writing journal entry #2

Minutes Worked	23
Words/paragraphs Written	5 paragraphs
Type of Writing	free writing/ pen and ink.
Reflections on this writing
Project	memory project, also printed new draft of blog paper
Goals for next time	begin revising blog paper,do two 20 minute sessions, one on memory, one on blogs

writing journal entry #1

I am dedicated to finally applying Boice’s methods for successful writing. From this point on, reflective, whimsical or otherwise “fun” blogging is going to be a contingency on approximately 20 minutes of serious writing. Thus, any interesting writing on this blog will be preceded by the following worksheet summarizing my progress for the day.

Minutes Worked	20, exactly
Words/paragraphs Written	7 paragraphs
Type of Writing	fast notes on legal pad, outlining an argument
Feelings about this writing	I feel pretty good about this period because I successfully moved from premise to conclusion. However, I’m uncertain about the final value of this new material as I’ve often been misled by these sorts of feelings in the past.
Project	The Varieties of Memory: Cognitive Science and Memory
Goals for next time	continue on memory, begin revising paper on blogs as graded assignments.

Note: This work sheet has been adapted from the examples given here on toolsforwriters.com As I began altering the table to my own needs, I found that it changed quite a bit, the key is that it includes time spent, activity and some space for reflection. Fitness logs work in a similar way and seem to be much more common out on the web.

I had originally hoped to be adapting a list from another source, any advice on a good writing log format would be greatly appreciated.

A clarification

The writing group I joined over the holidays was sponsored by Academic Ladder. They draw pretty heavily on Robert Boice’s work on successful academic writing. His most prominent book is Advice for New Faculty Members, but he’s written plenty of other interesting things on topics like procrastination and writer’s block. Boice’s method depends on writing small amounts in a consistent fashion, about 20 minutes of writing a day, but 20 minutes of writing everyday. Academic Ladder is a specialized service, but I would recommend it for anyone in need of that particular service. I did learn a lot about disciplined writing. They suggest keeping a journal similar to the training journal kept by weight lifters and other athletes. Record how much time you spend writing, reflect on how it can be done better and don’t over do.

This description gives away the dirty little secret that I left unspoken in my last post; I am an academic.

As a younger person, I had a serious interest in becoming a writer of fiction, but that was put aside when I caught the philosophy bug. Of course, fiction and philosophy are by no means incompatible, but I decided to ride that philosophy wave as far as it would take me and it took me pretty far, all the way to a tenure track position at a major American University. About two years ago, my colleagues made it clear to me that I was not going to be tenured. This of course meant that I would need to find employment elsewhere. Two solid years of job search have been fruitless. It looks as if my philosophy wave has run out of forward motion. My lack of productivity, that is publishable writing, my teaching seems to have been well received. Put bluntly, not writing has cost me my dream job.

There are two paths open either I can pursue writing with an eye toward resuscitating my career as a philosopher, or I can just pursue my interest as a more general purpose writer. Of course, the second option poses some questions about how my family and I should go about eating …

what this blog is gonna be about

This journal, as of yet undiscovered, will be a sort of writing/reading log. Clearly I need a community to be responsible to if I’m going to be getting any work done. I’ll be trying to record my writing accomplishments each day. Obviously this will be a private endeavor of sorts, but I am more than happy if anyone who comes across this site would be willing to join me in a blog driven ad-hoc writing group.

What I’m reading 1: The Fortress of Solitude

I’ve only really read As She Crawled Across the Table, but I’ve always wanted to read more Jonathan Lethem, I found a copy of The Fortress of Solitude for cheap at Kent’s used bookstore, I had the perfect excuse to add one more thing to the pile of stuff we’ll have to package up when we move. The guilt has lead me to read it.

I’ve always enjoyed a book that grabbed me and pulled it through its plot, unwillingly, with a palpable sense of speed. The Fortress of Solitude shares some elements with the books that have done that in the past, but it pulls in the opposite direction. Instead of being forced along to see what happens, next, I’m drawn backwards to reappreciate some two page meditation on a terrible pop song or bit of childhood vernacular. It will a miracle if I ever finish it, reading this book may contain an infinite loop.

I can also see some of my own history here in this book, or at least the history I lived through. Lethem and the books protagonist are both five years older than I, and have a deeper understanding of racial complexity than I do. (Whitman MA only needs one well placed ‘e’ to properly represent the sort of people who live there.) But from the Son of Sam killings to black out, events are referenced from the perspective of a child that I remember from the perspective of a child. More importantly than all the large historical events, there are micro-historical events that fix coincendental moments in my life and in the narrative. Two points of space time define a space-like slice and that slice is defined by Marvel’s publication of Logan’s Run, and confusions about Steve Ditko (He can’t draw but still he’s compelling.) and Mad’s mass market paperbacks by AL Jaffe and company (as Lethem observes: “Sarcasm is something you practiced like Karate. Later concealing your mute fury when nobody fed you the opening lines”). I’ve spoken about Steve Ditko. My writing to blogs has been driven as much by the comic books and cheap science-fiction that inhabits my dreams as by anything, and it seems to be the same comic books and pulpy novels that drive Lethem’s novels.

I may have something more interesting to say about The Fortress of Solitude, but of course I have to finish reading it first and I may fall into a sef-referential loop in the meantime.

Addendum:  The most obvious comparison to this book is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. The authors are of roughly the same generation and the source material has significant overlap. Though Chabon draws on an earlier generation of comics, Stan Lee appears as a minor character at one point. Chabon’s book is also a good contrast to Lethem’s in that it had a strong forward draw. Reading that book was like body surfing, I gave myself over to the wave and had no more perceived volition about where to go until my belly was on sand.

return to the blogosphere

I think I’ve lost track of the blogs I’ve kept. The first was called `subject to change’, an experiment in communicating with my students. It didn’t take very long to discover that there are lots of things that’s it’s ok to say, but not ok to say as a teacher speaking to students. Moreover, its pure ego to assume that students would be interested in reading my fever dreams about old comic book covers, so I started another blogger blog, called Free the Turtles, but I found  the old blogger difficult and I wanted to see what wordpress had to offer. So far, I’ve managed to misuse the interface pretty severely.