Finished with all the bits from my journal, I think. I haven't found Any Colour You Like; A Landscape Painted in Words yet. Or maybe I already posted it? Will see.

Now it's time to stick up stuff that like. I actually worked on as Creative Writing. I sat down and thought, hey, I'm going to write something creatively. As opposed to, I'm gonna write and oops! Look Ma! It's creative!

But it's on the old computer.

When I wake up, yeah I know I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you. . . I swear this is the last time I'm going to play this song. . .this hour. Hm maybe I take that back. It just became 4. I love their accents and when they sing, I like they way they make their mouths as wide as possible. (laughs) It seems unnecessary but hey, it works for them. This song makes me want to play instruments that are not present in the song. In fact, it's an instrument not present in any song ever. I don't care what you say, drums are awesome and drum solos are hot. Hawt even.

Anyway, read and wrote too much. Feel sick. Gonna food and lay down.

You know what I need to do because I'm a dumbass? Go back and date all the past entries. Blagh.

In rewritting the last piece, I found myself comparing my old style to my more "mature" style. The main difference seems to be wordiness. I was a lot more wordy when I was younger. Of course that it was a journal entry changes things a bit. I'm just a lot more wordy in speech in general. But evenso, I find that my older writing (including things I wrote only months ago) is a lot more wordy than my writing today. It reminds me of what this one writer said. (I can't remember who.) Basically they said that a good piece of writing eliminates the writer's voice. The words dissipate and leave only the image. And I agree with that whole heartedly. You really don't want readers (including yourself) stumbling over unnecessary words. Even if you're trying to use your words so that what you've written sounds flowy and pretty, what you want left over, in the reader's mind, is the feeling of flowiness and the feeling of prettiness.

Like in songs: it'd be a terrible song (or a notsogood one) that leaves you cringing over notes that don't fit just right. A song that just feels cluttered. And I realize that I might sound like some of Mozart's earliest critics ("too many notes!!") but that's not what I mean at all. To me, a good piece of writing shows the most while saying the least. It's that old adage, "Show, don't tell." The difference between, "The sunset lived and died that day. It had the reds and yellows of heaven," and, "The sunset lived and died that day. Its golds melting, wilting, into fresh blood, into fallen petals on fresh snow."

I guess it's like taking the style of the Romantics and making it less wordy. Romanticism + Minimalism. What a beautiful combo.

I like linking lots of descriptive phrases. I like describing things. But not in a sort of surface value kind of way. In a way that brings up connotations and speaks deeper. It feels like pulling images out of life and linking them, putting them side by side, and in doing that, giving each image a deeper meaning.

And I guess it has a lot to do with word choice. Different connotations. "Skin" and "flesh" connote different things. In writing people usually use "flesh" sensually. "The smell of rotting flesh," and such. "Skin" is everyday, average, run of the mill. (Also I'm deciding here and now to say fuckit to hyphens. They always require way too much energy.) Skin is generally used in more positive ways too. "Soft skin" as opposed to "soft flesh." The latter makes one think of describing dead people. And knowing how different words connote different things is helpful in eliminating wordiness. You don't need to explain things so much because you know the reader automatically knows what you're talking about.

Having a better vocab is good too. I think that's helped my writing a lot. It makes my writing seem a lot less redundant. You can only use the word "thin" so many times before it makes someone go nuts. Slender, svelte, lean, wiry, angular. And each of those words is a better approximation to what one might mean. Each has their connotations and denotations that make them similar to "thin" but more specific.

People often herald Poe's work because he never included anything that wasn't essential to the story. From the very first line it was all right on task. Even to the smallest detail. I've analyzed some of his writing (for classes, blech) and in doing so I noticed that even the smallest, seemingly insignifcant thing, had a purpose. That's how writing should be. Get rid of all of the "dead wood." Doesn't serve a purpose? Trash it. You want it smooth, seamless.

Also, I have got to stop typoing because then people will think the things I put a certain way are simply accidents.

I look back on the things I had in my journal and all I can think is, God, I was so weird. Probably still am. But damn. and the problem is, I'm not sure where the line is drawn during that era. What I consider writing and what I don't.

Ahh! (as Maz says) I should do a retold version of the Little Marmaid oh wait nevermind I already did but I could do another one!

Oh my god the test worked! (laughs) I'm so beside myself I don't know what to do. (rolls around in glee)

Umumumumum. You know, I had lots of cute and witty things to say but now I've forgotten. Probably something along the lines of: "This is where I will pretend to be a good writer and artiste."

(laughs) hmm. I guess this is when I start sticking stuff up. But yeah. Glad you finally fixed it, Maz, I thought it just hated me.

On to the show!

(and the curtain falls)