2026: February 22: Reading and Writing

I have not taken an English literature class since high school (I haven't taken a science class since high school either, but that's a sad story for another day). You know I read a lot, but I've never taken much time to be deliberately conscious of how something is written. Sure, I sense clunkiness, or an author trying too hard, and I've had my share of frustration parsing the nineteenth-century sentence. Reading for the beauty of the language doesn't come naturally to me and sometimes I've felt guilty for reading too fast, for not appreciating the words themselves. As if I'm disrespecting the author.

Now, though, I'm taking these creative writing classes, and part of learning to do anything involves taking that thing apart and seeing how it was put together. I am enjoying it so much, slowing down, looking at the rhythm of the words and the sentences and asking how they change or support the meaning. Dialog, time markers, imagery, character arcs etc. It's all so much fun to think about, and to talk about with other people. Seriously, I'd forgotten what it is like to have someone else point to something and have it break open my thinking just a little bit more. 

Cats don't read or write. Weird. 

Then I get to go and try things out, see if I like them, if they work for me, and then I get to kind of forget about them again while I just simply write. 

(Oh, and perhaps this should be another whole post, but I want to write like Alysa Liu skates. I'm minorly obsessed with her right now). 

Hey, trying something out here: Movie of the Month: If you get a chance to see Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie, you absolutely should. The only think I knew going in was that it was a comedy, and that might be the best way to experience it. Although I already know I want to see it again.