After reading mike's post I actually became both impressed and depressed. I thought that mike did a very good job revealing himself publicly not caring what anyone thought. However, his post stressed me out because now i have to up to level of input on the blogs. I will attempt to do just that challenging myself showing what is at state. Every time I come into Kopp's class I feel like i have gained further knowledge that enhanced my abilities to understand of concepts through reading. Reading for and form are two ways i never thought to think about while reading, but now i think about it all the time.
Unlike mike i haven't had much tragic or unfortunate situations come my way. The challenge I face is writing like a writer. I actually don't consider myself a writer yet. I say this because unlike some I don't spend hours every day writing. The problem isn't my determination is is the excuses of life. The only time I see myself writing is doing schoolwork during the semester. During the time off I do attempt to write through writing
During our last Class Kopp refernced Iron John's Golden Ball. "What is your golden ball" I would say my golden ball is the time to write stories and make time to write them. In high school I can remember having thick paper where I would write contiously at home, on the bus, in the park and during breaks in classes. I just seemed to have more time to write then I do nowadays.
The assigned readings of the class have also caused me to think in ways i haven't read them before. Not just think read them, but figuring out what they mean and through the understanding. However, some of the novels from class I don't believe have fully understood. Great Gatsby is a great example. I choose the novel because of its popularity and on the list. The problem was it was to complicated to comprehend.
"Reading over what i have written so far I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights apart were all that absorbed me"(p. 59). |
I really wanted to undrstand and chellenge my mind with this text, but I just didn't undrstood what was really being said inbetween the lines. I should undrstand because that is what being a writer is all about. To make sense of the text I moved onto Catch 22 which was halarious and funny. I started seeing more of the present and conflict phrades throughout. This makes it easy to identify the form and values through the novel. For instance:
"I didn't say you couldn't find me guilty, sir." "When?" "when what sir?" "Goddammit, are you going to start pumping me again?" "No, sir I'm Soory, sir." "Then answer the question. When didn't you say we couldn't find you guility?" |
I learned from catch 22 how the writer writes the words can have a different meaning to those who read it. Even though I think I know that catch 22 was about the tragey of war I don't think I grasp the novel in its entrity. This is because I don't know certain concepts in the malitary. To further myself I'm now attepting Crime and punishment. This thematic novel is chellenging. The problem, is I really don't like reading the bruality in the novel. I won't write it because its too disdbing. I've read doesens of fantasy novels filled with graphic violence, but nothing ever been this graphic. I just don't agree with his morel system
To close, writing is very challenging for me not because of the process it is because of my word choice and vocabulary. To often I use :"that", or This. Words that should be replaced. Currently I'm half participating in National Writing Month. I'm not doing it to try to complete 50,000 words by December(Which is the goal) it is to get a habit to write on a daily basis. I hope this along with reading Crime and Punishment will make me a better writer. Although it won't change unless I do it.