{"id":470,"date":"2015-12-10T01:37:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T01:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/?p=470"},"modified":"2015-12-10T15:33:01","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T15:33:01","slug":"wit-and-wisdom-celebrating-a-semesters-end-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/2015\/12\/10\/wit-and-wisdom-celebrating-a-semesters-end-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Wit and Wisdom Celebrating a Semester\u2019s End"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a semester begins and academic energy runs high, we in the writing center sign up to lend something insightful to our humble blog archives. Invariably, I sign up for a late-semester date anticipating by then I\u2019ll have something so original\u2014nay<\/em>, profound<\/em>\u2014splashing in the mental bucket, it will forever alter the lives of those who drink it in.<\/p>\n

Alas, the well of profundity runs dry.<\/p>\n

In these moments, I do what academics do. I borrow from other writers. (And, as any judicious academic does, I\u2019ll give credit where it\u2019s due. I\u2019m indebted to Dr. Mardy Grothe and his collection, oxymoronica: paradoxical wit and wisdom from history\u2019s greatest wordsmiths<\/em>; HarperCollins, 2004).<\/p>\n

In celebration of another semester of rigorous writing performed by persevering writers in the Marian E. Wright Writing Center, here are 15 gems sure to bring pause, a nod, or smile.<\/p>\n

Mark Twain once penned, \u201cIt takes a heap of sense to write good nonsense.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> He would know.<\/p>\n

William Hazlitt retorts, \u201cThe only impeccable writers are those who never wrote.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Critics be damned.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to the self-doubters who frequent the WC, John Betjman offers, \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m any good. If I thought I was any good, I wouldn\u2019t be.<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

And to the self-confident Thomas Mann reminds, \u201cA writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

John Steinbeck exhorts nonetheless: \u201cA good writer always works at the impossible.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To the procrastinators and \u201cdue date\u201d driven among us (including yours truly) Karl Kraus reassures, \u201cA journalist is stimulated by a deadline; he writes worse when he has time.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Writing block? Gene Fowler mocks. \u201cWriting is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper [or computer screen] until the drops of blood form on your forehead.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking to turn a phrase? Jenny Holzer has a strategy: \u201cTo write a quality clich\u00e9 you have to come up with something new.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>See what she did there?<\/p>\n

Wordy? Dr. Samuel Johnson\u2019s counsel stings: \u201cRead over your composition, and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Ouch.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Elmore Leonard adds, \u201cIf it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Francis Bacon chided, \u201cThe most corrected copies are commonly the least correct.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> That\u2019ll rankle the Current Traditional crowd.<\/p>\n

John Updike makes a case for proofreading: \u201cThere\u2019s always something new by looking at the same thing over and over.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> I wonder if he was an \u201cout-loud\u201d reader.<\/p>\n

In honor of the lengthy collegiate research paper (not to mention this post), I\u2019ll trumpet Thomas Carlyle: \u201cThe man is most original who can adapt from the greatest number of sources.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And, in the event I erred in my representation or typing, I\u2019ll invoke Hesketh Pearson: \u201cMisquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally, apropos to celebrate any writing\u2019s conclusion are the words of Robert Burchfield (upon completion of the exhaustive Oxford English Dictionary): \u201cTo finish is both a relief and a release from an extraordinarily pleasant prison.\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Perhaps you can relate.<\/p>\n

Thanks to everyone for another memorable semester in the UM-Flint WC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a semester begins and academic energy runs high, we in the writing center sign up to lend something insightful to our humble blog archives. Invariably, I sign up for a late-semester date anticipating by then I\u2019ll have something so original\u2014nay, profound\u2014splashing in the mental bucket, it will forever alter the lives of those who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2,4],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-re-writing","tag-getting-started","tag-quick-tips"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":473,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}