Uses of Language

At the Hoover Institution website is an article about George Orwell, his use of language, and why the preservation and use of the English language is important. The article is titled "Orwell's Instructive Errors" and was written by Liam Julian.

The article discusses what Orwell had to say in his essays about the use of language and also how Orwell himself used language in some of his writings. One of the essays referred to is "Politics and the English Language".

These two pieces are of interest for political reasons, but also for the use of both readers and writers.

I don't agree with everything Liam Julian said. For example, in the following paragraph he seems to think right-wing extremists are the same as conservatives, which is assuredly not true.

It is, certainly, not only denizens of the left who theorize and euphemize their way out of inconvenient situations. The staunchest apologists for the worst elements of British Empire were conservatives, and now, as in Orwell’s time, it is conservatives who lean most heavily on theory to explain away indigence and squalor as inevitable in a free society and thereby rid themselves of responsibility to alleviate the burdens of the impoverished. Certainly America’s foremost racists are found on the right, and they have all sorts of theories. And yet such justifications — whether of racism, imperialism, neglect of the poor, or even creationism — currently have but parochial appeal. The left is in power now, and so it is that today’s most influential and worrisome euphemizing comes from the left.

Regarding racism in particular, it is people like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and, yes, Barack and Michelle Obama who keep racism most alive in America. They are not found on the right in America. Nonetheless, the article has some interesting things to say about the uses of language.

Remember Little Golden Books?

Little Golden Books have been a part of many children's early experience with the world of reading and of art. The illustrations were beautiful, the books were sturdy, and the stories and poems delightful.

For your reading pleasure, here is an article from the Weekly Standard about an art exhibition of paintings that illustrated these books.

From the Archives: Historical Research for Your Writing

If you are interested in writing about places and times not your own, you might find Times and Places a helpful site to visit. The link is to a page with some general articles at the top, followed by more specific groups of links. Try it out and see if it works for you!

At A Celebration of Women Writers you can find writings from women throughout time and all over the world. I've only begun to look at it myself, but it looks like enough reading to keep you busy for a long time! Like at Times and Places linked above, you may find information and ideas here to help your own writing.

Are there one or two websites about literature and/or writing that you really like? Feel free to leave an url in the comments!

Watching Trends in Book Publishing

Presumably, we are all thinking of being published some day. Although we usually don't write in a certain genre just to increase our chances of being published, it doesn't hurt to keep an eye on current trends in book publishing so that we know what's selling and what's not. It also helps to learn what category our writing might fall into.

One good place to check is Publisher's Weekly, a source for current news in the book world. An example of the kind of article you can run across there is "When Love is Strange: Romance Continues its Affair with the Supernatural". This piece is mostly about romance novels, but also touches on urban fantasy. Take a look at the main page at the first link above to get an idea of all they cover.

Giving Up 'Readings'

What do I mean by 'readings'? I mean viewing a book, essay, poem, or other piece of writing through the lens of a particular philosopher such as Marx or Derrida. This makes no sense, really. What does Marx have to do with Dickens, for example?

Here is an article by Mark Edmundson that explains the idea of giving up 'readings' far better than I could. The title of the piece is "Against Readings".

I was interested to find an article expressing an idea that had been vaguely floating around in my mind for some time. I think we should read each piece of writing on its own terms for its own merits.

What do you think? Is there any point in applying a particular philosophy to a piece of writing?

Arts & Letters

There is a website called Arts & Letters Daily that you might enjoy looking at. It's full of links to articles, book reviews, and essays. Down the left sidebar is a long list of various types of links, as well.

Some things you'll like and some you won't, but there's a lot of variety there. In the many links, you will probably discover some interesting websites that will appeal to you.

Enjoy!

Read Some Poetry

There's nothing like reading a little poetry to relax you and also to inspire you in your own writing.

One site for enjoying poetry is Representative Poetry Online. Look around and try some different authors and different types of poetry.

The internet is such a wonderful thing for allowing us to sample different writings and find out what we really like. For free!

A Poem

Robert Southey. 1774–1843

His Books

MY days among the Dead are past;
Around me I behold,
Where'er these casual eyes are cast,
The mighty minds of old:

My never-failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.
With them I take delight in weal
And seek relief in woe;

And while I understand and feel
How much to them I owe,
My cheeks have often been bedew'd
With tears of thoughtful gratitude.

My thoughts are with the Dead; with them
I live in long-past years,
Their virtues love, their faults condemn,
Partake their hopes and fears;

And from their lessons seek and find
Instruction with an humble mind.
My hopes are with the Dead; anon
My place with them will be,

And I with them shall travel on
Through all Futurity;
Yet leaving here a name, I trust,
That will not perish in the dust.

Travel Books

Lately I have been reading some travel books by Paul Theroux. If one can overlook his occasional negative comments about America (and he is an American) and his cynical views of a number of the places he visits, they are interesting books. I have to say, they have put me off of doing any traveling other than armchair traveling, but then he travels alone and wings it as far as finding accomodations and transportation--something most of us wouldn't attempt. His preferred mode of travel is the train, which is why I have persisted in reading his books. Train travel fascinates me, as does learning something about different countries and the people in them.

The books cover more than 30 years, so they are not up-to-date, but are interesting nevertheless, if you keep in mind when Mr. Theroux was making the trip he is writing about.

The four books I've read are The Great Railway Bazaar, Riding the Iron Rooster, The Old Patagonian Express, and Ghost Train to the Eastern Star (a revisiting of The Great Railway Bazaar trip 30+ years later).

In the first and last books mentioned, Mr. Theroux travels from London, through Europe, on to Central and Southern Asia, Japan, and across Russia and back to England. Riding the Iron Rooster covers travel throughout China, and The Old Patagonian Express follows a trip from Boston through Mexico and Central and South America to Patagonia.

If you like the idea of train travel and of seeing the world, you might check one of these books out from the library and see if you like them. You can also read the descriptions and customer reviews at Amazon, linked above.

Do you know of other authors who've written about train travel? If so, please share! I'd love to hear of some different books to try.

A Fresh New Year

It's a fresh new year for all of us writers! Take a little time to make some plans and set some goals for your writing in 2009.

One thing you can do is write every day. Write in a journal, work on a story or essay, try different types of poetry.

Another thing is to read every day. Read widely, not just in the genre you want to write in. The more you learn, the more ideas will be floating around in your brain to draw upon. You might stumble across a historical incident that you could base a short story on, or read an essay that sparks an idea for a novel.

A third thing is to practice observing life around you. Whatever your circumstances, you can improve your observations about people, places, and things. Practice writing descriptions of what you observe.

You also might want to set a goal of submitting a short story, poem, or essay to a magazine (mainstream or literary). Read up on submission guidelines for the places you want to submit. Read sample issues (often you can read some samples of what the publication uses online or read sample issues at the library, thus doing your research for free).

You'll be able to think of other things you can do to further your writing. Make it a productive year!

What Literature Can Do

Merry Christmas, everyone!

At this time of year, many people enjoy reading Christmas stories and that has become a part of their family traditions. Of course, Christmas stories from the Bible are especially important to share because they tell us why we have Christmas in the first place. The story from Luke 2 combined with John 3:16 can share a powerful message, along with other favorite scriptures you may have.

One loved book is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Years ago, I grew tired of all the take-offs of this story that were done on various television series. It helps that I don't watch much TV these days!! But my interest was revived when I read the original book. I've also collected a few different versions of movies based on the book. A favorite is the 1951 movie starring Alastair Sim, but there are others.

This morning I found an article at National Review Online that talks about the contribution Charles Dickens' book made to the way we celebrate Christmas. It's called "A Dickensian Christmas" by Rich Lowry. I thought you might enjoy reading it this Christmas season, and thinking about the influence a good book can have on our lives.

Again, Merry Christmas!!

Books as Gifts

Books make wonderful gifts--for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, any occasion. For some help with giving books, see this Michael Dirda column at the Washington Post. "Michael Dirda on the 10 Commandments of Book Giving"

You know your family and friends and what they would probably like, so think about giving some books this year!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

What Christmas books do you enjoy most this time of year? I love to read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I have linked to one place it can be found on the internet, at Page by Page Books.

Being something of an Anglophile, I enjoy the book for its detailed descriptions of daily life at Christmas time. Overall, though, the book's pleasure comes from watching a man grow from selfishness to generosity. An overarching theme of change can raise a book from an ordinary level of entertainment to a memorable story that can inspire those who read it. This is something to strive for in our own writing.

Christmas time provides an inspiring message all its own and leads many people to change and improvement. Reading Luke 2 in the Bible's New Testament is one of my favorite things to do. Going to the source for the Christmas story provides the ultimate inspiration.

What are your favorites in Christmas reading?

On Writing and Reading

Today's writing link: SpecFicWorld Lots of resources and articles about writing for your perusal.

I am still wandering around somewhat on this blog, but I hope my links have at least given you lots of writing tips and ideas for your own writing. I don't feel ready to share my own writing. That wasn't my original idea for this blog--sharing writing tips was. I'm not sure that is interesting enough, though, so we shall see.

I do encourage you to read lots of different types of writing. That will go a long way in helping you to decide what type(s) of writing you would like to do. Right now, I am reading The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney. It is what you might call a literary murder mystery. Set in Canada in the 1860s, it is written in a different style than I am used to, but is not so far out as to be difficult to follow. I am only about halfway through, so I don't know yet if I will recommend it totally, but so far so good! The author switches back and forth between characters and uses present tense quite a bit. There is a first person narrator for parts of the book, but the author takes us often to third person narrative for some of the other characters.

Learning about Shakespeare

I have found a website that you might enjoy. It's called Shakespeare Criticism. I have just begun to look through it, but it appears to be full of information and links that will help you to gain greater insight to Shakespeare's writings and, in the process, accumulate ideas for themes and approaches to your own writing.

Reading and Writing

I do a lot of linking to websites that I think you might find interesting. I'm no expert myself and so I like to point you to places where you can learn more about reading and writing and researching. I hope that you find sites that will be of use to you or that you just enjoy reading and exploring.

One new site I found is written by an English professor for his classes, but he puts up a lot of background information that is helpful for anyone. You can see it here at Dr. Wheeler's Homepage at Carson-Newman College. In the left-hand sidebar are links to the various pages.

Another site for readers is Dan Kurland's Critical Reading. It looks full of useful information for getting more out of your reading, and that can give you ideas for your writing.

Vocabulary is another area that can help you with both reading and writing. Learning about words can be fun, and it can help your writing by giving you access to more precise words to say what you mean. It helps your reading in that you can understand a piece of writing more completely and spend less time looking up new words in a dictionary. One website that can help is Vocabulary. Another is Web English Teacher with pages for vocabulary and many other topics (see the lefthand sidebar). You can do a search for "vocabulary" on Google or another search engine and come up with many other sites to explore.

Enjoy!

Critical Thinking Can Help Your Writing

I found a website about critical thinking that you might want to check out. It's the Foundation for Critical Thinking. There are quite a few different pages, but I would suggest going to the articles index and starting your exploration there. What I like about this site especially is that it describes and defines what critical thinking is much more than any other site I've found.

There is quite a bit about teaching critical thinking, but also about learning it. A good introductory article is "Critical Thinking in Every Domain of Knowledge and Belief" and it has a couple of charts that let you know the kinds of topics the other articles will cover in more detail.

What I get out of this site is that clear, thorough thinking will help you in every area of your life. It is not necessary (or, in my view, desirable) to use critical thinking to talk yourself out of beliefs or religion or patriotism. What it is for is learning to be clear and understanding the purpose of what you are thinking about at the moment. Clarify your question and think through any answers to see what the consequences would be.

How does this help your writing? It helps you write more clearly, plot more realistically, and can help provide your characters with more believable actions and motives. I think as you read the articles, if you're interested, you will think of any number of ways critical thinking can help your writing, your reading, your studying and learning. See what you think! And let me know if you know of other sites of this nature that are clear and don't mind explaining things from the beginning for people like me!!

Historical Research for Your Writing

If you are interested in writing about places and times not your own, you might find Times and Places a helpful site to visit. The link is to a page with some general articles at the top, followed by more specific groups of links. Try it out and see if it works for you!

At A Celebration of Women Writers you can find writings from women throughout time and all over the world. I've only begun to look at it myself, but it looks like enough reading to keep you busy for a long time! Like at Times and Places linked above, you may find information and ideas here to help your own writing.

Are there one or two websites about literature and/or writing that you really like? Feel free to leave an url in the comments!

From the Archives: Keeping a Reading Journal

A reading journal might help you to understand a piece of writing better and get more out of it. I found a short article from George Mason University on how to go about keeping such a journal. It is in their handout section, so I am going to paste the whole thing here for your perusal.

The GMU Writing Center Guide to Keeping
a Reading Journal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


You'll find many ways to read a text. But keeping a journal as you read is one of the best ways of exploring a piece of writing. With this process you integrate reading and writing, and find that you can interact with the work more fully. Take in every detail, every description. Try to avoid hasty analysis because it can prevent you from understanding the meaning of the novel as a whole. Remember, to analyze anything fully you must have a complete understanding of it.

Begin each new novel, play or poem without predetermined bias. If you decide in advance that all good art uses realistic settings and promotes your personal moral values, you close out the possibility of new experiences. You do not have to, nor should you, enjoy every work of literature that you read. But you should be willing to recognize that the imagination is limitless.

Read slowly. This suggestion can't be stressed enough. If you roller skate through an art museum you won't see the paintings.

Read with pen in hand. Underline key phrases, speeches by major figures, or important statements by the narrator. But don't limit yourself. Underline or highlight anything that seems important or striking. Take notes on ideas or questions (don't trust your memory). Write in the margins. Keep a list of the characters and/or major events on the inside of the front cover. Circle words used in special ways or repeated in significant patterns. Look up words that you don't know or words you think you know but seem to have a special weight or usage.

Look for those qualities that professional writers look for in real life: conflict, contrast, contradiction, and characterization.

Look for rhythm, repetition and pattern. Successful works of literature incorporate such structural devices in the language, dialogue, plot, characterization, and elsewhere. Pattern is form, and form is the shaping the artist gives to his or her experience. If you can identify the pattern and relate it to the content, you'll be on your way to insight.

Ask silent questions of the material as you read. Don't read passively, waiting to be told the "meaning." Most authors will seldom pronounce a moral. Even if they do, a work of literature is always more than its theme. Use the questions devised by reporters: Who, What, When, Where. Why and How may take more study--such questions probe the inner levels of a text.

Keep a reading journal. Record your first impressions, explore relationships, ask questions, write down quotations, copy whole passages that are difficult or aesthetically pleasing.

Ideas to Keep in Mind:
Christopher Thaiss in Write to the Limit (Chicago: Holt, 1991) notes that the word journal comes from the French word for day, which is jour. The word indicates that a journal is kept daily (68). Thaiss also suggests that journals are kept for many different reasons: to record events, to keep an ongoing public record, to record feelings, to make close observations for scientific purposes and, finally, to explore emotions, memories and images in order to think and learn about any subject (69-76).

Don't feel overwhelmed. Just relax; notice and feel things. Associate ideas with other subjects, objects or feelings. Try the following three steps:


Write first. Write what you see in the text.

Next, write what you feel about what you see.

Finally, write down your thoughts and feelings. This step helps you develop perceptions.

We hope this short guide helps you explore your thoughts and ideas. A journal enables you to gain insight into the work while integrating the reading and writing process. Use this guide to help you with all of your reading and writing.

I hope this proves useful--I plan to give it a whirl, likely starting with short pieces such as poems, essays, and short stories. It would, of course, work with articles or any type of writing, whether fiction or nonfiction.

An Article About an Author

A few days ago my friend, Barb, recommended to me a book titled Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz. It's on my list of books to read. Meanwhile, I found an article about Ms. Schlitz at The Christian Science Monitor. It's called "Shy School Librarian Finds Success as Author" by Elaine F. Weiss. So, Barb, this link is for you! It's a nice article and it is also encouraging for those would-be writers who read my blog. Enjoy!