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Success being 90% perspiration, and 10% inspiration is the sort of annoying aphorism that says if I want something hard enough, then I have to work my butt off, not just sit back and expect, or hope, it will fall in my lap. I know this in theory, but achieving the reality is another escarpment altogether.
I want to be able to write. Like Hemingway, I want to be able to write just one good sentence. Not write like Hemingway. Just achieve one good sentence. Or was that Fitzgerald who said that. Needless, how do I go about achieving that? How do I learn to write one good sentence?
To be able to write one good sentence, one must read other writers who write not only one good sentence, but can string good sentences together into one good paragraph.
I push into another year, exploring within my imagination for one good sentence.
4 comments:
Haven't visited here for a while .. been too busy for long reading. I too have that urge to write good sentences but just don't have the mind space because I write too many sentences at work. In the meanwhile I am doing my bit reading classics when commuting ... the trouble is that they are a bit depressing the writing is just so good. All the best with your quest in 2011.
I have more free time than you, I agree. I got sidetracked for a couple of months, but know now THIS is the sort of writing that is natural for me. The understated narrative of a small life. Not murders, and sci-fi and fake plot devices. Just real people struggling to make sense of the world around them.
yes. i feel this. achingly so i do.......the very topic is at the forefront of my consciousness. to write that one good sentence and then hope to string it together with a few more.
i just read your comment above. the understated narrative of a small life. how more perfectly can it be said?
you are persistent, julie. the result of which is very good sentences, written regularly.
Thank you, Amanda.
I feel it is persistence that is the avenue through which I will carve ability. I find that by writing myself into my characters, their daily lives and their angst snd their joy, is my way of achieving that pared down aim.
I try never to be content with my writing. I ask a lot of myself, but it is worth it.
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