Facebook to K-Man
(This originally was to be a Facebook post to “K-Man,” a Facebook “friend.” K-Man was an editor at the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, where I began after my stroke as an unpaid intern = post-stroke rehab. They eventually hired me. Instead of discouraging my writing, K-Man encouraged me. 254 words is 253 words more than the usual Facebook post: one-word grunts or “congrats.”)
“Little by little writing becomes less what it was. Figures-of-speech are suddenly out. They hafta be explained (drone.....).
A week ago I was “chatting” with an Apple techie, a millennial (poor baby), and “cranking” lost her. “Cranking” is typing.
Say “we never went to no Moon,” and I’ll hafta explain. “Hollywood and Crankcase,” I’d say; “Crankcase” being “Cronkite.”
No matter how delicious a figure of speech might be to the writer, DUMP IT!
Same with big words. Joe SixPak is not gonna drag out his Funk & Wagnalls. —“Joe SixPak” is Boss-man (our Executive Editor).
I look at that Messenger column I did years ago about “The sun always shines at 35,000 feet” — I blogged it not long ago — and it’s badly in need of editing.
All that’s worth noting is color. What’s viable is my eye. “Grady, where do you get all this madness to blog?” “Marcy, it’s everywhere!”
I could claim my chat-girl couldn’t ”crunch” what I said. “Crunch” would hafta be explained.
Similarly “word-slingin’.” To me that’s writing. Same with “Mexican stand-off.” That’s a dog-fight.
This is ****** (an Editor) with her “keep it short.” If we can get readers past the first sentence, we’re doin’ good.
And don’t forget a little alliteration never hurt anyone.
Can they teach this in writing class? Avoiding passive voice isn’t the jaundiced eye.
Refer to myself as a “paragon of virtue” and ****** (another Editor) gets it. Try that on my lifeguard friend at the YMCA swimming-pool, and I bet I hafta explain.”
• “Marcy” is the young Messenger employee I worked next to before I retired. She is my first “Ne’er-do-Well;” she loved what I was writing. This blog is largely due to her.
“Little by little writing becomes less what it was. Figures-of-speech are suddenly out. They hafta be explained (drone.....).
A week ago I was “chatting” with an Apple techie, a millennial (poor baby), and “cranking” lost her. “Cranking” is typing.
Say “we never went to no Moon,” and I’ll hafta explain. “Hollywood and Crankcase,” I’d say; “Crankcase” being “Cronkite.”
No matter how delicious a figure of speech might be to the writer, DUMP IT!
Same with big words. Joe SixPak is not gonna drag out his Funk & Wagnalls. —“Joe SixPak” is Boss-man (our Executive Editor).
I look at that Messenger column I did years ago about “The sun always shines at 35,000 feet” — I blogged it not long ago — and it’s badly in need of editing.
All that’s worth noting is color. What’s viable is my eye. “Grady, where do you get all this madness to blog?” “Marcy, it’s everywhere!”
I could claim my chat-girl couldn’t ”crunch” what I said. “Crunch” would hafta be explained.
Similarly “word-slingin’.” To me that’s writing. Same with “Mexican stand-off.” That’s a dog-fight.
This is ****** (an Editor) with her “keep it short.” If we can get readers past the first sentence, we’re doin’ good.
And don’t forget a little alliteration never hurt anyone.
Can they teach this in writing class? Avoiding passive voice isn’t the jaundiced eye.
Refer to myself as a “paragon of virtue” and ****** (another Editor) gets it. Try that on my lifeguard friend at the YMCA swimming-pool, and I bet I hafta explain.”
• “Marcy” is the young Messenger employee I worked next to before I retired. She is my first “Ne’er-do-Well;” she loved what I was writing. This blog is largely due to her.
posted by BobbaLew at 2:44 PM
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