Making the Clackity Noise

If this little manifesto won’t cure your writer’s block, maybe you should just do a Hemingway.

OK, that’s a little harsh, but Merlin Mann has an excellent point — don’t try to “write,” just type. See what comes out.

If it’s not all that good (and it probably won’t be), then you can work on making it better (that’s called “writing,” kids).

But you can’t start the “writing” until you’ve typed something you can work with. So unhook your brain, let your fingers loose and make the clackity noise for a while and see what happens.

(pic via Herd of Words)

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Elites vs. tweets

How the Other Half Writes: In Defense of Twitter

Geoff Manaugh takes issue with those who like to put down people who write with their thumbs:

Now that suburban housewives in Missouri are letting their thoughts be known via Twitter, it’s as if writing itself is thought to be under attack, invaded from all sides by the unwashed masses whose thoughts have not been sanctioned as Literature™.  In many ways, I’m reminded of Truman Capote’s infamous put-down of Jack Kerouac: “That’s not writing, it’s typing.”

And in We Are All Writers Now,  Anne Trubek says Facebook and other technologies can foster creativity and self-expression:

Take the “25 Things About Me” meme that raged around Facebook a few months ago. This time-waster, as many saw it, is precisely the kind of brainstorming exercise I used to assign to my freshman writing students decades ago.

(cartoon via Neuroanthropology blog, which also has some useful insights)

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