I haven’t blogged anywhere for a long time. My time has been spent traveling and writing my candidacy paper and getting started on my literature review. I have been reading lots of good fiction just to feel like I have some kind of life, but mostly, when I get a minute, I write. I am trying to work on the project at least a little bit each day. I am at that point in the candidacy paper where I am sure it is crap. But I wouldn’t know how else to do it so that’s what I am turning in.
In class on Thursday, I talked about the writing fairy: I think I meant that little voice that points the way towards the final draft. Provides the metaphor or reveals the connections between ideas. I think I am going to call her Rhetorica, in honor of Richard Lanham, who was the only light in a pretty dark time of my life. My advisor recommended writing incantations. So, I googgled incantations and found a site with directions for writing your own. (Don’t you LOVE the internet??) They recommend being precise and concise with maybe a rhyme or two. So, what exactly do I want from Rhetorica? I want the words to flow; I want the connections to be clear; I want to write without struggle. Oh, and I want a metaphor to use to organize my lit review.
Rhetorica, rhetorica, touch me with your fire
Open my eyes, light my soul, keep me from the mire
Effortlessly, the words will flow
With clarity, the ideas will grow
With brilliance, the prose will glow
Hmm…not bad for a first try…
