I bought The Writing Class. I found it through serendipity. A small bookshelf in a Starbucks caught my attention as I surveyed the people and place. For once, I was not in a hurry. Scanning the book titles, I found most of them uninteresting until I saw The Writing Class.
I was as far deep into the book as one grande London Fog supported, and I was hooked. I overcame the temptation to steal the book and promised myself I’d follow through and buy it.
Amazon of course made the purchase obscenely easy; I prefer bookshops and libraries.
Besides enjoying the mystery, I’m enjoying learning about writing. Decades ago as a young thing I participated in a writing class that turned out to be a venue for nerdy hook-ups: not my motivation.
Meanwhile during those decades I’ve earned a living through business writing. Writing to persuade people to buy a product, even a very good product, is a stifling, trifling experience. Once in a while I’ll produce a few paragraphs that feel like decent writing, only to see them edited out of subsequent boilerplate. This happens as a well meaning colleague industriously deletes “the fluff”. Nevermind that the fluff honestly describes a teacher’s experience as I attempt to convey real-world value for said product.
Your book reminded me that delightfully I have so much more to learn about writing fiction. So, thank you!
Now for the dense part: I’ve apparently overlooked the mechanics for Commenting in your blog. Maybe I need a flashing red arrow that says “Comment Here.”
I bought The Writing Class. I found it through serendipity. A small bookshelf in a Starbucks caught my attention as I surveyed the people and place. For once, I was not in a hurry. Scanning the book titles, I found most of them uninteresting until I saw The Writing Class.
I was as far deep into the book as one grande London Fog supported, and I was hooked. I overcame the temptation to steal the book and promised myself I’d follow through and buy it.
Amazon of course made the purchase obscenely easy; I prefer bookshops and libraries.
Besides enjoying the mystery, I’m enjoying learning about writing. Decades ago as a young thing I participated in a writing class that turned out to be a venue for nerdy hook-ups: not my motivation.
Meanwhile during those decades I’ve earned a living through business writing. Writing to persuade people to buy a product, even a very good product, is a stifling, trifling experience. Once in a while I’ll produce a few paragraphs that feel like decent writing, only to see them edited out of subsequent boilerplate. This happens as a well meaning colleague industriously deletes “the fluff”. Nevermind that the fluff honestly describes a teacher’s experience as I attempt to convey real-world value for said product.
Your book reminded me that delightfully I have so much more to learn about writing fiction. So, thank you!
Now for the dense part: I’ve apparently overlooked the mechanics for Commenting in your blog. Maybe I need a flashing red arrow that says “Comment Here.”