Some writers are bloggers.
All bloggers are writers (by definition).
Writers of all descriptions and levels of experience, sooner or later, develop what can be called "The Oyster Syndrome.
" Writers, bloggers included, are always trying to improve their work.
Constantly honing their craft, expert and novice alike, tolerate in themselves a measure of "artistic dissatisfaction" that drives them to modify, edit and endlessly revise whatever they are working on.
This is "The Oyster Syndrome": A creative compulsion leading to the relentless pursuit of perfection, which, like the oyster's reaction to an irritating, sharp grain of sand, produces-a pearl; in the writer's case (hopefully) a polished "pearl" of prose good enough to enlighten the curious, inspire the discouraged, entertain the bored, and amuse the life-hardened cynic.
The source of "The Oyster Syndrome" is the "Inner Editor," a nagging, authoritative voice that regulates all the others.
The others? Yes.
Oh yes.
There are many voices that issue forth in streams of thought from the writer's creative imagination.
You may assign to them any names that you like but you will recognize their essence by the names I have given them: There is "The Philosopher, The Sage, The Child, The Campaigner for Justice, The Misanthrope, The Comedian" and--"The Babbling Idiot," which, I secretly worry, may sometimes be my dominant voice.
[If you worry that this may be one of your voices, don't be too upset: Shakespeare uses his "Inner Babbling Idiot" to great effect in The Tempest.
Read through Trinculo's lines.
] In any case, when we write, our "Inner Editor" chooses the appropriate voice, and somehow fashions from our drafts, something worth reading: A "pearl," perhaps.
It is extremely annoying and sometimes distressing to read something you've already published and notice some part of it that you could have written better.
That's how it is with the "Inner Editor.
" As vexing as this is, I believe it is accurate to say that good writing is a result of this "Inner Editor" energizing the compulsion that causes "The Oyster Syndrome.
" So, if you writers, who are also bloggers, and you bloggers who are writers, find yourselves adding and subtracting, changing and replacing words to "get it right," take heart and remember: It is not easy or comfortable to create a "pearl," but once formed; it is a thing of beauty and well worth any effort.
All bloggers are writers (by definition).
Writers of all descriptions and levels of experience, sooner or later, develop what can be called "The Oyster Syndrome.
" Writers, bloggers included, are always trying to improve their work.
Constantly honing their craft, expert and novice alike, tolerate in themselves a measure of "artistic dissatisfaction" that drives them to modify, edit and endlessly revise whatever they are working on.
This is "The Oyster Syndrome": A creative compulsion leading to the relentless pursuit of perfection, which, like the oyster's reaction to an irritating, sharp grain of sand, produces-a pearl; in the writer's case (hopefully) a polished "pearl" of prose good enough to enlighten the curious, inspire the discouraged, entertain the bored, and amuse the life-hardened cynic.
The source of "The Oyster Syndrome" is the "Inner Editor," a nagging, authoritative voice that regulates all the others.
The others? Yes.
Oh yes.
There are many voices that issue forth in streams of thought from the writer's creative imagination.
You may assign to them any names that you like but you will recognize their essence by the names I have given them: There is "The Philosopher, The Sage, The Child, The Campaigner for Justice, The Misanthrope, The Comedian" and--"The Babbling Idiot," which, I secretly worry, may sometimes be my dominant voice.
[If you worry that this may be one of your voices, don't be too upset: Shakespeare uses his "Inner Babbling Idiot" to great effect in The Tempest.
Read through Trinculo's lines.
] In any case, when we write, our "Inner Editor" chooses the appropriate voice, and somehow fashions from our drafts, something worth reading: A "pearl," perhaps.
It is extremely annoying and sometimes distressing to read something you've already published and notice some part of it that you could have written better.
That's how it is with the "Inner Editor.
" As vexing as this is, I believe it is accurate to say that good writing is a result of this "Inner Editor" energizing the compulsion that causes "The Oyster Syndrome.
" So, if you writers, who are also bloggers, and you bloggers who are writers, find yourselves adding and subtracting, changing and replacing words to "get it right," take heart and remember: It is not easy or comfortable to create a "pearl," but once formed; it is a thing of beauty and well worth any effort.
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