Next Friday (yes, Friday the 13th) I'll be teaching the first session of another writing workshop. I know I've mentioned here, in the past, that I'm always trying to encourage my students to start blogs (on OS or elsewhere) because I think blogging is great practice for all types of creative writing. So far, though, it hasn't really worked. A couple of my students have started OS blogs, only to stop after a single post (or never post at all.) Many more have expressed enthusiasm for the idea but, for whatever reason, not followed through. I know that, for some, the technology is intimidating. I'm no techie myself, though, and I can handle enough for a simple blog (with no pictures posted, nor links to anything else.) And I always offer to help my students with the nuts-and-bolts aspects...
So, here's the Open Call. What's your best advice to new bloggers? It would be great if you could advise, not only on the technical stuff, but on ways to stay motivated and make blogging a habit.
Here are a few of mine.
1. Don't worry about "bells and whistles" unless you're already a computer geek and you feel like it. Photos, audio and video can be nice, but all a blog really needs to have on it is your writing.
2. What should you write about? Anything and everything. Tell us your thoughts about a book you read, a movie you saw or a meal you ate. Share a memory about your family, your school days; whatever. Share a poem, song or recipe. Also, remember that a blog is not a dinner party. You can write about sex, politics, religion (or all three) if that's what's on your mind. Just remember that (especially when writing on "hot-button" topics) safe blogging is anyonymous blogging. Only use your real name and/or photo if you're 100% sure that you'll never post anything you wouldn't want, for instance, a prospective employer to see.
3. Post something at least once a week. Even if you think there's "nothing" to say. That's how you learn to be a writer. Remember the Nike commercials? So..."just do it!" Blogs are perfect places for pure stream-of-consciousness writing. Your most interesting posts might be written on those days when you just sit down, place your fingers on the keyboard and let them go where they will...
Now, I open the floor to my brother and sister OS bloggers.
Thanks in advance!
Eva
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Comments
Tell them to read it out loud first, before they hit 'publish'.
Posted yesterday Grey's Anatomy episode "The Great Divide" is a mirror
Writers need a thin skin while composing and a thick skin after they publish.
Don't shoot too high, try to be perfect, or listen too much to what anybody else says. Does what you write matter to you?
I disagree with the spelling and grammar part. It more often than not makes newcomers self-conscious and can be a killer of ones spirit as a writer. If that is all anybody points out to you,
Does what you are writing matter to you?
Don't listen too much to what other's say. I disagree with the advice about spelling and grammar. It's not as impotant as getting out what you have to say, and can make you self-conscious.
Perfectionism is the killer of creativity.
Oh yeah, and read more Ben Sen.
First, it might be less stressful to point them towards the commenting aspect of the blogosphere. It won't diminish the creative component of the process in the least and it's a quick way to develop a dialogue with some truly outstanding writers. The difference between a good post and a thoughtful response is often murky and minuscule at best. Or ought to be.
And in order to find the material worthy of these responses they will be required to READ READ READ. In fact I'd make this clear to your students above all else because a love of reading is essential to good writing and multiplies your enjoyment of this site by a factor of ten - easy.
Of course, if your students are not ardent enthusiasts of great writing then their time and yours is completely wasted here .
And lastly I wouldn't want to apply any pressure in terms of a deadline. Although your once per week suggestion appears generous, six days in it will begin to feel like a 200 lb load on their backs.
Still thank God that you didn't suggest/demand that they write EVERY day - because that has to be the absolute worst advice a budding writer could ever receive. There are people here on OS that do this - every fucking day they send out these bland, dull, tepid missives (redundant much, Angus?) and I want to tell them to take a bloody break. HEY! There's a Three's Company marathon on TV running all week - go watch it! PLEASE!
Ok that's it. And this was NOT an attempt to hijack your post- you asked!
P.S. And I very much think that your students are lucky to have you as a teacher/motivator. Tell them Angus says hi and whaddup :)
I don't see why it's necessary to write at least once a week, though if your students don't have fulltime jobs or families yet, it's a simple matter of allocating discretionary time. For older adults, unless they write for a living, it's often going to be hard to find time to write. I'd say write when you can and don't lose any sleep over it when you can't.
And as a blogger who writes under her own name (though a common name), I echo your point about writing what you would not blush for an employer to see. At a website like this, where sex and alternative lifestyles make the front page, that limits me, but I'm vain enough to prefer to see what limited writing I do under MY NAME.
What I don't know about your students makes me hesitant to go much further. Again, Angus said it best: "Of course, if your students are not ardent enthusiasts of great writing then their time and yours is completely wasted here ."
The question for me is, who are your students? Are they college-aged or middle-aged? It makes a huge difference, in my experience.
Are they, if they're young, still discovering the pleasures of reading and writing? Are they unsure of their futures, looking for a profession, looking for relationships before all else? Are they, in short, confused and anxious and unsure of their skills and even their interests?
If that's the case, some of the good advice here can put a damper on a kid's enthusiasm, as several folks have noted. The let-it-all-hang-out approach, encouraging them to explore is probably best here. But again, the posts that usually result from such explorations by young people don't often make compelling reading for the more experienced reader. Such posts, once written, will tell you as a teacher and them as would-be writers a lot about how best to proceed.
I realize I haven't answered your question. But I could be of more help -- or at least blather on longer -- if I knew who you were working with and what they brought to your classroom.
Cheers
Passion is the best thing. Find a cause. Celebrate a culture. Ask them to think about what they talk about the most, and there's a good starting point.
And don't whine. That's the worst turn-off of all.
And....tell them to just play with language.
And as mentioned, have them read the blogs of others. Then they'll vicariously see what good blogs are.
my rules: learn to look into their eyes, let their eyes look into you, keep it short, and don't advise anything you don't practice, and even if you do, don't rub it in.
But my real advice is writers is this truth I didn't learn while getting a degree in Creative Writing — Writers Write. If you are a writer or destined to be a writer, you will write. It is not a choice. It is not done by a set of rules like "once a week"
Lastly, I learned this trick from the best copywriter I ever worked with... "write like you were telling a story to your favorite aunt."
And lastly lastly, since I respectfully don't agree with much of anything written here by anybody, the job of a teacher is not to "teach" writing. I don't think that can be done. And all these tech problems and other little things are unimportant.
The job of a writing teacher is to inspire a student to find out what's inside and get it out in a way that satisfies both the writer and the reader.
I would pass along one suggestion I learned from OS's own Torman when I first started blogging some years ago on another site. Bring variety to your posts. Try different themes, different voices, varied topics; these tend to be the most popular blogs as well as the most enjoyable for the writer.
For examples on OS, I would point to Torman's entries, a mix of humor, commentary, short fiction, and memoirs; Caroline Hagood's, an eclectic mx of poetry, film criticism, and social exposition; and At Home Pilgrim's, who can write baseball analysis worthy of Sports Illustrated one day and photos and text about wildlife mating (or not) in his backyard the next day.
Best of luck with your class, Eva!
-R-
Actually, one of my main reasons for encouraging blogging is the fact that it gives beginning writers one of the same things they receive from being in a class: an audience.
Learning to web format their text and to add images, links and occasionally, videos, makes their blogs much more appealing to potential readers. And it is not difficult. If I can do it, anyone can!
Cheers again
One thing I've learned from this Open Call is that Open Salon bloggers have a lot to say about blogging! I've gotten more comments for this (and on a Saturday, no less!) than any other post I've written.
When I started, I wanted to do some poli-wonk stuff, but it was never as good as I'd have liked, mostly because it was all second-hand, I was just regurgitating the writers and commentators I enjoyed, back when I was writing letters to Salon on a rgular basis.
Then I figured out the idea was not to be as good as someone else, but to tell the stories only I could tell. Your own place in the story is the key.
I'm never very far from a pad and pen. My mind is a sieve and most of my best ideas have come and gone without ever being turned into stories. I was in a jail, waiting to visit my daughter. I noticed how unruffled everyone seemed. I made a note, "The shit we get used to." It appeared in my blog as "I ponder the things we get used to," and more than one reader wrote to say that line poleaxed 'em. It would not have been there had I not written down what I felt in that moment. There are better writers than yours truly. But they weren't in that room at that time to make that observation.
So tell me something only you can tell me.
Most ruptures don't present themselves full-grown, but a little bit at a time, and then finally all at once. But once that happens, then you need to get it down, and quickly. Or it changes, it softens and begins to morph into something else. Anyway, perhaps it is a good idea to write something on a daily basis, like in a journal, or on the side of a stranger's garage, because it keeps the muscles supple for when they're really needed. I just don't seem to require this exercise anymore. I enjoy days or even weeks away from writing. Awful process really. Can't understand all the hoopla about it. It's awful. Just awful.
Technical skills needed: Know how to do an active link, post a video, and use Photobucket or flickrphotos to store and post photos. Use "preview" to review your work before you publish.
And for God's sake, use Word, or even notepad, then copy and paste. OS can blank out an hours worth of work and it will not come back, no matter how much begging and pleading.
If you publish elsewhere, use the "links" in the left hand column to let your readers know of your other great works.
Read as much as you write. Rate and comment if you like the post. This helps with the reading comprehension, critical thinking, communication and socialization skills here. This is a community as well as a place to write.
Support each other and be kind. Not every post is an invitation to critique or engage in argument for argument's sake.
But most of all do have a good time with your writing. This is a place to fall in love with your craft and to dance with the keyboard, not to fight with it.
This does two things: reading blogs you like consistently will help you develop your own craft (blogging is a little different than standard creative writing), and it will help connect you with a few people who may return the favor. It is nice to find a few people who are constructive commenters for your own blog - some people are too afraid to say anything beyond "nice job."
Good luck teaching your writing workshop. Wishing you plenty of eager learners!
If they can't write every day, then reading is the next best thing. When you read a lot, the writing comes more easily.
And don't be afraid to experiment and try new things--today I followed Kathy Riordan's villanelle and tried one of my own. Then others followed me and some great villanelles came out of it. And believe me, if you told me I would write a villanelle today I would never have believed it!