Marian E. Wright Writing Center

Yes, Ladies and gentlemen, the “P” word. Who knew uttering its three syllables in mixed company could evoke such a myriad of responses, from fear and loathing to inspiration and admiration, this it seems, is one powerful word. And although I indulge in its use, let’s face it, I’m not Shakespeare, nor can I channel Wordsworth or Longfellow, and on occasion I do indulge in Silverstein and Prelutsky, but that’s the beauty of this often maligned and misunderstood genre! It can offer insight, provoke thoughts and feelings, and yes, even coax a laugh or two.

Being someone who appreciates the fact words are powerful, and that knowledge and use of them in turn increases our own linguistic prowess, why is it, that unless I am with the staunchest of reading and writing aficionados, this word can bring on rolled eyes, sagging shoulders, a glazed affect, and eventually excuses to make a hasty retreat? It seems to all come down to the E-I-E-I-O Principal. When Ethos and Inexperience are met with Exposure, Information, and Opportunity, it can lead to great accomplishments within any attempted venue. The basic tenets of this principle though, have at many times been negatively exacted on students, via the requirements of memorization and recitation. When this is done, previous to a solid foundation of exposure, information, and opportunity, it can incite panic and repulsion. I’ve grumbled yet acquiesced, for my own grade’s sake, when handed such a requirement, which doesn’t fully stay with me after recitation, but the few lines I can readily recall are from separate works and authors:

“…I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea…”

“Of living creatures most I prize
Black spotted yellow butterflies…”

“Allison Beals had twenty-five eels-
She used four for skateboard wheels…”

I’ll leave them here for you to puzzle over, and with the depth and swiftness of technology today, I’ve no doubt you’ll quickly figure them out. I also encourage you to take advantage of the days left in April, a month devoted to the “P” word in all its forms, and the opportunities filled with exposure and information that are available, to thereby initiate the hopeful demise of the negative connotations this word may have left with you and those around you.

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Do you have those teachers who encourage you to write each day? Do you not really know how to in a fun way? Once, I heard that an individual needs to write 1,200-words a day if they want to practice their voice in their writing. But, truth is, we are students. Some of us have jobs, some have families, some are in clubs, some are volunteers. Do we really have time to write 1,200-words every single day? Probably not. Therefore, I have a preposition for you.

A few years ago, I took an Introduction to Creative Writing class, and when the professor told us on the first day that we would be writing 1,500-words-a-week in addition to our regular coursework, I was dreading the course already, but then she told us that the 1,500-words-a-week would be divided up into 5-days, which would be only 300-words a day. In a busy day of a college student, like each one of us, that is a feasible goal, and better yet, if you have a real busy day, that day can always be one of your two days when you do not write anything.

So, now, the question is, what do you write about?

That professor who started me on this 300-word-a-day journey told us that we could write about anything. We could write about our day, our life, whatever was on our minds. For me, even though writing is an outlet and what my major is, finding the time to sit down and free-write is a chore. To this day, I still do not find the time, but writing this blog, and challenging you, I am going to challenge myself to write 300-words, 5 days a week.

So, this is me, ending on my 300^th beautiful, intellectual word (excluding my title!).

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So, lots of people don’t like reading, for various reasons. After a while, I started trying to put myself in their shoes.

It could be the degree of relevancy the texts have to students’ lives (which could be very little, depending on the amount of discussion).

It could be the pace at which people go through reading texts in classes (the less time people spend thinking about what they’ve read, the fewer chances they’ll have of getting something out of it).

It could be that there are things missing from discussion, like understanding the contexts in which texts are written.

And it could be that in English literature classes, more so high school than college, we read too much about and from dead white men.

Don’t get me wrong, I get that this is English we’re talking about here, and that with a language and its history comes the culture in which the language has developed, with both white men and women writing about their time periods for many reasons.

Nor should any writer be singled out for their race by itself, because that’s just racist, and therefore unfair to what’s going on in the person’s mind.

I’m simply arguing for a consideration of the context in which people are reading today, and how this affects people’s thought processes in approaching world issues and their degree of relevancy in a literary context.

We live in a country founded on democracy— I would quote one of my professors as saying, “We live in a country of immigrants”. And really, we do. Our founding fathers were colonists. We experienced waves of Irish, and German, and Italian, and Jewish, and Mexican immigrants. And many others, of many different backgrounds, for many different reasons. This is the place most famed for being a country of diversity, where people come from all around the globe.

And it is here, in our mixture of world cultures, that we learn can learn about other worlds within the one we live in.

I know that part of the reason why I had difficulty reading about what is held as conventional literature is because it was only writing about one kind of world, and it was not one with which I could heavily identify. I figure that other people who recognize their other cultures may have a similar problem, and because their cultures might have more difficulty being seen as validated in the realms of literature, or because they may have difficulty seeing how these texts are relevant to them even today, they may turn away from the field out of a lack of interest.

More recently in this wide span of history, we are also producing generations in which people are more aware of the world. This is largely in part due to many people having access to the Internet. We may spend a large amount of time being its consumers, especially in terms of accessing social media, but now people have access to what people are putting online around the world. And that is something to account for.

And while this may be more recent with the Internet’s development, this has happened before, where authors have been read and translated in countries other than where they are from. We still see this today.

I also do not intend to speak as if we don’t have many of these classes. At U of M– Flint, for example, we have a multicultural literature class listed as an English course. This is an advancement. We also have literature courses in other departments, but that’s the thing—they’re in other departments. They are generally associated more with the departments which focus on these cultures.

And while they shouldn’t be removed as part of their programs, they’re still separated to a degree from English-related courses, when they are taught in English as well and the works are in English. Not many English majors take part in these unless it is purely out of interest.

And while they might not necessarily be required, it’s important to consider just how many English majors walk away from this university with a diploma comprised of mostly white literature where the requirements are concerned—with the idea in mind that many will be teaching in schools where there are students of and from a wider array of cultures.

America being a major representation of the concept of us living in a global world, where cultures interact and interconnect even though they may seem isolated by borders, it is time that we remove these borders when considering how we teach literature. When we remove them from our thinking processes, we increase tolerance, understanding and promote this kind of open-minded, global thinking in our classrooms.

That’s the kind of step we need to make to keep literature’s dynamic in relation to its societal role, to keep these classes relevant to our students and leave them walking away with something, that glorious spark that has them making connections to other disciplines and events, bringing progress and advancement to our world, one step at a time.

Not that we can’t do that with tradition. But if we stop it there, and give the impression that it’s a dead thing, it may eventually be treated as a dead thing, when it isn’t… and could become a dead thing, as we would understand it.

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When in doubt, channel Hemingway. This has been my writing motto as of this last year. I had to forgo using this motto while drinking, because I found out I am more like Fitzgerald than Hemingway when it comes to my alcohol tolerance. While drinking before noon is not a way I can emulate this talented writer, I have found I can follow sound writing advice produced in one of my favorite works by Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast. I love this book for many reasons. I enjoy reading about his life in Europe, his marriage to his first wife Hadley, and the back story behind why he wrote about food so much (he was practically starving early in his career.) Particularly, I love reading about his decisions when writing and the gift of getting a look into his process.

One of my favorite sections describes how Hemingway’s inner voice reminded him not to panic when the words did not instantly pour out onto the paper when he was writing something new. “I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, ‘Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.’” I love that, and think it’s brilliant on many levels. For one thing, it reminds us that even gifted writers have moments when they can’t immediately think of what to write. And secondly, there is the tried and true tip: write about something you know.  It’s also a great reminder to forget about all the crap. Forget about trying to do this or that, forget about trying to sound like a witty genius. Just write something real, man. I might start sounding like a character from Dazed and Confused, or the great hippie poet, Jim Morrison, so let’s move on.

Hemingway went on to talk about his revision process. This advice has been particularly helpful to me, because writing clearly and concisely can be difficult. But clarity and cohesion are valued in writing, especially in academic writing. When you equate eloquent prose with flowery, descriptive language, you run the risk of losing both your meaning and the reader in too many words. Hemingway wrote, “if I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.” Go back and read over what you wrote. There will almost always be words you can cut out to make your writing sharper.

Hemingway also mentions the phenomenon I refer to as “the flow.” I love the flow, when the words finally start tumbling out of you almost faster than you can write them (or type them, as most of us compose in present day.) “I was writing it now and it was not writing itself and I did not look up nor know anything about the time nor think where I was nor order any more rum St. James.” Few things beat the feeling of this moment. Or, maybe it’s the feeling after you are done, because you aren’t really thinking of anything, but what you are writing during this time. Just writing about it makes me want to light up a cigarette. Unfortunately, it has been eons since I last smoked. Even Hemingway wrote about it like he was spent. “After writing a story I was always empty and both sad and happy, as though I had made love, and I was sure this was a very good story although I would not know truly how good until I read it over the next day.” Here is another revelation of his process. He doesn’t read through it until the next day. This is great advice again, because you need to separate yourself and take time away from your writing in order to give revision justice. Looking at your writing with new eyes is the best way to “re-vision” your work.

Hemingway’s larger than life personality is fun to get lost in when reading A Moveable Feast. I admire his passion for life, food, drinking, and love. But, where he lived these passions in excess, he knew to pull back when it came to his writing. We can all take a few (writing) cues from the man they called Papa.

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Writing, for most, consists largely of staring at a blank screen and a blinking cursor for half an hour. When the coffee mug (or brandy snifter) is empty and the peanut M&Ms source is depleted, the writer sinks deep into despair, realizing that not a word has been written, not a single worthy idea has even surfaced in his mind. The self-loathing and self-deprecation begin. “I’m a terrible writer. I’ll never write anything anyone wants to read. I can’t ever think of anything to write. I should be eaten alive by baby racoons.” You know the routine.

I’ve learned something through these “writer’s block” experiences. The way we approach writing, even “for fun” writing, determines what we produce. Writers often sit in front of a screen or notebook with an “image” in mind, an image that demands to be manifested through the writer’s pen. Initial thoughts are: ‘My work needs to end up looking like X. How do I get there?’ This Platonic idea haunts the writer, pressuring him to find that perfect, formulaic prose that his audience demands. And if he does not produce something that fits that image, the gods of rhetoric will strike him with lightning. Thirty minutes later, no coffee, no M&Ms, and no writing. Just a cursor, that blinking eyelid, staring menacingly.

Here’s some ideas for working through this blockage:

1) Try not to visualize your end product. This will only stress you out and rob you of your creative energies. Unless you’re technical writing for a toothpaste company, chances are you probably have a fair amount of freedom with what you produce. Your final product will have your own personal touch to it, and that’s why it will be unique. Writing is mostly about a process, not a final product. Process beckons your creativity. Product stands over you and growls, “Did you get that memo?”

2) Brainstorm/Invent/Pre-write. I also call this “scribbling”. Get a separate piece of paper or Word document and just start writing out your thoughts about the subject at hand. Write about how frustrated you are with writer’s block, or how awful a writer you are. I once started writing a fictional scenario about an editor reading my work, crumbling it, throwing it in the trash basket and urinating on it because it was so terrible. Imagining the visual lifted my spirits and gave me some fresh ideas. You’ll be surprised at some of the beautiful sentences you can produce while being honest. You’ll be inspired and, at least, your creative juices should be starting to flow.

3) Cluster. Take a sheet of paper and write the word or phrase or topic you need to write about in the middle of the page and circle it. Begin to think of any words, phrases, or topics related to the circled one – anything, ANYTHING that comes to mind – and draw lines protruding from the center and circle those other words. Then do the same for the new words. Before you know it, you’ll have a spider web of lots and lots of words/ideas to work with. Let your mind sort them creatively and poetically. Inspiration will happen.

4) Read what someone else has written about the topic at hand. Or just read something creative. Anything. Read a chapter by Hemingway or Montaigne or Malcolm Gladwell. Notice the way their words flow (or don’t flow) and their sentences fit together cohesively. Get jealous of their skill. Determine to write something good. Something damn good. Something that Hemingway would read and say, “Damn. That’s a good sentence. I’ll drink to that. Another Papa Doble, bartender.” You get the idea.

5) Spoil your writer. Tempt her with goodies. Refill the coffee mug and the M&Ms dish.

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English was my first passion. Ever since elementary school, I have loved to read and write. Even now I still love the sounds and flow of words, the complexity of their interactions, and the power they hold to persuade readers, stimulate imaginations, and weave beauty from thin air. For me writing has always been more than a tool. It is often a functional, pragmatic means of communication, but can also be profoundly enjoyable – maybe even something more. Sacred? Obsession? Despite much reflection, the only answer I can come up with is “deliciously unavoidable.”

Recently I learned about a phenomenon called hypergraphia in Alice Flaherty’s book The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block, and the Creative Brain. Flaherty describes non-clinical hypergraphia as a “neurological oddity” (24). She explains hypergraphia in the following way: “Most obviously, hypergraphics write a great deal . . . Second, hypergraphia comes from a strong, conscious, internal drive – say, pleasure – rather than from an external influence . . . Third, the writing usually has themes that are highly meaningful for the author, often philosophical, religious, or autobiographical . . . Fourth, apart from the loose constraint that the writing be meaningful at least to the author, the writing need not be any good” (25).

When I discovered this passage, my relationship to writing made so much sense. You see, I have to write. It doesn’t matter what it is. I love a semester crammed full of papers because it gives me an excuse to write all the time. How great is that?! During light weeks when I don’t have papers to work on, or during finals weeks when exams are the focus, the energy to write amasses inside me, slowly gathering momentum and whipping into a firestorm. I try to repress it for the sake of studying, but it smolders and flickers until I think I can’t take it anymore. The physical need to write blazes beneath the surface of my skin, tingling in my fingers and coursing like sparks through my veins. To mitigate the compulsion, I write lists – endless and endless lists. Lists of homework for each day, sometimes each hour; lists of classes I should take; lists of graduate schools to apply to and what sort of application materials each requires; lists of little chores to do – make bed, brush teeth, pick up room – all so I can feel the gliding ease of the pen, the silky-smooth paper beneath my palm and fingertips, and the distinct wholesomeness of my mind engaged in writing. With the conclusion of my last exam, I celebrate, staying up all night writing, reading, revising, writing again, with sleep, hunger, and thirst forgotten in the flames finally released to burn with abandon.

Not everyone has such a relationship with writing. For many it’s a difficult and painstaking task; for others, it’s simply uninteresting. Whatever our connection to writing, we all seem to engage in one activity which, as Dostoevsky writes, “gives a feeling . . . of completeness, of proportion, of reconciliation, and of startled prayerful merging with the highest synthesis of life” (qtd. in Flaherty 48). For me, that activity is writing. What’s yours? And, more interesting, why?

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Lets face it, yes, tutors would like to believe that they are perfect and can do no wrong when it comes to the writing world. The fact of the matter is that tutors are humans and in being humans they are flawed, even if they claim they aren’t. We have lives, classes and other crazy stuff that takes our attention away from the awesome papers that we help students out with. In a perfect world, nothing would distract us from the moment we walk through the writing center doors to the moment we walk out at the end of our shift. Sadly, this is not a perfect world.

What I’m trying to say is that some times we make mistakes when we are tutoring. We don’t mean to but it happens. I’ve had moments where I’ve giving the wrong information (such as formatting information) that I realize later on that was incorrect. We do try our best to be as accurate as possible and as correct as possible but mistakes do happen. If you happen to be one of the unlucky students that ends up getting some mistaken incorrect information please keep in mind that we are not perfect and we try our very best to be accurate. Don’t write us off because of one mistake.

We are more than happy to provide you with the resources on where we get our information so that you are able to find them on your own as well. Be sure to ask!

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“If I’m going to set the literary world on fire, the only way to do it is to rub one word against another.   ‘A writer’s notebook is one place to start rubbing.’ ” (Wallace Stegner/Ralph Fletcher)

Journal, sketchbook, notebook, idea log, whatever moniker you assign, it may surprise you how useful one can be, and that many published writers utilize them.  For some of us, this item conjures thoughts of “Dear Diary, today I…,” yet a true writer’s notebook transcends this plane, building a resource of details, that when consulted on a regular basis, can enhance your writing endeavors.

Now, unless you have an eidetic memory, allowing you to remember with complete clarity every thought or detail you’ve ever entertained, you need a place to house ideas, quotes, odd facts, lists, snippets of conversations, and words that intrigue you and could one day become details of an inspiring essay. Being a digital immigrant myself, my journals are multiple, page-filled, pen scrawled books, placed on shelves in my office, yet for those of you that are digital natives, yours may be typed into an electronic device and then stored on it or somewhere in the ether.  Either way, your notebook provides a place to record, rant, question, and preserve items you wish to retain, revisit, and revise.

These details we house were termed by the late poet William Stafford as “golden threads.”  His thoughts propose that the details we take in via our senses, when turned into words, especially in a journal, become items we can follow and weave into our written works.  So, as you travel through this life, don’t discount the details you remember or come across, make sure you place them in a “journal” so they can become the threads that lead you to literary richness.

Okay, still not sold on the idea of keeping a journal? A great place for information on starting one can be found in “Breathing In, Breathing Out — Keeping a Writer’s Notebook” by Ralph Fletcher.

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Have you ever wanted to write a story but felt that you didn’t have the time? Have you ever wanted to brag to friends and family that you collectively wrote a book? Have you ever wanted to be an author to the greatest story ever told? Well here is your chance to accomplish all three. With Halloween right around the corner, the Marian E. Wright Writing Center is getting in the mood to tell spooky stories. Starting Friday, October 26^th, at 12:01am, the Writing Center will be starting a Twitter spooky story chain using the hashtag #umflintboo. We invite all of campus to participate in creating and collaborating in this 5 day event that encourages all everyone to join the conversation on Twitter and add to the spooky story we hope to create.

What are the guidelines?                                    

Anyone who has a Twitter account can get involved. If you do not have an account, go to the Twitter website to create one. All you need to do is sign into your Twitter account, search for the hashtag #umflintboo and find the scary story in the works. At any time between Friday, October 26^th and Wednesday, October 31^st, search the hashtag to see where the story is at and add the next great line. All we ask is that you be creative and respectful.

Please keep in mind that the audience is the UMFlint campus and community. Refrain from using inappropriate language and obscene ideas. Any tweets containing inappropriate content will be blocked and users will not be allowed to contribute to the story. We also ask writers to try to refrain from ending the story early. If this happens, we hope that someone will take the initiative and take the creative route and resurrect the story. Remember, it’s Halloween. We want it to be spooky and scary.

The end result?

The end result, after the tweeting is completed, is a complied digital spooky story that will be published on the UM-Flint University Relations and Writing Center blogs. Each person who contributed will be credited as an author.

Remember

Twitter allows writers to get their point across in 140 characters in a clear and concise way. For this story chain, after the hashtag, writers will be limited to 129 characters. But never fear, you are not limited to just one tweet! Feel free to tweet as many times as you like. Just remember to include the hashtag. And also, remember to have fun!

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