggrrrr...really my first language is cat, so i'll just purrr.

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  11. Jozien, my language too, one of them, besides music and my native tongue and certain other animal tongues, is cat. I understand. :)

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  12. Yes, you should. I am glad that you do.

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The chicken crossed the road. That's poultry in motion.


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