#14 Lit Book

Actually early in reading about Contemporary Literature, mentioned was one writer name Bernard Malamud. He said," People say I write so much about misery, but you write about what you write best. As you are grooved, so you grieved." Once I read it it was like boom! Stephen King said the exact same thing in On Writing. He said, " Write what you know" So this is a common idea amongst writers. I never really realized myself that I should just write in my comfortable knowledge and not try to impress anybody but myself. Sometimes I would try to put too much info that I don't even know. But that just males the paper not connected to myself which means others won't get it either. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in another post before.

#13 Lit Book

During the Harlem Renaissance there was a total literary movement in Harlem itself. I really envy when people can get inspiration from their past and be so true and loving to the art form that they're presenting it through. It takes a lot of skill in my opinion and that's something that I am still looking to succeed in when I get older. I know back then that certain ethnicity's had to come together to create a movement. But I think now that we should all come together with different backgrounds and the same interests to come as one and create a project that can really send out a message. In the lit book it said the Harlem Renaissance was kicked off at a dinner that showcased new, young, and impressive talent. It was called the "coming out party". I hope one day teens like me will be able to showcase our work in a comfortable environment.

#12 Catcher in the Rye

Why does he get drunk all the time? He even pointed out when he gets drunk that he holds his stomach like he's been shot. I guess when you're drunk we all have this odd thing that we like to do. I don't know cause I personally never have been drunk but I guess that's a new thing I just learned. Like for some they start to cry and be depressed about their life and that's the thing they do while drunk. He was a real meanie when he went to meet Sally and called her a pain in the ass. Who says that to a girl?! Anyways I also learned a new vocab word that Holden likes to use which is called flit. And that's when you know the same gender likes the same gender. I don't know if that is an actual word in the dictionary or maybe just old english but I'm learning alot of new words from this kid.

#11 Catcher in the Rye

He makes a lot of remarks concerning people. And I'm like "hey I think I agree with you there" or "Wait a minute you better watch your mouth." In life we make a lot oh decisions and for some reason don't know what we're doing sometimes so when old Sally said, "Maybe I don't! Maybe you don't know either!" He seriously was talking about some crazy plan to move away together with her, so I understand why she said that. But this really smacked me in the face with reality. Maybe we don't know what we're doing. Like those kids that know what college they're going to and have their whole life planned out. They don't really know what the heck's gonna happen to them. I guess in other words Old Sally meant to say we have a lot of doubt.

#10 Lit Book

Always in literature there is a need to improve on the era before it. Theres always a new transition coming along. As a new growing country America wanted there own type of literature so they kind of combined Old English literature with their own. But still called it their own, which I guess makes them feel more independent. Because that's what it was all about back then. I think back then there was way more room to invent something new. Because there wasn't that much to begin with. For example poets and writers all seemed so new and inventive because people weren't as open to change so they thought everything the writers did was a huge discovery. Now it seems like everyone is doing the same thing because there's alot thats already been discovered.

#9 Catcher in the Rye

Why does he call everyone a phony! or his other favorite word "goddam". So far in the book a stand out point was when he hired a prostitute! Omg what're they making us read in school. But gladly he didn't actually sleep with her, I mean still the thought of him even hiring one is so bizarre. He's a very bad influence too he smokes and drinks 24/7. Maybe that's why it's good we're reading the book so we ourselves can point out the bad and good things ones does. It's that reverse psychology. At first i thought that Holden Caulfield (finally found out his name) was a self-absorbed narcissist but he really is a paper dragon. Which means he's all talk pretty much. The word he uses is to be "yellow". For instance when he talks to the nuns and starts to feel bad about how they'll never have a " swanky dinner", you see a softer side to him and it made me feel like he's an actual human being with feelings now.

#8 Catcher in the Rye

I think so far in Catcher in the Rye, he's still leading up to the big conflict. I feel like he's going no where in the story, but I think it's coming soon. So far he's left Pencey and is heading to New York all depressed. I found a big connection in Catcher in the Rye that relates to On Writing. There's a character in Catcher named Stradlater. When I'm reading that is such a hrad name to say. I literally have to take a couple seconds to say in in my head cause it's just like a block in the road. SO at the end of On Writing Stephen King shows us one of his earlier stories and then marks all the things he wants to change for example this guys name that is super long and his name is Ostermeyer. He ends up changing it to Olin for his own reasons and thankfully cause it is way easier to say. So J.D. Salinger shoulda taken Stephen Kings and changed Stradlater to a easier name thats pronouncible for readers to enjoy.

#7 On Writing

I'd have to say this book is my all time favorite summer reading. It actually relates to writing and I related to it on a teenage level. I heard that Stephen King actually gave the right for other people to write books for him. Well hopefully he actually wrote this one. This book should totally stay on the summer reading list. For my last post on this book i'd like to talk abour IR, " 2nd draft = 1st draft - 10%", and the fact that writers don't think about every detail they put in their book. Firstly he said tht when writitng we always think or some person that we want to impress while writing, and he calls this person his ideal reader (IR). If we come to the fact that we're writing for somebody besides ourselves then it'll help us take the right direction with our story. second, is the equation that I listed above. I really need to follow this rule because I always overwrite while writing essays. I think that no one will undertand me so I end up adding all these descriptions and it just ends up being too much. I just need to maybe start my story from a different angle so I dont have to do that. Lastly, I remember in sophomore year when we were reading Lord of the Flies and how we were looking at every darn thing and saying that they were all different symbols. Well in On Writing he says that most writers don't even think about that stuff. And that they dont make a book JUST for a certain theme or symbol. At school we look into things too critically in my opinion, but that's what schools for to strip away the book till we've understood every little detail.

#6 Lit Book

The literature textbook so far is just a review of what we've learned in history like when we were in 8th grade. Nothing new I'm reading about. I think I'm improving on my annotating though which is a good thing. I know when it comes to school though, annotating will be hard for me because i'll constantly be wanting to read fast so i can get it over with. Also when reading the books throughout the year for school we have to annotate certain things and info which is hard for me because sometimes i don't know what the right type of thing i should be highlighting or taking note on. Reading the textbook now really makes me want to go back to reading the actual novels that we're supposed to read. I guess when you realize the boring textbook you have to read, it makes you appreciate the good novels you have. But I did find one good quote while reading. It talks about the "brooding romantics" and how their thought process is when writing their horrific tales, "Once the romantics freed from the restrictions of reason, they could follo it where ever it might go." SO it pretty much says they let go of all the rules of literature and just wrote for the sake of themselves. Maybe they were trying to prove something, but we'll never know. We just make things up in the book that we think have some sort of magical meaning.

#5 On Writing - "...say shit more often than sugar."

80 pages to go and counting. I didn't realize this book would actually be giving interesting tips On Writing. Ha ha used the book title in their. Anyways at first I thought, "Oh this is just a documentary book." But now he's really getting into each topic of writing. Well not really deep and technical but on a level that we high school students can actually relate to on some level of understanding. He's mentioned how to start a story, dialogue, character description and how to write about them, and symbolism. Mainly when writing he says that you dont have to say every little detail about every little thing. Letting the reader figure out certain situations or traits leaves a understanding between the writer and reader. Now I dont know if this can relate to writing essays or maybe it can when we're not writing research papers and useless biographies. But maybe when we're writing an actual fiction story (if that'll ever happen in school) it leaves us more room for imagination, which we can actually use the advice he's giving us from the book.

#4 On Writing

Half way through with this book! For these 50 pages were where the best quotes were. Whenever I saw a really good quote it trully stood out to me. I don't even know why. It was like finding the golden tresure in the sand of words. I then highlight it and then I'll share them with you. It's so weird I wonder if it shines like it does to me to other people. These quotes aren't like the answers to life, but I think they really represent the book and it's meaning. But there were also the hardest parts because in the third part of the book he starts using all these examples from other books. I'm not even sure why he's using other books as examples. It's really confusing because you cant really grasp the meaning of the quotes he's using since it's an entire different book that you've never read.

Here are a few quotes that stood out:
" I was wiping my ass with poison ivy again, this time on a daily basis....." p. 96
" It's best to have your tools with you. If you don't you're apt to find something you didn't expect and get discouraged." p.114
and lastly...
"One of the really bad things yo can do to your writing is to dress up the vocab, looking for long words because you're maybe a little it ashamed of your short ones." p.117

#3 Catcher in the Rye - "Goddam"

Yay I started reading my second book. Is that really a yay moment? Anyway, I hope I don;t find it difficult to read two books and think that one thing is actually happening in another book and I get all confused and Gahhh! But in this book I can't make comments on the side because my book is tiny, including tiny words and tiny margins. Which doesnt help when I like writing in the margins. So now I use post-its and have to pause everytime I want to not something down. Then I have to stick the post-it somewhere and I get lost. THAT is my difficulty with this book. But the content of the book is quite interesting though. For instance I take note in my jumbled up brain of how he explains different situations. For instance, "He never really broke your heart when he went back to his room." or "... you either froze to death or died of the heat." He explains or better word complains about different situations and uses the oddest one liners there are. What more do I notice??? He says "goddam" alot because of his iliteracy (he even admits to it) and thinks everyone is a phony. I think I'll touch more on the phony topic in the next blog post.

#2 On Writing

This round of reading On Writing I found interest when he talked about his middle and high school years. Particularly when he was started his own newspaper called the The Village Vomit. I really related to this. I mean I haven't started my own newspaper or anything but I really have wanted to start my own fashion magazine, or zine as you call it for shorter magazines. But then at the same time there are those Ms. Margitan people out there that break your dreams and tell you "writing fiction is a waste of your writing skills". These people are just jealous I guess or don't like to see new talent shine.

Quote of the Post:

" John Gould taught me more than any of them, and in no more than 10 minutes."

As I was reading the part when he gets a job at the weekly newspaper, he said the quote above. In school I feel like you're not open to the outside world. Which you need when writing. You need the experiences of life and other people outside of class to critique youir writing. And get new topics besides writing about boring topics that the teacher's probably recycled to the class about a million times. What more can you learn from sitting inside a box?

#1 On Writing... I Don't Know

I have to start with this, On Writing is actually an ok book. I recently found myself reading more biographies this year and this fits right in with the rest of them. Well not right in beacause this is about an old or middle aged man remembering his past memories. While the ones I read before were about the unglamorous life of being in a rockband or the relationship of two artists living together in New York. I've noticed that once I started reading I want to take note of every little detail because my teacher warned us of her tests and how she likes to quiz on tiny details that we probably wont remember. So I have many side notes that probably are not professional or intellectual you might say, but they're weird comments that'll help me remember what that part was about. So I realized two things so far about my book, well not MINE but 1) I want to underline every sentence in it that I see and 2) he likes to say, "I don't know" alot. He emphasizes a lot throughout the first 20 pages that he doesn't remember his child hood as well as other books and says his mind " is a fogged - out landscape from which occassional memories appear like isolated trees..." I think that it's fine he doesnt remember but couldn't you say IDK less to seem atleast a bit more professional or mmaybe he just wants to be on a more relatable level with all his readers. Who knows?