OK, so I'm back. My internet was down for most of the week, and since it came back on Friday I've been madly catching up on the backlog. I think I'm on top of it now.
But I was surprised at how cut off I felt without that hotline to Google. I wondered if I'd become too dependent on that connection to colleagues, friends and the vast reservoir of information available with a click of a button. I had to look for the phone book.
Good news: I actually don't think I have a dependency, I made my offline time productive and patched up a minimal connection to check email, but I can see how easy it would be to form one. It's made me aware of how easily the best tools can turn in your hand, and how deep they might cut.
So I'll make sure I use the old fashioned methods sometimes, just so I don't lose touch.
And to start, I'll track down that phonebook.
Showing posts with label tool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tool. Show all posts
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
My side, your side
Yesterday I posted on the care and training of cliches, and it becomes apparent this approach isn’t preferred by all writers. Erica, it seems, has a shoot-to-kill order in place.
It does highlight a simple truth—what works for me won’t necessarily work for you.
I’ve learned to embrace my cliches, my extra adverbs, my sentences that—after the second or third attempt—just don’t say what I want to say. I adopted these potentially bad habits because for me the alternative was to not write at all.
I was unable to silence my inner editor enough to make any progress. Every sentence I wrote, I had this shrill harpy screaming in my head: “That’s crap, awful, lame - you can’t write that.” I’d get stuck, rewriting the same paragraph over and over, getting more and more frustrated.
A few overworked pages or chapters don't make a manuscript. I had to find a way forward if I wanted to write, and I did. It isn’t without risks—it’s easy to become blind to the cliches and clunky bits. Especially the sneaky-hide-in-the-corner-ones. Good news though: I’m now able to tidy up as I go and still advance the word count, keep that story rolling.
I found a tool that worked for me. It might work for you, or it might not. You won’t know until you see how well it fits.
It does highlight a simple truth—what works for me won’t necessarily work for you.
I’ve learned to embrace my cliches, my extra adverbs, my sentences that—after the second or third attempt—just don’t say what I want to say. I adopted these potentially bad habits because for me the alternative was to not write at all.
I was unable to silence my inner editor enough to make any progress. Every sentence I wrote, I had this shrill harpy screaming in my head: “That’s crap, awful, lame - you can’t write that.” I’d get stuck, rewriting the same paragraph over and over, getting more and more frustrated.
A few overworked pages or chapters don't make a manuscript. I had to find a way forward if I wanted to write, and I did. It isn’t without risks—it’s easy to become blind to the cliches and clunky bits. Especially the sneaky-hide-in-the-corner-ones. Good news though: I’m now able to tidy up as I go and still advance the word count, keep that story rolling.
I found a tool that worked for me. It might work for you, or it might not. You won’t know until you see how well it fits.
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