The Writing Game

I write. I write because I have to not because it's a real choice for me. The real interesting thing about writing is you cannot do it all the time and when I can't write, like when I'm behind the wheel of my car or when I'm curled up in bed, my mind is still working creating stories or different ways of saying a simple every day sentence. Sometimes I find that I play with the words and generate quite a few different ways of saying something.

Stories, even the true ones, are from my personal perspective on the life around me and the things I see and write about are seen from my angle. If you think about it, that's why those eye witnesses to crimes are so unreliable. The view is never objective. So when a writer gives their point of view you should always look at it as one way of viewing the incident or event.

I've deviated a bit here but that's why the public is often so entranced by books and stories because it's like getting into someone else's head and out of our own. That is also why most good writers are also prolific readers. So if Hemingway said something one way, how can I say the same thing - but make it more accessible, or more intense, or more anything that make my piece more original.

That's the challenge I set for myself each and every time I sit before a blank page. Writing is a test - one that I have to do differently each and every day to make it work.

Good Writing - Or Not...

I just jointed Twitter, even though I am totally unsure what the site actually does besides offer up one liners! I did find a line of conversation about the editing of Michigan newspapers interesting (Or lack of editing!). It use to be that if you were an editor it meant that you read through and either made changes to make pieces of writing more grammatical and correct or gave some ideas that could make a piece more understandable. That was of course a million years ago!

Even my work needs editing! We who write always need an extra set of eyes to see those mistakes our eyes miss (And brains too!). If you read my two spots here on Blogger you know I come back and edit periodically, and I still miss things! How can any columnist or reporter catch all the mistakes?? If you give yourself time between the edits (like 24 hours), it does help to see some of the mistakes, but we still miss things, and it shows most in the newspapers in our part of the state.

I kind of have a feeling that it shows all over, actually. Frustrating for those of us who want to be good writers, and for those who read our word works.