Rant About Writing...

I wish I had a USB cable that i could connect from my mind to the keyboard. Not because I'm too lazy to type what's on my mind(okay, maybe a little), but because it would be so much easier to be a successful writer and get my point across if i didn't have to translate what's swirling around in my head onto the computer screen. So many things that I feel are brilliant that stir around in my head get lost in translation when I write. I feel like we live in a generation where how you say something is more important than what you're actually saying.

Personally, when I'm writing, I start out with a perfectly planned out piece of writing in my head. But by the time I'm done writing it's turned into a senseless ball of mush. I feel more concerned with the grammar I use, or how it sounds, or who's going to read it. I write everything as if writing to someone, someone that's specifically in my mind when I'm writing, almost like I'm writing what I'm writing to please that one person (which I'm trying really hard not to do in this piece). I want to be able to feel like I'm writing for myself, and not for others. It feels very similar to how some people feel about their appearence. They're concerned with how others will think about their outfit, or hair. They get dressed in the morning wondering if one certain person will like their outfit for that day. The majority of people I know never get dressed for themselves, they rarely get dressed with their own opinions in mind, which, I guess, is sort of a good thing, because if everyone got dressed according to what they thought, everyone would be in sweatpants and baggy t-shirts all the time.

I suppose I got a little sidetracked, so, back to my main point. When worrying about things other than actually making my main point, my writing becomes cliche and plain. I want my writing to be alive with originality and excitement. I feel like nothing is original anymore. That's from growing up in schools where they force you to fill a certain number of pages. In writing, it should seldom be about quantity. Quality writing can never live up to the expectations of a school teacher. It may take a page to say what you need to, or it may take twenty. What fills those twenty pages or that one page is more important than the number of pages its written on. Restrictions strangle writers, like a dog with one of those leashes that attaches around their snout, so when the owner pulls on it, they're forced to turn their whole head along with it (which, by the way, is insanely inhumane, if you ask me.) The longer the page requirement, the crappier the writing, because at that point, filling up the 10 pages assigned to be filled is more important than actually getting your point across. It becomes cliche and boring, once again.

So, I guess while writing all this I've discovered that writing is a very challenging medium to conquer, jsut like anything else, it requires a level head on your shoulders and an ability to get what's in your head down on a piece of paper or a computer screen without losing your point and having it become like every other text post of a 14 year old girl on tumblr (which I despise). I want to learn this ability and how to make my writing for me and not for others.

Fucking Linoleum

Today, I helped to prepare for STAC live by carving barbed wire into linoleum blocks to make stamps. It was probably one of the most challenging things I've done in STAC all year, which is pretty sad considering what I've started with. It was frusturating as all hell especially because everyone around me was so good at it. Courtney showed me how to do it the right way and it seemed like the linoleum worked for her, but as soon as I got invoved it became like a plate of steel. The pieces kept either not coming off enough or breaking off in large chunks, almost ruining what I was trying to keep uncarved. The whole thing was a disaster.

I hope I never have to work with it again.