The world as it should be

I spent much of the weekend grading papers.  That means (a) I spent virtually no time on my own major writing projects, and (b) I was exposed to toxic student writing, which serves to diminish my own writing skills. Those who can string seven or eight words together that actually make sense are disarmingly few.

The muse feels neglected, abused and ignored. She tried whispering sweet somethings and softly stroked my mind, but to no avail. I forged ahead with the grading, headache and all. Now she refuses to talk to me, and she is back on the couch watching C-SPAN re-runs. At least she is not smoking.

Sigh. Back to the papers.

Have I been a journalist for so long that I can’t write fiction? I have a folder full of story ideas, including a brand new one for a terrific novel, and a one-act play crying out for revision and publication. Yet, I hesitate. Fearful of failure, I won’t even try. The Muse can sleep through this one: I need a taskmaster.  She’s still asleep on the couch anyway. Waif-like, she fades to translucent with every exhale. Drool runs down one cheek.

I recoil from fiction to post in blogs, and I send tweets to followers I don’t even know. With articles, I talk to other people. I tell their stories. It’s safer. Easier somehow. How did Hemingway do it?

I have developed this bad habit — especially for someone who wants to become a full-time freelance writer — of endlessly fiddling with a paragraph instead of moving through the story.

It has become an obsession, trying to make the paragraph perfect instead of actually keeping the words flowing through my mind and out my fingers. There’s always time to go back and fix, polish. When the muse whacks you upside the head, you need to go with it.

Lately, however, I shush the Muse and agonize over the placement of that comma. Then I review my Tweets, check my-email, see if I have made a dime on an AdSense click, and get a drink of water from the kitchen.

By the time I get back to the keyboard, the Muse is asleep on the couch and I can’t recall where I was going with the story. Then I hit the couch, too. Maybe the Muse will rub my temples.

Thinking is the brain talking to itself — Plato

Most thinking is done with words. Writing is done with words. I try to tell my students that the two are connected and that they will be better critical thinkers if they work on their writing skills. The thinking skills needed to become a better thinker also make you a better writer. The thinking skills needed to become a better writer also make you a better thinker.

In this blog, I am going to talk about my writing, and about how writing, editing and design, especially for newspapers, must all work together.