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MayB
That makes sense, MayB. The would-be-writer would simply blame the teacher for not recognising their talent.
posted by
johnmacnab
on March 31, 2005 at 8:16 AM
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Tigerprincess, don't fear. I try to point them towards hope
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 11:24 PM
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I hope the
only ones your putting off are the ones that don't have the chops.. It would be a real shame to see talent go to waste because of insecurities.
posted by
tigerprincess
on March 30, 2005 at 7:53 PM
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MerryAnne, the luxury of putting distance between editing and writing is not always posssible in journalism.
I do understand what you mean about love/hate of teachers. I can see that in my students. I teach one in different subjects and she responds to me differently in both. Her manner and attitude change.
I would rather not answer the question about the teacher in public. He is quite well-known
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 3:28 PM
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CarolynMoe, sometimes a point is not necessary...
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 3:26 PM
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JohnMcNab, I don't think you can tell someone what they don't want to hear
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 3:25 PM
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The only paper I've subscribed to is my brother's Road Apple Review. Due to lack of advertisement it went out of business in the early 1970's. ... I have no point, really.
posted by
cmoe
on March 30, 2005 at 2:21 PM
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MayB
Your article reminded me of a competitor on last night's American Idol. He was talking about his singing career, obivious to the fact that he couldn't sing. The same thing must happen with writers, and it falls to teachers like yourself to let them know they are wasting their time.
posted by
johnmacnab
on March 30, 2005 at 2:12 PM
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So....
care to tell me who the writer is that is teaching the course you are interested in?
posted by
MerryAnne
on March 30, 2005 at 2:11 PM
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I think too that there is too much emphasis on achievement rather than enjoyment. Sometimes achievement can be nurtured through enjoyment
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 2:05 PM
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The loan-lady, I would never tell anyone they shouldn't write. Nor would I even hint it although I may have my own opinons about who will and won't make it.
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 1:59 PM
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Be careful with that one. The ballet teacher, Madame F., told my mother within my earshot that she should stop taking me to ballet class with my older sister.that I was too clumsy to ever try. Sissy was such a wonderful dancer and stood so tall above me. I wanted to look like my beautiful sister in her pink tutu. From that day forward I never enjoyed dancing in my own body. Later in my teen years I did some high board and spring board diving and tumbling. I found out I was actually very athletic and my body could swim and go faster that most the boys. That ballet teacher was wrong.
posted by
the-loanlady
on March 30, 2005 at 1:48 PM
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MayB,
My instructor believed that there is a time frame for editing and that you have to put your work aside for awhile before you edit. Also, for some of us, we are editing our first chapters before the rest of the manuscript is completed. It's had to edit when you don't know where you are going.
So in that way the set up is artificial. On the other hand it's good to learn the skills to step back and read your work as a reader instead of a writer and then you can see the flaws.
I loved this course and I hated it. But I did learn a lot from it - so that's the important thing. :)
posted by
MerryAnne
on March 30, 2005 at 1:41 PM
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The person who said they were put off must decide for themselves. No one ever told me any of this stuff. i had to sink or swim
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 12:05 PM
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GOOD!
Keep up the good words to the youngn's
posted by
Entrepreneur_Maker
on March 30, 2005 at 12:03 PM
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political correctness is just another form of bias
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 12:02 PM
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On the contrary Entrepreneur maker, the truly ethical are not deterred. I am trying to give them a sense of the everyday pressures, particularly the subtle ones. If they are alive to this they can make their way through the mire
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 12:01 PM
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Yes, politically correct is the most unethical bunch of garbage.
posted by
Justi
on March 30, 2005 at 12:01 PM
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Gulp
Putting ETHICAL people away from writing only leaves the 'weak-minded' and easily bought...scary..
And as for IT...spent 20 years in it...I think the only politics that are worse must be on the Beltway in DC.
posted by
Entrepreneur_Maker
on March 30, 2005 at 11:56 AM
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L.E.Gant,
you are right about that and it is best not to pretend that the job is something it isn't
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 11:55 AM
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DarrkeThoughts, getting sacked for an opinion sounds unethical to me. I heard recently about the Wall Street Journal Baghdad person who was moved to other duties because a private email was spread about the internet. The email written to her friends described her life in Baghdad and how tough it was. Trouble is this did not fit with the line the paper was taking on Baghdad. So basically she was removed for telling her friends her private view.
I can imagine how murky the IT world is - a jungle
posted by
Azur
on March 30, 2005 at 11:54 AM
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Well done! Writing is hard work, and it's not for the faint-hearted! If you don't do it because you have to (either obsessively or professionally) then journalism is not going to be one's bag. And research (info gathering) is a real pain,when you have to verify and justify it!
posted by
L.E.Gant
on March 30, 2005 at 1:53 AM
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Knowing what you don't want is important. I wish I knew 6 years ago how political IT was. Gee, I thought you could just sit down and tell the computer what to do...never guessed that you had to play politics to get a whole organization to agree what that was!
I'm wondering about "real world" journalism. I have read stories in the past few years about journalists getting fired over stories they have written. The main one was a guy in Iraq who openly disapproved of Pres. Bush's approach around the beginning of the whole mess. Seems he lost his job over his opinion...how does something like that play into ethics?
Do you think reporters have a responsibility to report things as they see them, or should they follow whatever guidelines their company gives them? In the IT field sometimes acting ethically can get you fired...it makes some decisions very difficult.
posted by
DarrkeThoughts
on March 29, 2005 at 8:27 PM
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Tapsel-T. I agree not that I am trying to put people off writing
posted by
Azur
on March 29, 2005 at 7:37 PM
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MayB, if a person is supposed to write, they will come back to it even if you put them off now.
posted by
TAPS.
on March 29, 2005 at 7:05 PM
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And Anthony1Wiley. I agree that you never know who will shine
posted by
Azur
on March 29, 2005 at 6:53 PM
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Anthony1Wiley. At last a friendly person Blogit. People here don't interact .
posted by
Azur
on March 29, 2005 at 6:52 PM
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MayB
Well you never know about some of them May. Like, I was a grade 9 dropout, but was published in 1985. And wasn't Einstein a dolt in mathmatics? Ya just might be corrceting a Hemingway luv.
posted by
WileyJohn
on March 29, 2005 at 6:48 PM
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MerryAnne
It is nice that there is someone here happy to discuss writing.
What do you mean about forcing the timeline.
I am thinking of doing a writing course in May with a famous writer. I have never done one before so it could be interesting
posted by
Azur
on March 29, 2005 at 6:15 PM
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The writing course I'm taking now
may put me off writing.
But the instructor was very clear last week. She didn't think that the revisions and critiquing we are doing now will help these particular peices of work because we are forcing the timeline. Good thing too - because I was starting to feel like I was an idiot.
posted by
MerryAnne
on March 29, 2005 at 5:46 PM
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Should we encourage people to write or spell out the realities?
Or maybe even both?
posted by
Azur
on March 29, 2005 at 5:41 PM
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C.R.Chevelle, maybe they'll come back to it through blogging
posted by
Azur
on March 29, 2005 at 3:44 PM
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True
Many student's days end when their last class ends. Not a second glance goes back to their writing. Although, they're are some that spend too much time reading and writing, haha.
posted by
C.R.Chevelle
on March 29, 2005 at 3:42 PM
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