Go to The Impossibility Of Knowing
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Azur
I suppose that separating the wheat from the chaff is what we do when we write. How to get those million succinct thoughts into a coherent whole and enter them onto the screen so that others can understand. When it comes to my own writing, I do not describe any place or any person. It's a flaw I always intend to correct but probably never will.
posted by
johnmacnab
on January 27, 2008 at 7:09 AM
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I like the long view Azur...
..and the short commentary! I agree..take a foot off the accelerator!
posted by
ginnieb
on January 18, 2008 at 1:32 PM
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Azur this is beautiful
and i loved the final bit about not dumping all the details on the reader or viewer (I was thinking in terms of painting ) and taking one's foot off the accelerator, years ago my work as a painter was very rich in details and loaded with colors, now i have learned how to let ago of it (it's taken 10 years and the results are shockingly different). see the earlier entries in my Arts and photography blog and tell me if you think your idea applies.
posted by
lindo
on January 16, 2008 at 9:25 AM
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posted by
Azur
on January 13, 2008 at 11:53 PM
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sigh.
i think i'm thinkng too much. i think my sensibilities are overtaxed. i think i need to go to bed, now. sorry about the rant.
posted by
SilverMoon7
on January 13, 2008 at 9:57 PM
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sometimes
painstaking detail is necessary to avoid an onslaught of questions and misdirected--though well-intentioned--advice. i recently sent out a mass email explaining my situation to friends and family. Word had already begun to leak out, and questions began filtering in, as well as ill-informed advice as to what should be done.
When I finally had it all straight in my head, I sent out that detailed e-mail to answer the questions already asked--and to head off the ones sure to come--about a complex situation. maybe it was loaded in detail, but my intention was not only to let important people in my life know that my kid has been abducted by my husband, but to educate them about what exactly that means.
It doesn't do to spend your evenings answering e-mail after e-mail and phone call afer phone call, and 100 variations of the same questions and bad advice, gouging your grief into a bloodier mess and reliving your own personal nightmare over and over with each click of the send button. "My husband violated his court order and has stolen my son and I haven't been allowed to speak to my kid in ten days please pray for us" prompts a lot more questions and reliving the nightmare, than one single patient and simplified-but-thorough explanation of the situation.
Maybe it puts the reader to sleep, but in my circumstance--and maybe in your friend's too--I'm entitled to lay it all on the line. That way, all questions are answered; you have your information, and I have my peace. And miraculously, several people have even thanked me for providing all that information in an easy-to-understand way. I'd hang myself if I had to explain all that garbage every time someone asked one question that led to another and then another...
Sure, some people just reveal too much. I know I do, once I get going (just look at this response). But maybe, too, it isn't always a case of Too Much Information, but an actual, legitimate need for the detail. Maybe I took this post too personally, but it struck a nerve. Things are not always as they seem, and some things just cannot be quickly explained.
posted by
SilverMoon7
on January 13, 2008 at 9:35 PM
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Ahh so less is more? Wait and see.
Roses
from me and
from Bo =^..^= the wonder dog!
posted by
Whacky
on January 13, 2008 at 7:33 PM
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Azur
Great post and great point!
Well put
posted by
SEEDLINGS
on January 13, 2008 at 9:13 AM
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Azur
I'm purring now just from getting over here and reading you again my friend.
posted by
WileyJohn
on January 12, 2008 at 9:28 PM
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azur, new glasses and haiku leaks of racing brains, yes. My past month
appears to have been a little similar to yours.
My glasses can't make me look any older as I look ancient already. I just decided not to get thick black frames, as I am a little more vain than that.....got metallic pink or somesuch and a fake tortoise metal, two pair for one price, great for bifocals.....now I can read and drive again.
posted by
benzinha
on January 12, 2008 at 8:35 PM
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Re: PS: IMDB'ed "Ask The Dust" Amazon is best.
posted by
Azur
on January 12, 2008 at 3:46 PM
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PS: IMDB'ed "Ask The Dust"
In California, never even heard of it.
posted by
majroj
on January 12, 2008 at 12:46 PM
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Great advice. Even if you didn't give it to me...
I hope you find the book and your other glasses so you'll have a spare. :)pat
posted by
Pat_B
on January 12, 2008 at 5:03 AM
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I have had to do that
time is a big part of it. I have had to start politely getting people off the phone too and I just don't find that bit easy.
Jo
posted by
brisbane_artist
on January 11, 2008 at 9:55 PM
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Yes.
posted by
majroj
on January 11, 2008 at 6:44 PM
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