Writing Consultancy, fall 2007

Okay, so I am in agreement all of you - some of you don't know it yet, but you will - who think that the first Murphy/Sherwood reading is a tad bit stuffy, and chock full of odd examples and paraphrasing. The story-like scenarios found under the "Stages of the Tutorial" heading include ample dialogue that reads a bit like a script for a soap opera - well, a very intellectual soap opera about very succesful and attractive writers, who have exotic names like Sabah and Yaroslav. Some of my favorite quotes include:
-"Is this akward for you?" he asked...Sabah was relieved and grateful for the chance to unburden her feelings.
-"I can't read," Ted said, laughing. [is that funny?] "At least not the way you do. I have dyslexia. [he chortled again]
and my personal favorite theory about writing:
-""When you're in the trucking business, you'd better get it right the first time."
Whew. I guess I can see why some people come to the writing center to unload some of their personal baggage!

Okay, I also wanted a chance to finish up an idea I had last week when we all sort of freaked out on Harris for her analysis of one- and multi-draft writers. I really liked that article! And I really liked her writing style - I actually thought she acknowledged several times the small scale of her study, and that no writer could be put into a set category. As I read about the typical habits of "one-drafters" I felt like she was speaking my language - and I do think that we who follow the one-draft persuasion DON'T enjoy the process of writing as much as others - because if we did, we could write the same paper several times! Back off of Harris, geez..Just kidding.

And finally, on page 17 of Style, Williams refers to very commonly repeated errors as "hobgoblins," which I thought was a particuarly quaint way of putting it. Did you know that a hobgoblin is also a legendary character from folklore referring to Robin Goodfellow, AND a strong, dark ale? Wikepedia is so great.