On Writing- Blog 3

So, who would have known that Stephen King almost died? Definitely not me! I found this kind of "short story" at the end of the book to be a really surprising, entertaining twist. The way he described his accident and the moments that followed were amazing, considering the fact most people probably couldn't remember anything after a collision so severe. I found myself feeling really bad for laughing out loud in some of the parts of On Living: A Postscript. He cracked jokes in the middle of painful images and memories! How does he make something so painful and so serious funny? I know that I could never do it, that's for sure. This was one of my favorite parts of the book though; it really kept me on the edge of my seat. He was SO lucky he lived to tell the tale.

The rest of On Writing was good as well. I liked how he stressed that themes aren't really that big of a deal, and that just about every time your story is going to contain one, whether you mean to or not. King is a big believer in keeping the door shut while writing a first draft, the "all-story" draft as he calls it, and not telling anyone for a good while about his stories. I love his reasoning of this because that way no one can influence you or discourage you on your writing. He also believed you should take some time off after your first draft so you can spot the "gaping holes" in your stories later. I love King's reference to the Titanic when he mentions that everyone makes mistakes. "Someone really did design the Titanic and then label it unsinkable," he says.

I find King's love for his wife so incredibly cute. He just says the sweetest things about her in this book! I literally have to stop and say "Awww" out loud at some points in the book. The way he thinks about her as his "Ideal Reader" is really sweet. He thinks of the things that will make her laugh and smile. He even gives up "his darlings" for her. I know that this is what your supposed to do with an Ideal Reader, but the way he does it with her is so cute to me. Sorry, I am a hopeless romantic I guess.

King's editing process is plain and simple. Cut out anything boring or useless or messes up the flow of the story. I love it! Genius! He also pays very close attention to when friends read his book. He cares very much what other people think about his writing, as he should because the reader is his main priority.

All in all, I really did like On Writing. I found it to be entertaining as well as very informative. I really learned a ton from this book about writing, and I hope it will rub off! haha. Stay tuned followers for the essay on On Writing will be coming soon! :)

State of the Union Address

After two years of his presidency, I still have don't quite decided what I think about President Obama. I hear so many people dislike him, but I don't feel like he's done anything wrong. I love how everyone at the Address is wearing the light blue ribbons in memory of Congresswoman Giffords. I have to admit, I have never seen Obama speak. I have always assumed that it would be boring, but after watching the first 20 minutes of this speech, I have come to the conclusion that Obama really is a great speaker. He doesn't bore me to death, not yet anyway. I like that he stressed at the beginning that everyone needed to work together. That's the only way we are ever going to get anything accomplished, by compromise. He said that we now have competition out there, such as China and India. I like that he stressed that we aren't going to get anything accomplished by just standing around. We need to put a heavier emphasis on math and science as these two countries have done. "We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world." I like that he wants to spark creativity in innovation in our country. This is how we will create new jobs. I love his line "This is our Sputnik moment." This is our time to shine and beat the world to the next level. I think it's great that he wants more of the country to "go green"; he even said that he plans on not giving as many of our tax payer dollars away to oil companies. I think "going green" is so so soooo important to not only our country, but the whole world. It has always been a secret dream of mine to help this movement. 

I am a strong believer of more kids having higher expectation in school. I love how Obama has taken interest in the kids of the nation not getting the education they deserve and need. I think being from the state with one of the highest rates of high school drop-outs, we need to really up our education if our children are going to get a good job one day. I really like his views on immigration too. It really doesn't make since that we have so many bright immigrants that we send back to their country to compete against us. NO sense at all. 

Now I don't know much about health care or insurance, but I think I like what Obama said about these issues. I also like that he is making an effort to fixing our debts. I think it's wonderful that he wants the people to know what's going on in the government too. haha I bet all of those people get tired of standing up and down so often. 

After watching the Address, I have decided that I like President Obama. I feel like he has some really good ideas about how to improve our country. He is also a very good speaker; I didn't get bored once the entire time. I feel that if he can make the changes he talked about tonight, America will be a much stronger nation and world power. Thank you for reading my blog; stay tuned for more!

On Writing- Blog 2

So, I'm going to be honest; I think that I liked the CV better than the Toolbox to Chapter 9. I did enjoy some of the reading after the CV though. I loved how he used the toolbox as a metaphor for all the mechanics you need for writing, and I also loved how he kept going back to the "muse" that is inspiration. The stories being found like fossils was also interesting to me. I really admire Stephen King for trying to be entertaining while basically writing a "how to" guide to writing. He kept the reader consumed in his writing even in the duller parts.

I personally learned a ton from reading the Toolbox to Chapter 9. First, I learned the importance of reading a lot. As Stephen King said, you can learn just as much from bad writing as you can from good writing. This was a real eye-opener to me because I really don't read enough. I learned that I need to start reading more if I want my writing to get better. Another big thing I learned was that you need to be true to yourself in your writing. Write about what you know, and write down the first words that come to your head. There's no need to find a synonym or extra "fluff". I am so guilty of making my writing to where it will please other people and not myself. This book showed me that I can write the way I want to and possibly please my reader even more at the same time. How exciting! One tactic of King's I found kinda weird was that he didn't like using a plot. He couldn't even predict his own stories most of the time. This would drive me INSANE.

King's take on English cracked me up. His hatred for adverbs was so great that he mentioned it in just about every chapter. I also liked how he mentioned that too much description in a book can be worse than not enough description. I absolutely hate a book that has too much description. It makes the story painfully boring. That's King's goal: don't take away from the story, and use anything you have in your toolbox to improve it.

All in all, I still do like Stephen King's On Writing, but I did like the CV better than the Toolbox to Chapter 9. King is one of the best writers that I have read. I have actually dreamed about meeting him the past three nights in a row. I'm not even kidding. I even dreamed that he was in our class last night. Weird, I know, but true haha. I cannot wait to finish this book and see what other tools are waiting to be uncovered in On Writing. Stay tuned for my final blog! Thanks for reading!

On Writing- Blog 1

First thing I am going to say, I really really like this book. It's a refreshing change to the dull books we have had to read for school before. Stephen King's tells his stories in such a vivid and entertaining way. I LOVE it. His images of going to the the ear doctor, the "otiologist" as he calls it, made me want to cringe in pain and laugh hysterically at the same time. I had never really felt this way during a book; it caught me off guard a little. When I first started reading this book, I was not aware that Stephen King wrote Carrie. I absolutely love Carrie; I remember watching the movie with my mom for the first time sometime around Halloween right after I had ankle surgery. It's the only horror movie I have ever been able to watch without having nightmares for weeks on end. I was so excited to read about his inspiration for the masterpiece that is Carrie. I literally squealed of excitement when I read the bathroom scene where Stephen King is cleaning the girls bathroom and thinks of the opening of Carrie. It gives me chills. I also didn't know that Stephen King was discovered by the same guy that discovered John Grisham. I squealed of excitement at this part too. I absolutely love how Stephen King never once stopped writing throughout his entire life. Through all of his adversity he turned to writing to express his feelings. I think it's amazing that he had that much passion in what he did. I think it's really funny that he looks back at his childhood babysitter, Eula-Beulah, as what prepared him most for literary criticism. I also think it's crazy that he started watching horror films by the age of 11. I watched Jurassic Park at age 11 and I STILL have fears of a T-Rex standing outside my window. I don't understand how watching those scary movies became a passion for such a young child. He even refers his trips to the Ritz Movie Theatre as "educational". This is crazy to me, but I like all of the vivid stories he tells of going to these movies. There are really so many things to like about this book; it keeps you wanting more. The only thing I didn't really like or understand was the occasional random story, like when he goes from selling the paperback of Carrie to the story of his first time getting drunk. This is one of the only things that confused me. All in all, I really have enjoyed this book, and I can honestly say that I can't wait to finish it. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more.

-Chloe