I guess I've put off my first post a bit because, well... I thought it needed to be somewhat special. However, this isn't a love letter, or a university thesis, so I guess I'll just get right on it!
So, right now I should be writing up my first assignment for my Communications class. It's a simple summary assignment - 400 words, with a critical review of the article - also 400 words. But here I am, reading this article and all I can think is "when will this end.......?" Then it hit me; the reason why I am so turned off by this article. It's the style of writing - something I have been learning about in my Professional Creative Writing and Communications class. We've discussed how highly academic articles are so convoluted and full of big words with lots of syllables and long sentences. These are the sentences that you generally start reading and never finish - you look away and then come back and start it again, and again... and again.
The article by David McCooey, called The Public Life of Australian Poetry is essentially a discussion about its decline in public culture. Now, I picked this article from the list given because I like poetry. I actually happen to dabble in a bit of it myself. But this article is just turning me off.
Anyway, it's not simple. It doesn't flow. There are odd sentences that are too long and have big words that just make the sentence even longer. I don't enjoy it at all.
This brings me to the point of this post - I want to be the type of writer who doesn't write long, wanky sentences just because it makes me sound all posh-like. I want my writing to flow; not to be childish in terminology, but clear and concise with a gentle air of complexity. The sort of style that adds another dimension to writing, but doesn't take it as far as 'out of this world'.
You know, the irony of this is I probably already have written some terrible sentences. But it's okay. I'm still only learning.
Just remember,
Less is best.
Love and peace,
Jessica
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