Saturday, March 31, 2007

Verbal Graffiti

I know I haven't been around much and there isn't anything wrong, I just couldn't think of anything to say. Admittedly, this is a hectic time around the ol' ranch with baseball, girl scouts, and the other bazillion activities my family is involved in. Plus the weather changes have been tough. I'm tired more than anything and have the mental agility of a radish right now.

Which brings me to my post. We were sitting at dinner the other night and Diva starts going on about nothing. It started to grate on my ears. She wasn't trying to say anything, just make us aware of her presence with her constant yapping. Anything to grab our focus and make sure it remains on her. If you watch professional sports, verbal grafitti prevails over insightful comments. Its bad enough that we usually use the mute button on the television.

Writers do it too. In some ways, I understand it, there are word counts to meet. But I also think we as writers become enchanted with our own writing. I do it myself. I will go on an on describing the deserted warehouse or the easy chair or the bridal gown, thrilled with the quality of my prose, impressed with myself, then I go back and read it. YAWN!!! Ah well, at least I got it out of my system and didn't let it leave my hard drive like that. Too often I think writers ignore their better sense in favor of their vanity. They don't realize what they are writing is drivel and boring. They create scenes and conflicts that make no sense only to celebrate their own brilliance. I'm sure they see it in a totally different light than I do, but in the end, its what the reader thinks and feels. If we want to publish, we need to satisfy the readers not our own vanity.

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