Comments on: Cramming Technologies into an Elevator

By: The (Mostly Bogus?) War Between Men and Women

The (Mostly Bogus?) War Between Men and Women — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 18:35:21 +0000

[...] (This isn’t that sort of blog.) It’s like… Well, a couple years ago I devoted a blog post to the importance of edges: those (sometimes invisible) lines where two disparate things meet. In [...]

By: John

John — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:16:18 +0000

@marta – I did read it, yes, thanks — in my early-morning swing through blogdom. One of those Ideas In The Air all of a sudden!

The word-verification thing — the reCaptcha version anyhow — is eerily… eerily fraught sometimes. :)

By: marta

marta — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:03:24 +0000

John,
Have you read Shelly’s latest post? It is about edge.

(Word verification says–prize Miss. I like that.)

By: John

John — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:04:23 +0000

@marta – One of my favorite thought experiments when I was a kid was to imagine who I’d be if my parents hadn’t had me. The lost words are out there somewhere; they may or may not wind up in the same sentences and in the same order. But I bet they’ll be close to the original versions.

(My word-verification pair, below, is at the moment “mining auction.” I like the sound of that.)

By: marta

marta — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:17:40 +0000

Well, I shall wonder about the lost words. I’m forever wondering about lost words. But always thank you for reading.

By: John

John — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:40:06 +0000

@Shelly Lowenkopf - I believe you're right about that. Obvious edges of course, e.g. conflicts among characters. And also less obvious ones, like those formed at the intersection of character and setting. (Happy to see you here!)

By: Shelly Lowenkopf

Shelly Lowenkopf — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:06:13 +0000

In writing, edge is everything.

By: John

John — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:44:44 +0000

@marta - Yeah. I worry about it (initially classifying my writing, and then mentally critiquing the classification scheme) all the time, too, and worry about my worrying about it, and... Hall of mirrors. And not far from my mind as I wrote this was your cluster of online projects. The Lake Belle sites really do verge on the unclassifiable. I'm not sure I'll be able to describe them to anyone, maybe ever, without just saying (unsatisfactorily), "You just have to visit them and form your own conclusions." As for the main writing/water site, the edges -- not too many of them, so don't think I mean that -- the edges are prominent and very... mysterious? ...Sh!t. I just wrote and then deleted about 500 words of commentary about that site. It made the point, and maybe if and when you decide to fold your tent there and move on, I'll remember what I almost said here and then can tell you. For now, though, don't let me make you self-conscious about it. You're just doing the right things with it (even if they're things I don't think I've seen before).

By: marta

marta — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:39:30 +0000

In art I’ve got a thing for edges–as I see them anyway.

In my writing, I don’t want too many points of view. I don’t want more tenses. As for genres? I don’t know. As it is I don’t know how to classify what I’ve written, but I was talking about this yesterday with a friend. I hate to say I don’t know how to label my writing, I feel like I sound pretentious. “Oh, my work is just so complicated…it transcends genres!” Ick. That’s not what I mean.