So much rain, and now a dry, cloudy morning in a wet world. First circumnavigation of the garden: sparkling grass; wet ankles. The trick of writing anything is to forget everything else until you've got it down, and then not worry about anything, grammar, 'rules' of punctuation, whatever, until you have something on paper (screen) to edit and play around with - when you're in that mood. Writing an email in response to a question about how to write for a local paper (a person made a columnist by virtue of a local position), my answer was: if you can speak it to somebody, or to your mirror, or imagine yourself doing so, it qualifies as writing. And scribble stuff down when it occurs to you. Don't just open up a blank screen and start work on thinking up the first word.
A brief exchange with Kath last Thursday, about whether the objective of writing in general, and storytelling-type writing in particular, is to make itself transparent. In the sense: the story comes through, but you're not conscious of the writer working away to make that happen. Very brief, actually. Me: "The whole idea is to make the writing transparent." Kath: "That's not the whole idea." Conversation moves on. Maybe it isn't the whole idea. Reminds me of Dave's long-ago remark about an actor, possibly Lawrence Olivier: "You never catch him acting." I think Dave was quoting somebody, but I remember it.
Last night, the interested member of the family, and his friend, and I, sat down together to watch a rented DVD called 'Green Lantern'. I love the peculiarly stretched suspension of disbelief, and the wonderfully warped logic, of superhero movies: the first thing you need to do, if you're doing to 'fight crime' (invariably the career choice of a fictional person who discovers that he/she has unusual talents), is to find youself an outfit and a mask and go it alone. And usually it has to be a skimpy little mask that somehow successfully conceals your identity - until last night. Green Lantern to girlfriend, after kissing her with his mask on: "You recognise me?" Girlfriend: "Of course I recognise you!" Compare and contrast with the similar moment between Kirsten Dunst and Spiderman - although I suppose he was upside-down at the time.
More of Katie today. Looking forward to finding out what happens next. Find out by trusting that it'll come, and opening the file.
A brief exchange with Kath last Thursday, about whether the objective of writing in general, and storytelling-type writing in particular, is to make itself transparent. In the sense: the story comes through, but you're not conscious of the writer working away to make that happen. Very brief, actually. Me: "The whole idea is to make the writing transparent." Kath: "That's not the whole idea." Conversation moves on. Maybe it isn't the whole idea. Reminds me of Dave's long-ago remark about an actor, possibly Lawrence Olivier: "You never catch him acting." I think Dave was quoting somebody, but I remember it.
Last night, the interested member of the family, and his friend, and I, sat down together to watch a rented DVD called 'Green Lantern'. I love the peculiarly stretched suspension of disbelief, and the wonderfully warped logic, of superhero movies: the first thing you need to do, if you're doing to 'fight crime' (invariably the career choice of a fictional person who discovers that he/she has unusual talents), is to find youself an outfit and a mask and go it alone. And usually it has to be a skimpy little mask that somehow successfully conceals your identity - until last night. Green Lantern to girlfriend, after kissing her with his mask on: "You recognise me?" Girlfriend: "Of course I recognise you!" Compare and contrast with the similar moment between Kirsten Dunst and Spiderman - although I suppose he was upside-down at the time.
More of Katie today. Looking forward to finding out what happens next. Find out by trusting that it'll come, and opening the file.
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