For the first time in forever, I posted on the Deep Genre blog.
The post is an answer to a question about whether one can overuse the words I and myself when writing in first person.
The short answer is: Yes, of course! The post talks about some techniques to minimize the problem.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Me, Myself, and I
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2 comments:
I am a reader, not a writer, but your BLOG posting title caught my attention.
It brought to mind my first "expository" writing exercise in my 7th grade English class. Boy, was it a big assignment - to me at least! We had to write a two page essay about ourselves. Oh woe. As I remember it, the assignment occured early in the semester and I think (looking back) that the teacher used it as a means of getting to know his students. (Kind of a wiley idea, don't you think?)
So, I struggled and wrangled and kept asking my Mom - WHAT SHOULD I WRITE? .... IT'S TOO LONG ... and on and on. Then finally, Mom, WHAT SHOULD I CALL IT? And it came to me: My, Myself and I.
It was the first (and maybe the only time), that I felt I had come up with something sublime. As it turns out, the teacher liked it, too. But that was just frosting on the cake. So, I thought I would share this silly story with you.
And now you can see why I am a reader and not a writer - too much hyperbole - I am a bad speller and I major in parenthetical thinking.
You, however, write fantasy/science fiction as poetry. My husband and I really enjoy your works and we both thought that your recent duology of Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone were some of the finest writing that we have been privileged to read in years. I have read each twice and know that I will read them many more times in the future. Just to savor the words and the characters.
Eager for more of your writing, as always -
a fan and dedicated reader.
You comment prompted me to consider where the phrase had come from - I knew I'd heard it before. And this morning I realized that my mom used it as a title for an introductory note in a series of short tales she wrote about her childhood. These tales are for her kids, grandkids, and greats, and are wonderful and interesting slices of life from growing up in West Texas in the Depression and starting a family in the forties. I'll have to ask her where she came up with it.
Thanks for the kind words about the Lighthouse books. I appreciate them more than I can say. Comments like yours send me off to read a few pages, at which time I tell myself, "yeah, maybe I can make this new story come out to be something fun.
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