Post for Thurs. 4/3

Before reading this book, “The Practice of Creative Writing” I thought I knew a lot; but this book has opened my eyes to new insight and to new ways of not only writing a piece, but also reading one.  Over the past few weeks we have been talking about different words or phrases that may stand out to us in a particular piece.  On page 76 of the text, Heather Sellers describes words as “what creative writers use to make their art forms” (Sellers 76).  I found this very interesting.  Words, if you think about it, is the foundation of our work.  If our words fall flat, so then will our work.  It wouldn’t matter if you were the best writer in the world, with the best thoughts/ideas, unless you expressed them in a powerful way. 

I have also found the QUESTIONS TO ASK sections helpful when reading a particular type of writing, whether it be fiction, poetry or memoirs.  They question just enough to guide the reader, digging a bit deeper than they may have gone if they didn’t ask the questions. 

I have to admit, at first I disliked the idea of work-shopping, but after doing it I realized how significant it really is.  I would type up my piece and be ready to hand it in, thinking that it was the best piece of work out there.  Then, I would read my peers’ work and they would read mine and we all knew we needed help!  After reading it over and over again you read right over the flaws, so it is necessary to have other readers.  My peers also brought things to my attention which I hadn’t thought about previously.