I have this assignment for one of my sucky classes due next week. Our assignment is probably better suited for an acting class than for ours, but I kinda get why we're doing it. Basically we have exchanged a piece of our writing with a fellow classmate. They're going to record what we wrote and record what they wrote and gave to us. The idea is, I guess, to have us become more aware of how we write, and how it might sound when someone else reads it out loud and in their minds (quietly). I don't want to start sounding all uppity and shit like that, but honestly I wonder about some of my classmates. There is clearly a few of us who can write well; and there is clearly some of us who have very little chance being called writers. I say this because today I got a chance to read the piece I'm supposed to record for the assignment. I tell you quite honestly that it's a perfect mess. The grammar is all over the place, the story constantly changes POV, and lately it also changes tense at seemingly arbitrary points in the story.I don't get to write as often as I would like to, but even then I do quite a bit of writing. I write these journals entries and entries for my other four journals. I think up stories to write later, and I'm writing poetry for one of my classes. All this while trying to stay awake one most days. Well, even still I would say that I write more than most of my fellow students. I mention this because, as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. Writing this much affords me a chance to make a ton of mistakes while also, hopefully, learning from them. As you read this riddle me this... am I making sense to you right now? Is what I'm writing coming across to you as something that I might be saying to you if I was sitting next to you right now? When you read this do you feel that it's not so much reading but more like a conversation? If you answered yes to these questions then I have done my work correctly. Because the style I choose for this journal is a conversational style of writing.
There are those that say that writers can't write like you would talk to someone. While it's partially true, because there isn't the back and forth that you would have in a conversation, a writer should still be able to write as if they're speaking to you directly. At least that's what I think, and so that's why I practice that kind of writing here. But at the same time that's not enough. Some stories can't be told in this way. I appreciate that. But then I read my classmate's work and I think to myself, "How did this person get this far without someone, some professor, anyone, telling her that she is making a TON of mistakes? I mean grammar is one thing; we all slip up once in a while. I'm sure I've done it a couple of times since the beginning of this entry. Yet, what I can't forgive is the numerous times that the story changes tense, and the numerous times the narrator's voice melds with the voice of the main character. Because what is shows is a flimsy grasp of the mechanics of writing. One shouldn't get this far towards an English degree without having some basic skills, I think. I'm not going to sit here and tell you I'm God's gift to writing. Certainly I want to work on getting to the point that people read what I write and are moved by it. Yes, what writer can deny that as a reason why they write? Anyone that tells you different is nuts and lying. Any artist wants to show of their work and have someone approve of it.
Anyway, I'm glad to get that off my chest. I have another thing I want to bitch about. Let me ask you all a question... How much longer are we going to fall for this "high price of crude oil" lie that we're being feed to explain why gasoline is going to cost $3 a gallon by Summer? A few weeks ago there was a NY Times article that plainly stated that the oil companies recorded record profits last year. One company's profit was the biggest profit for any company EVER. So let me get this straight oil companies... you're charging us more because oil costs more, but at the same time you're making more money than ever in the history of the world? It's amazing the avariciousness these companies show in the face of people having to pick between eating or buying gasoline. This is one of the many reasons why I HATE money.
It's late, I have class tomorrow, and I'm still battling the last remnants of this cold, so I'm going to go get some sleep now. But before I go how about today's picture of the day which is entitled "Griffins."
End Communication.
