Ok, so my grammar is terrible.
And I start lots of sentences with and.
And I start new paragraphs where I shouldn't, and I don't start them where I should.
And I like to boldly go where lots of people have gone before, ie into the world of the split infinitive.
And I like to use aswell all as one word, whereas my teacher said it should be two.
And I don't really understand how to use colons and semi-colons.
And I like to make words up, like maroons to identify some people who've been marooned somewhere.
And I'm always saying things like who've instead of who have, because I write more like I talk, rather than writing like I write.
But I don't care. I'm not trying to pass an exam. I'm trying to say things that I want to say. I might infuriate the likes of Lynne Truss, but it's my party, and I can leave the cake out in the rain if I want to.
New words are getting accepted into the dictionary all the time. If prairie-dogging and blamestorming and bling and chav and well phat and lol and lmao are good enough for the Oxford English Dictionary, then I will continue to massacre the English language. Yes, in the name of blog, I will.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Friday, 9 December 2011
Soup in my socks - A thank you to Julia Darling
I went on a writer's workshop in 1998 run by the author Julia Darling.
She read some of her work out, and then we had to quickly write something and read that out.
What I wrote was mostly crap, but it did contain the phrase 'I've got soup in my socks' which Julia liked and she commented on it. She also told me to 'Be Specific' when I'm writing and I try to do this all the time, even if it's only to say I'm having a Mars bar, rather than just saying I'm having a bar of chocolate, because a Mars bar is a specific thing and it can evoke memories.
In my own case, I can remember living on a council estate in the seventies and a woman coming to the door who wanted me to eat 10 Mars bars a week and all I had to do was answer some questions about them. It was great, except I've always regretted owning up to only having eaten 7 one week, because I had to give the other 3 back.
A few years ago I was very sad to hear of the death of Julia Darling. I only met her that once, but I was impressed with her enthusiasm and it made me feel good that a proper writer liked something I'd written, even if it was only one phrase.
The soup in the socks story wasn't a very interesting one. But it was true. It was about knocking a tupperware container of leftover soup out of the fridge, and the main point of it was that even with socks full of soup there was also the beginnings of gratitude because it meant I didn't have to eat it. Ruth has made some fantastic soups over the years, but this particular one was awful. I think it was full of carrots and swede. It looked like you imagine sick would, except this stuff hadn't been eaten yet.
Anyway, it's a boring story, but thank you Julia for your encouragement.
She read some of her work out, and then we had to quickly write something and read that out.
What I wrote was mostly crap, but it did contain the phrase 'I've got soup in my socks' which Julia liked and she commented on it. She also told me to 'Be Specific' when I'm writing and I try to do this all the time, even if it's only to say I'm having a Mars bar, rather than just saying I'm having a bar of chocolate, because a Mars bar is a specific thing and it can evoke memories.
In my own case, I can remember living on a council estate in the seventies and a woman coming to the door who wanted me to eat 10 Mars bars a week and all I had to do was answer some questions about them. It was great, except I've always regretted owning up to only having eaten 7 one week, because I had to give the other 3 back.
A few years ago I was very sad to hear of the death of Julia Darling. I only met her that once, but I was impressed with her enthusiasm and it made me feel good that a proper writer liked something I'd written, even if it was only one phrase.
The soup in the socks story wasn't a very interesting one. But it was true. It was about knocking a tupperware container of leftover soup out of the fridge, and the main point of it was that even with socks full of soup there was also the beginnings of gratitude because it meant I didn't have to eat it. Ruth has made some fantastic soups over the years, but this particular one was awful. I think it was full of carrots and swede. It looked like you imagine sick would, except this stuff hadn't been eaten yet.
Anyway, it's a boring story, but thank you Julia for your encouragement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)