Turq, Your joke about cutting down the report triggered some memories for me. I wrote about a dozen infomercials, years ago now, and during the shoots, I'd be up at 3am rewriting some scene, and then the next morning I'd drag my ass into the meeting with the new material, and the bosses would just take out all my sweet little bon mots. Every little flourish of mine was scrapped off the top like too much frosting -- just wasn't enough time to be "pretty" and I had trim everything down to the bone -- the bone being "what sells."
I think I learned a lot from that experience, just like, er was it you that wrote instructional manuals?, well like that I had to get focused on the actual goals of the writing instead of proving myself to be wondrously creative, cool ass, next Updike, world class, scribe for the ages -- you know, how people normally view me. I love good writing. When I don't agree with you or Curtis, (and several other good writers here whom I am too lazy to list) I still read the entire post -- that's good writing. And whether the post is filled with creative wordplay or if it is a straightforward didactic attempt, I'm pleased with seeing your skills in action. To me, posting here HAS to be about creativity. I just have too deep a certainty about my own confusions to pose as a teacher -- though indeed, most jyotishis told me I was destined to be one. I read the writings of the world class brains out there in the real world, and I'm panting to keep up. Try reading Thomas Aquinas about consciousness....it'll test you as much as that Science of Being and Art of Living chapter about "when consciousness becomes conscious." And, as much as I could get an A+ on my Advaita final exam, I just don't have the intellectual chops to produce something that's bankable guru spew. But I do have the ability to sing of my perspectives, and that's a valid and authoritative and legitimate expression, cuz, who else is inside my head, eh? So that's my field of expertise -- I'm the expert on the hilarity of Edg's lack of ability to do anything extremely well. Oh, read Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta. Those two guys covered it all with such simple statements. What more could anyone do? Don't look at me! Comparatively, I'm the kid in the back of the class shooting spit wads and burping when the teacher is writing on the blackboard. I'm only having funzies. I don't have serious goals when all the knowledge is really right there in the books. Sigh. In India, they say, "Knowledge in the books stays in the books." And if ever there was a place where horses were brought to drink but refuse to do so, it's here, and so teaching anyone or converting anyone or even just slightly influencing anyone posting here is purdy durned nigh on to impossible. The readers here are very practiced and bristling, and I don't have the desire to get into a fist fight here, so I'm a trollish gadfly to some extent in that I'm just getting my ego's hunger for attention assuaged. I just haven't wanted to correct anyone's mistakes -- not when I'd have to throw a stone from my glass house at them. That's one of the best things about FFlife: you can be sure that only a certain low level of bullshit can get past the eyes here, otherwise one is crisped in short order. I barely escaped alive from telling you folks about paying for a soldier's meal -- it was so ladened with my own hubris, so I'm ducking and weaving, and it keeps me honest enough to have a modicum of integrity when I write. All my life I've been mostly a guarded personality that took only known risks, but here, I've been letting myself laugh at me for all the ridiculousness, and it's been freeing to just be honest instead of creating a very clever mask. Not that I'm not wearing a mask all the time, but that the one I wear nowadays seems to be more form fitting to my skin. For me, it's amazing to admit I am screwy, cuz, I gotta tell ya, when my ego sees me ratting me out, the little creep does a jig while having a fit, and it's just so comical. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Also, just to be real, when I post something, DAMMIT I WANT > > TO SEE ITS TITLE FOR AT LEAST A FEW HOURS on the first page > > of the message board. When someone posts obsessively, all > > the other posts are pushed lower on the lists, and, I, as > > a writer who puts a lot of time into the posts, find that > > it hurts, sniff sniffle, to become off-page so quickly. > > Sue me, but it's a big reason for my voting for the five > > post rule. > > Color me cackling incontrollably at this, > drawing unwanted attention from the other > cafe patrons. :-) > > > As for not having five important things to say per day...yeah > > right...like that's true -- > > I don't know if it's true or not. I just > found myself considering that as a real > possibility -- especially with regard to > my own posts -- and then posing it as a > question to the group. > > What caused me to entertain the idea was > going back and rereading some of the posts > I felt compulsive about when I wrote them, > as if I really "had" to write what I was > writing. What I found was that they were > often the *least* interesting things I'd > written that day, or that week. So I > wondered if anyone else felt the same > way. > > > ...the problem is that really handling a concept with > > integrity requires bringing one's attention, again and > > again, to the subject at hand and note the new ideas > > that springboard off the central topic. This fleshing > > out takes a lot of dedication, rereading, editing, and > > passion for the material. > > While I don't disagree with what you say in > the least, just as another point of view I've > found that with the five-post limit I'm more > able to do all of that *in one post*. Instead > of dragging the "train of thought" out over > several posts, I tend these days to *try* to > think it through the first time around, as > much as possible. Then, if a few hours later > I still find myself thinking about the subject, > I might add more, if it really needs saying. > > And, on rereading the posts made this way, I'm > finding that the single, thought-through posts > are often doing a far better job of expressing > what I wanted to say than the series of six or > seven shorter stream-of-consciousness posts I > used to write in the past when on similar rants. > > For the record, I for one have noticed the care > that you seem to put into your posts, and > appreciate it. Most of them are single-topic, > and do a good job of exploring several sides of > that topic, while often being damned funny. (The > last phrase is the highest compliment I can > bestow on another writer, BTW.) > > > As a writer, I'm always wanting to put something down that > > resonates for at least the near future. > > Not that it's relevant, but for some reason this > reminds me of a great Woody Allen line, "I don't > want to attain immortality through my work; I want > to attain it by not dying." :-) > > Here's another possibly-apocryphal "writer story" > that I've heard bandied about as a kind of in-office > urban legend. Guy spends days working on a report > for his boss, and finally turns it it in. It's eight > pages long. A few hours later, he gets it back in the > office mail along with a note from his boss saying, > "Nice, but it's too long. Cut it in half." > > The guy goes back to the drawing board, cuts line > after line of superfluous verbiage that isn't really > superfluous, and turns in a four-page version of the > same post. It comes back again, with a note that says, > "It's better, but still not right. Cut it in half > again." The guy freaks. *Nothing* can be cut out and > still say what he needs to say. But he takes the report > home and works on it all night and by morning, he has > a version that is only two pages long. He takes it to > his boss' office and turns it in personally. The boss > looks at it and says, "Two pages, right?" The guy says > proudly, "Yes." The boss says, "Great. I'll read it > this time." > > The five-post limit has been a similar kind of writing > lesson for me. I just try to eliminate all those > annoying iterations... >
