At this point, coming in so close to deadline, there is not much reason to attempt to answer this question; anything I could say, no matter how demonstrative of my opinion, would appear mere parrot. Besides, the word success, by the very nature of its modern usage, is ambiguous at best. If I look to its origin, then simply performing the act of writing becomes all that is necessary for it to be judged a ‘success’.
Indeed, this alone would allow me to ‘succeed’ at writing.
You see, writing has never been difficult for me. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t deny I could benefit from greater craftsmanship, but my writing suffers most from a lack of action. I don’t write; though I feel a compulsion to do so, I almost never put pen to paper.
This is just a roundabout way of saying that I am the least successful writer I know.
– Dennis Fitzgerald
Your prompt makes me ask this question;
ReplyDeleteWhat is the relevance of success?
Does writing have to succeed to be good?
I think of a book that is deliberately written to be a poorly written novel. Everything inside the book may be garbage, and trash, but the book would be a complete success in that it fulfilled the goal the author intended for it.
Namely, this shows that success is something as elusive and vague as you say it to be.
I believe it was Samantha who discussed to a good degree the relativity concerning the term. Perhaps you should look at her post as to your question of what success may be, it's quite good on that.
Dennis -
ReplyDelete1. Finding original ways to convey similar ideas is at the heart of creative writing, so in the future, I'd prefer an attempt rather than owning up to the fear (that we all have) about sounding like everyone else on here. :)
2. Can you expand on the idea of "looking to its origin" as performing/success. I think most folks would disagree with this idea, but I'd love for you to raise in in class discussion.
3. I hope this class will give you the "compulsion to write" even after the grades are in--looking forward to seeing your work!
- Jessica
You have to push yourself to write. No one wants to sit down with a pen and some paper or in front of a computer and force it out. You have to motivate yourself; none of us can do it for you.
ReplyDeleteHmm, reading your post made me laugh and actually applaud you for your nonchalant way of turning in this assignment. You even touched on my idea that writing your thoughts down in a coherent, intelligible way is a success in itself. Then I began to read the comments and I started to think more about your post (uh oh). The classmates may be a little harsh, but I believe we can all agree that your motivation definitely needs improvement.
ReplyDeleteYour post was creative, funny, and riled up a few of its readers. All attributes of what I say is a successful piece. However, just as you yourself said, your 'writing suffers most from a lack of action.' I think what really pisses the classmates off is that you have a great gift and you're not using it. That will all change with this class as you will be FORCED to write for a grade. So, there's your motivation and good luck with the class!
Jae Khoury
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ReplyDeleteI've put pen to paper less now that we are right in the middle of the information age where computers are more available and we tend to lean in that direction when writing. I usually start out with something really incoherent and then go away, come back and either throw it out or mark it up in red so much it is at times illegible. I guess the goal is like Nike to "just do it" and hope that with time the results improve.
ReplyDeleteCindy Davis