Five strengths as a writer?
This is a meme requested from Jessica who is still In Search of Dessert but is also prodding people who write and looking for a venue for a not-so-secret upcoming affair. Jessica and her toyboy Jon were here making ravioli with me a few months ago, if you recall. I did not write a word while they were here, and I even refrained from embarrassing Jon with appreciative whistles. Actually, I can’t whistle.
So, I am supposed to think of five strengths I have as a writer. Hmmmm. Well.
1. I write. Even if I don’t publish anything here, I write. I have been doing it for most of my life intermittently and this go-round has endured for 34 years. I first attended and then ran fiction writers groups in Washington, DC for many years and I learned to be a damned good editor. Writing is in itself a very important strength, because if you just think about titles and plot lines as you drive, you are just a good fantasist.
2. I spel reely god.
3. I self edit in every possible way. In that I include reading stories I wrote years ago and binning them. Sentimental? Bin it. Florid? Bin it. Confusing? Take it apart, put it back together until it makes mental-map sense. Before computers I once took an entire book apart in pages all over my bedroom and then put it back together. Computers are a Godsend. I used to edit to the point where I was the only one who could understand what I wrote, but I seem to have recovered from that. Writing about cooking has helped. No one but me will ever know that I go back to posts here and edit them, even though the very essence of a blog is that people really only look at new stuff.
4. I have a fairly good vocabulary which I use also when speaking, and it comes naturally to me because I was reared that way. It bothers me that Italians say about food only that it is good, really good or exquisite. Similarly, there’s more to say about people than that they are beautiful or nice (or ugly or not nice) which is pretty much what one hears here. If there isn’t a word, I will make one up but admit that I did.
5. I care about other writers. I encourage them and don’t offer criticism unless asked. I seek them out. I buy their books. I link to them. It is a winning move for me, because they make me think beyond my small world into worlds that are far away, or richer, poorer, older, younger than mine. I want every one of them to be successful. They sometimes connect me to things that can make me more successful.
Number five is embarrassing, because having said that I like writers and read their stuff, Jessica and Sognatrice have already named ten of them! So I will name three. They are Dermott in an attempt to shame him into writing more, Corey Amaro who is extremely charming, and Cee Cee, who puts me right into her life which is entirely different from any life I have ever lived.
3 comments October 1st, 2007
