Reading is like riding a bike: Commonplace Book

           This post, instead of focusing on writing, is going to talk a little bit about reading. It was inspired by an analogy that compares reading to baseball, and while that analogy works to an extent, I'd like to offer another that's a little more representative of the complete reading experience. 

This is a little bit cheesy, but reading is like riding a bike. (Reading = Riding, and Bikes = Books.) It’s hard at first. You have to learn how to balance, how to go forward, how stop. Your parents start you off with training wheels so you don’t fall down or get too frustrated, and they gradually build up your confidence and abilities so that, eventually, you can do it on your own, without training wheels or their helping hands to guide you. You have to learn what to do, and what not to do, so that, when you come up against a rock or twig or patch of grass, you can roll right over it without a pause. Once you’ve learned, you never really forget. You can ride that bike to school each day, and to work when you’re older. It can take you all sorts of places in life, and in the world, that you never imagined going. It’s good for the environment (aka your brain), it’ll never run out of gas, and if you ride often enough, you’ll find yourself doing new, amazing things. Plus, if you keep it in good shape, you can pass it down to your grandkids, or sell it to a collector for a lot of money. And most importantly, once you get started, you will never forget how to ride.

It has occurred to me that writers = BMX riders. Lol. Imagine Dickens popping a wheelie.

It's Time to Rewire the Way You Think About Writing.

       Writing is an art. A very, very hard art that your teachers in high school didn't really prepare you for. And that's unfortunate, because the things you can do and write and create are truly amazing. You just have to figure out how. 

Why cant I just stick to what I’ve been doing?

Imagine that you were going shopping because you really needed new school clothes. You already have an idea of what you like or what your style is, and you gravitate towards those things naturally. Now, imagine that there weren’t any options. Everything came in one size and in one color, no matter how big or small you are, and no matter what colors you do or do not like. It would suck, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, that is happening everyday, only we’ve become so accustomed to thinking that there’s only one right way to do things that we don’t even notice. Ever been told you have to write a five-paragraph essay with exactly one intro, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion? Were you told that the conclusion had to summarize, or that there was a specific formula for each body paragraph that you just HAD to follow? Sounds a little suffocating when you think about it in terms of clothes, doesn’t it?

            The problem with the one-method-fits-all approach is that it rarely works. In much the same way that one shirt size doesn’t fit everyone, one approach to writing does not allow for the creative stylistic differences that make up an individual’s voice. Different voices and styles may be more effective for different topics, and without the freedom to choose, students are losing out.

Why We Should Write: Commonplace Book

“Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. … It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.”
—Enid Bagnold

“Not a wasted word. This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life.”
—Hunter S. Thompson

“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
—Samuel Johnson

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.”
—Elmore Leonard

“One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly. I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or 10 pages no matter what, and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing—writing and tearing up five pages would leave me no further behind than if I took the day off.”
—Lawrence Block

     
       I'm saving these five quotes as inspiration when I feel as though I have failed, am failing, or otherwise need encouragement. They are brought to you courtesy of Writer's Digest. 

       Writing is hard work. It is dirty, maddening, challenging in the worst ways, and sometimes, if you're really lucky, it's altogether wonderful. Even the best of us need occasional fortitude against self doubt. Even the best of us have off days. But when we do, what distinguishes the best from the worst and the just-okay is sheer determination, and a willingness to trudge through the pain, and the suffering, and the really long nights, all in the name of making art. 

A Who-Dunnit Mystery - Disputed Authorship in the 21st Century

       Best known for her children’s series Harry Potter, author JK Rowling has recently expanded her domain by composing several adult fiction novels. While some of her novels have been received more generously than others, none have experienced quite the same fan-fare as The Cuckoo’s Calling, which was originally published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It was only a matter of weeks before an insider with knowledge gained from her attorney husband blew the whistle, unleashing a flurry of speculation, investigation, and eventual enthusiasm. While this case of disputed authorship was not long lived, the methods with which Rowling’s authorship was determined reflect a new component of life in a digital age – the public assumes, and often demands, a entitlement to information, even when that information comes at the cost of someone’s privacy.