Learning to Write, and Beyond- Consider Audience and Write with Purpose

Successful writers have learned, the old adage is true: good style is in the eye of the beholder. Writers do well to always remember their audience, which can vary. Our audience may be as broad as an open sea, or like the narrowest stream of water. 

Students and committed writers should take instruction and feedback with a grain of salt. 

Is your audience, in fact, a teacher? Then write for that audience . . . provide them what they need and you'll pass your course. This has nothing to do with the style you want to exhibit in your own writing, and learning to follow set guidelines will help you later with your personal endeavors.

The appeal of our writing to any other audience may not be as straightforward as in a classroom scenario. Under many circumstances, there will be no direction given for a writing assignment. Capacity to deliver appropriately will be assumed!

The biggest factor that works toward a successful writing project is in minding the congregation of any meeting or audience. Big or small, private or public . . . consider the qualities of the audience. Determine whether they're professional, laypersons, hobbyists, community. Also, why are you writing? Do you need to appeal to a particular crowd in order to get them to do something? Are you entertaining for for a few laughs, or do you need follow-through after the event?

Maybe you're writing for yourself, from a position of interest in organic attraction to your message. Whatever the answer, when you figure all the factors, your method becomes more clear. Above all, it's important to remember: never be discouraged from a craft you care about because of a critic or detractor along the way. Something can be learned from almost any critic, if only about them. It's quite possible that you were never writing for them! Your teacher, though . . . you're definitely writing for that critic. Do what you need to do in order to get that grade, and you might just learn something that you'll appreciate later. 

A small group presentation

When you think about it, you may be surprised at the potential critics of a project. Don't let it overwhelm you. Just do the work and be prepared for anything.

During February, we'll take a look at some solid examples of author styles that have been heavily criticized, yet have also been wildly successful in finding audience.

Meanwhile . . . who are you writing for this week?

Reviving the Journals of Sylvia Plath - The British Library

Sylvia Plath

Whatever brought you here, whoever you are, you're likely to recognize the name of Sylvia Plath. Her 1963 novel The Bell Jar has been a companion of many students whose writing, language or literature class syllabi required it. Beyond this, Plath was a renowned artist of her time, known for her early and prolific stabs at production and successful publication.¹

As a young girl, Plath authored local pieces and experimented with painting, but was first a writer and succeeded in being nationally published soon after high school. Students and fans of Plath will recall her personalized, get-to-know-me style of revelational writing and may remember some of the unfortunate details of her life experience, including her suicide-- only one month after the publication of her first and only novel.

The Bell Jar would eventually be adapted for film, in the 1979 production of the same name.² While popular, the film was criticized for it's lack of insight into the life of the young woman whose productive mind would eventually disintegrate to the precarious state which invited and ultimately assured her demise.

See images of some of Sylvia Plath's typewritten journal pages and enjoy Karen Kukil's retrospective of Plath's style and motivations, via the British Library project Discovering Literature: Reviving the Journals of Sylvia Plath - The British Library

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1 Website Author(s). Poets.org. Poets. Sylvia Plath. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/sylvia-plath Retrieved Jan 2017.^↩

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2 Wikipedia Authors. The Bell Jar (Film). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Jar_(film). Retrieved Jan 2017.^↩

January - Don't Forget, It's National Hobby Month

If you needed an excuse or reminder, January is National Hobby Month. We're reminded during the month of January to carve out our schedule and fit into it the things we enjoy. More, to reflect on the activities that engage our most passionate, positive and rewarding responses.

Forming attachments into hobbies (at least one) can be one of the most challenging things we do. Life is full of distraction, and it's not all positive.

To maintain commitment to activities that don't necessarily feed us, or that can be associated with negative feedback, can be too daunting at times. Under the worst circumstances, people often lose their most cherished activities to things like grief or economy.

January's annual hobby reflection prompts us back into the self-awareness we may have lost, gradually or suddenly, during the past year. Any loss of something we enjoyed should be evaluated. It could be that we ultimately learn certain activities weren't the best use of our time and energy, so we move on to another interest. More important than any loss of interest in one activity is the recall, or discovery, of another activity's spark to our creativity and personal satisfaction. It's a good thing!

Which hobby will you bring into greater focus during the new year? Will you also try out a new activity? List one hobby in comments, with which you'd like to be more involved!

Lit Genre Focus: The Biographical Novel

Q: What's one way to learn more about a period in time and some of the experiences of those who lived in that time?

A: We can read an historical fiction novel.

Read more literature!

What about getting to know specific historical figures with whom we're familiar, yet curious about their actual lives, including their personal experiences other than the usual textbook primers?

In such a case, we need to find a biographical novel about them.¹ Often, a biographical novel will present us with multiple familiar 'faces', depending on theme and settings. They key to understanding what should be taken away from a book of this genre is in remembering that it is in fact a subgenre, under the fiction heading. Yet, the biographical novel isn't to be taken lightly or disregarded in terms of our ability to gain information.

While some scenes (sometimes, most of them) are quite made up, we're nonetheless offered a deeper view into the fabric of those societies that were known by the characters of a story. Although a scene may be fictionalized, this doesn't mean that something very similar didn't happen. The takeaway for a reader is in their perception of life experiences leading to the actions of the story and its characters.

Notable figures of today-- and throughout history-- tend to be either luminaries of their time or something of the opposite . . . troubled nobodies, perhaps. They share a basic commonality: their celebrated or infamous personae, as depicted by popular popular perception and based on snippets of history that have since been translated into textbooks and other media.

We often read their poetry, watch their stage performances, learn their politics . . . but as far as their lives . . .

The biographical novel presents us with opportunity to see a little further into the lives and circumstances of those figures. By placing those characters into the plots of novels, writers are able to apply some artistic license to help readers better conceptualize the times and events that directly, and indirectly, influenced them. Stories are spun around known historical facts-- the biographical elements of these works.

In this way, the biographical novel offers a window through which we might identify with or, at least understand, our heroes, our figureheads, our most memorable predecessors.

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1 Writer's Digest Authors. Definitions of Fiction Categories and Genres. Writer's Digest University. http://resources.writersonlineworkshops.com/resources/definitions-of-fiction-categories-and-genres/ Retreived Jan 2017.^↩

Who Knew - Bigelow Gave Us Dafoe in the Movie "The Loveless"

Meet 26-year-old Willem Dafoe, in a role that seems to have been designed for his future of ruffian character portrayals. A countenance that has stood the test of time, the face of Dafoe has long been assurance of film-making to see.

A test of Amazon Prime was the key that opened the door to this introduction of Dafoe-- actor, producer, writer-- as a much younger man than previously known, in a movie that surely helped to set his brand as key to his success.

The Loveless (1981-82) follows Vance (Willem Dafoe) around town as he and gang cut up and make scenes as outlaw leathers.

Before The Loveless, Dafoe had snagged a role in the 1979-80 production Heaven's Gate. According to a short bio on Dafoe at IMDB, he was released without credit for that one. His role was cut, and Heaven's Gate became a figment of the then-wiser man's past.

Ultimately, Dafoe continued his chosen career in film undeterred . . . beginning with The Loveless and its now-famous director Kathryn Bigelow!

You may recognize her as a fairly recent contender for-- and winner of-- an Academy Award for her role as director of The Hurt Locker. Bigelow impressed everyone when she became the first woman to win that award as Best Director (2008). But, Bigelow's been around since well before Dafoe's portrayal of biker Vance (his first credited film).

Having started with a local art institute in California, Bigelow produced and sold works of art before winning her first scholarship to an independent art program and continuing on the arts track until winning a film scholarship. Her way thus paved, Bigelow then directed a student film entitled The Set-Up in 1978, a nod to the affects of violence in film. This way, she effectively established her interest in and capacity to make film.¹ As far as film credits go, it appears that 1980 was Bigelow's first credited foray into the field, as a script supervisor for the movie Union City.

It's unclear when Bigelow and Dafoe met, but not long after each of their initial successes, they were working together on the set of The Loveless. 

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1 Skully, Home. IMDB. Kathryn Bigelow Bio. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000941. Retreived Jan 2017. <sup>↩

Affiliate - ref. "About"</sup> 

Author of Famous Children's Book on Censorship Dies at 91

Nat Hentoff was the kind of writer who wanted to make the world a better space. Over the span of his life and career, he managed to develop into a successful writer of music and books, as well as to land space in several periodical publications.

He wrote a children's book entitled The Day They Came to Arrest the Book, about ongoing civil debates on content censorship in the classroom. His story unfolds as a school newspaper editor (Barney Roth) grapples with the effects of a community demanding removal of a popular Mark Twain title, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Hentoff's book was published by Delacorte Press in 1982, has been reprinted several times, and is often used in educational classrooms. First-editions can be found, as well as subsequent prints and other titles by Hentoff largely about some aspect of jazz or blues music as well as issues of civil liberty.

In some of his final writing, Hentoff offered his readers a quote of advice once given to him about making an impact in this world via journalism. Any aspiring writer or investigative type could benefit to remember it. Find this, and more, from James Doubek via NPR: 'Village Voice' Veteran And Jazz Critic Nat Hentoff Dies At 91 : The Two-Way : NPR

What's in a Quality News Source?

The following quote (refers to UK media, but applies everywhere) points to a quite developed, still growing problem in news posts on social media sites (where most people source their information today). The problem often extends to the linked articles of said posts:

"Where there is no distinction between the Quality press (like The Times of London and The Observer) which caters for elitist, high brow, intellectual readers and the Popular press, which is more suited for plebeian tastes, newspapers have to be all things to all people. So, newspapers likes The Times of Zambia and The Post are an editorial compromise, cutting across different intellectual levels."¹

There's a local U.S. newspaper in our area that, over the last several years, got its start online. Over time, quality of said paper's online presence gradually improved and eventually a print version was born. Printed editions are presented very well, while greater slack is still observable in the online version (where more immediate, less regulated posting is possible).

So, it's been an observable phenomenon that as a publication betters itself it will usually begin to batten hatches, so to speak. The new ship shall sail, and to do so it must maintain the utmost in integrity. This new vessel comes at a much greater cost! Therefore, it needs subscribers. In order to continue to refine its Quality, the ship stewards need financial support. We do not live in a free society.

Where some news organizations will take care to monitor their offerings of quality news sourcing at the mass social level, most will not. This is evident in much of the newsy propaganda so widely available in free online sources, such as social media's promotional news posting.

How we can encourage greater, actionable, news reception

Together, these developments remind us that all things have their start, and while it's true that the most refined things in life are generally reserved and sold to the highest bidders, it's worth our trust that most people desire basic standards. The trick is in such people having ever understood what is better or, more useful to the end that is needed.

Unrest among social media audiences who know better clearly shows frustration at journalism cutting corners on already-carved expectations in media news reporting. However, what these audiences largely miss is that this isn't going to change very much.

Where such expectations have not been rooted, they may not grow. 

As the years pass and a greater quantity of people fall into economic burden, access to Quality news reporting becomes a greater game of chance. While in such an economy and social structure as we currently experience there may be a greater number of millionaires, as well as those who manage to scrape themselves hundreds of thousand dollars per annum, there will be- with that- massive numbers of those who believe they cannot afford to purchase any Quality News. As the divide grows, between news for them and news for those, it's kind of astonishing to realize the implications of that kind of journalism.

Where such expectations (of Quality) have not been rooted, they may not grow. This is a moral lesson we can observe as we decide on quality of goods and services to a public and also as we consider how important accurate-- and full-- news reporting is to society. Rather than make a point of not purchasing a news source simply because we think we're receiving 'good enough' information for free, we should commit to the acquisition of at least one news source in which we're happy to invest. The more, the better, for us all. We must lead our children to their best outcomes, simply by ensuring that they have the Quality information that they need.

What do you think?

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1 Djokotoe, Edem. "Creative Newspaper Writing". 6/2008. IJNET. http://ijnet.org/en/blog/creative-newspaper-writing 9/2016^↩

When to Use Capital Letters in Poetry

Poets, don't underestimate the power of the capital letter!

It's fairly common in poetry-writing groups [some are staunch against any capital, as their style] to see a peer berate another for use of capital letters in their poems. Writers are closely attached to their proven styles, and it's nothing personal but should be taken with some consideration.

While it's no longer the requirement it once was, hence possible to overdo, capitalization may still be implemented where it's deemed useful! At the end of things, it's truly the artist's prerogative.

Read on, for L. Meadow's input as to 5 reasons you might use a capital letter in your poem.

Greater Options Can Be Found in Deciding to Do More

Quote:

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt

From the book The Most Productive People in History
18 Extraordinarily Prolific Inventors, Artists, and Entrepreneurs, From Archimedes to Elon Musk

Written by Michael Rank and published by the CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on April 30, 2015. 

3 Ways to Improve Decision-Making Abilities in 2017

There are those who are more decisive in general (and surely make more mistakes) and those more indecisive (who surely claim less control). The more festive ones among us have made their New Year's resolutions by today, the first day of a new year. That is, if they're going to participate in this yearly tradition of determination.

About those New Year's promises & resolutions

Have you noticed a trend this year, to commit to make no resolution except in a promise to mind a stronger daily resolve throughout the year? Okay, that's a veiled resolution! While they say they have no resolution in them . . .  no desire to add yet another item to overcrowded memory lists . . . the fact remains that there is indeed resolve in this decision to make no New Year's resolution. In fact, there is more decisiveness in the promise than in the resolution.

Avoid Leaning on Semantics & Gain Confidence in the Inclination of Your Decisions

We could resolve to be more confident in our decisions, which would be good! Yet, if we promise instead, then we put a higher price (a price we wouldn't want to pay) on any eventual neglect. This could play out in a couple of ways:

• we may be more apt to follow through with our promise (success!), or 

• more likely to perceive 'failure' that could occur when unforeseen circumstances prevent us from meeting our promise (possibly injurious to the psyche)

Maybe this is why we make New Year's resolutions and not promises. Living organisms are known to develop protections against excessive self-damage. It's reasonable that we would use semantics in a dance to make a big, annual promise to ourselves while at the same time relieving ourselves of the effects of any fall-through (being that a resolution isn't as strong as a promise).

But this strategy of semantics- while protective- doesn't necessarily help us to be more decisive. Instead, it seems to play into some pretty heavy human avoidance traits which, if better understood, could help us train ourselves to successfully meet higher demands through more chances taken . . . like being more decisive.

How to Handle Dueling Semantics

Rather than settling on semantics for relief of obligations (which could be a subconscious affect of biology and adaptation and not necessarily overt avoidance) we could instead strive to be more direct with ourselves in order to maintain the determination needed for greater decisiveness. Doing so would more likely challenge us to exceed our expectations. Alternatively, we might intimidate ourselves into failure with inappropriate perceptions about the added responsibilities of strong decisions!

According to Dr. Bill Knaus, licensed clinical psychologist and former psychology professor, people tend to be either threatened or challenged when facing decision-making opportunities.¹ Understanding the difference between feeling threatened and feeling challenged is a little more obvious, yet there is a semantic element to this understanding which-- if not well understood-- prevents familiarizing oneself with the psychological ramifications of opportunities manifesting as "threats".

Greater Awareness Improves Certainty & Results

Thankfully, we live in an information society. It's more likely than ever, for a greater number of people, to maintain the knowledge needed to make decisions that will help us excel in our lives. Awareness is the beginning of any progress. Here are three ways-- three things you can do today-- to improve your awareness and decision-making abilities.

1. Consider the complexities of semantics. (Check!)
2. Study vocabulary (especially if you're a graduated adult) to avoid being an unconscious victim of your own misunderstanding. 
3. Learn proactive coping strategies for overcoming uncertainty, courtesy of Dr. Bill Knaus

Gaining a greater understanding of semantics is important. It is the beyond-basic, enhanced communication that relays the information with which people are least comfortable. When we want to be assured of greater understanding among our peers and groups, well-used language semantics are key to exchanging the most clarified messaging.

Work on these things regularly. As each year passes and those around you make their resolutions and their promises, take some confidence in your realization of the decision makers around you, in your earned linguistic understanding and psychological awareness gained through applied, decisive and self-supporting actions.

Happy New Year!

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1 Bill Knaus, Ed.D. Uncertainty, Anxiety, Indecision and Procrastination. Psychology Today. August 2013. Retreived January 2017^↩