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Excellent article - “What On Earth is Christian Film Criticism?“.

Filed at 12:55 pm under Links, Writing, Film
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Some of you know that I’m an editor (here’s my section). And I’ve been an editor off and on for a long time. With my mom, I edited our homeschool group’s monthly 16-page newsletter throughout all four years of high school. And, I’ve often confided to Tom that I (not-so-secretly) think I’m a much better editor than writer. And I’m a big fan of The Elements of Style, the classic book that’s been updated and whimsically illustrated (go buy it!).

I don’t claim to be a brilliant writer - or even a completely grammatical one, which should be abundantly obvious from this humble blog - but I do a fair amount of editing, and I’m admittedly rougher on other people’s work than my own. And here are my top ten stylistic tips for aspiring writers that I’ve been compiling for a while, many of which are scavenged from Strunk & White but keep popping up.

This list could also be called “how to not let your editor know you’re an amateur”.

1. Don’t ever say “the fact that”. It weakens your sentence. You don’t need to point out that it’s a fact if it is a fact, because facts, by nature, are self-evident.

2. Same with “very”. Please, use very very sparingly, and only when it’s very necessary to prove your point.

3. Cut, cut, cut. And then cut some more. Everyone is too long-winded in their first draft, so please, cut it down by one-third. Say what you mean, and be done with it.

4. Stop using adjectives and adverbs, in general, unless they’re key to the phrase and your readers’ understanding. You may think it sounds nice, but it’s just too dang wordy.

5. Find out what the passive voice is, and then don’t use it.

6. Please learn your/you’re, its/it’s, and there/their/they’re. This was something we learned in the third grade.

7. Don’t ever use all-caps, and refrain from using italics unless you have a compelling reason. Your phrasing should provide the emphasis for the word. If it doesn’t, revise.

8. Please use paragraph breaks. And remember, there’s rarely a reason to have more than five sentences in a paragraph. I’d rather have a too-choppy essay that I can paste together than a huge block of text that I just can’t read.

9. Do not use cliched metaphors - “big as a house”, “tired as a dog”, . They make no impact on the reader because they’re commonplace. Find a new description, something that will prompt a doubletake in your reader and make them smile.

10. Learn to punctuate.

</steps off soapbox>

And please, ignore my grammar mistakes in this entry. :)

P.S. Little-known fact about me: I think one of my life ambitions is to edit a literary journal, like Image.

Filed at 11:25 am under Writing
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Worth reading: Come and See: Leonardo da Vinci’s Philip in The Last Supper. Mako Fujimura weighs in with grace on Da Vinci, the last supper, art criticism, and the church.

Filed at 9:48 am under Writing, Theology, Art, Faith
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So the authors of Emily Ever After & Consider Lily blogged about their interview, and you should read their blog, because it’s great fun.

Filed at 3:43 pm under Writing, Books
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. . . check it out.

Filed at 4:01 pm under Writing
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My other article for this week at Relevant, which I enjoyed writing. :)

Filed at 1:18 am under Writing
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My mundane latest at Relevant.

Filed at 9:54 am under Writing
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This is a great kick-in-the-pants article for writers. Also check out SlushPile.net.

And someone, please tell me this is a joke. Please.

Filed at 8:23 am under Links, Writing, Facepalm
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My first article at Relevant in a long time, if you’re interested.

Filed at 8:29 pm under Writing
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Tom has been working for almost fourteen hours so far today (catering somewhere upstate), so I’m hanging out here at home and relaxing tonight. I finished reading A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (amazing book, excellent writing, looking forward to the film) and backed up a bunch of old files to clear some space on my hard drive. Now I’m going to go read V for Vendetta.

Tomorrow morning I am meeting Susan Enan on MacDougall Street to chat about her work for an upcoming article, then heading up to MoMA for the Munch exhibit with Colleen and Josh and Tom. And possibly a film tomorrow night; likely Tsotsi or L’Enfant (and leaning toward L’Enfant). Haven’t watched any movies this week, which is rare for us.

My top five bands of all time (an ever-evolving list):
1. Dave Matthews Band (in all its iterations)
2. Nickel Creek
3. Jars of Clay
4. Iron & Wine
5. Over the Rhine

I bought small red latte bowls, four for ten dollars, at Anthropologie last weekend, and they are too cute for words.

My parents will find out soon if they’ve sold their house. Hard to believe, a little nostalgic, but it’s a great move for them. Everyone is shifting and moving around - I’m moving, Tom’s moving, my family’s moving, my grandparents are moving. Friends are moving . . . life moves on.
A year ago today, I had my last class at RPI. What a year it’s been.

Ok, off to be a geek and read V (yes, a graphic novel - I can’t make myself read it on the subway).

Filed at 8:59 pm under Life, Writing, Music, Film, Books
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I start my next NYU class tonight, and it runs for five weeks:

Film & Media Journalism

Want to get the real behind-the-scenes story? Forget celebrity puff pieces and studio press junkets, this course gives you the tools to go after the stories that matter, from investigative exposés to trend pieces that shed light on the culture at large. Learn the ins and outs of the arts and entertainment industry (from movies to new media) and find out how to pitch, research, and write engaging, in-depth stories for major newspapers, glossy magazines, trades, and websites. Taught by an experienced editor and writer, this course features guest speakers and industry insiders from studio reps to feature editors and veteran freelance journalists.

Sounds like it will be really, really interesting.

Filed at 9:06 am under Daily Goings-On, Writing
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I write fluffy articles occasionally.

It’s not too warm here in Orlando, but it’s certainly not cold. We went outlet shopping yesterday, oh yes. I own Seven jeans now, oh yes (thank God for discounted outlets!). And other things I needed - flat black shoes, a steal at Nine West, and a wallet that actually holds all my cards and change, and other Useful Things.

Tonight is the Radiant party - I’ll be there!

And the greatest news of the day so far: I was all disappointed because Rosie Thomas wasn’t playing NYC, but it turns out that she is playing Hoboken, NJ - which is pretty much accessible by train to me. So April 12!

Filed at 9:18 am under Writing, Music, Travel
3 Comments

So technically, I didn’t write this article that just went up at Relevant, but I couldn’t figure out how else to credit it. But if you read my “Seeing God’s Hand” article a few months ago . . . this is a follow-up. (And if you read my blog, you may have contributed to it!)

Filed at 9:12 pm under Writing
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Someone I had just met asked me out of the blue this morning if I was a writer.

Is it my aura? Do I exude writer-ness? Is it what I wear?

At any rate, I chuckled.

Filed at 10:26 am under Daily Goings-On, Writing
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Interesting editorial by a world affairs correspondent on BBC news about blogging. Blogging, in my opinion, is the best manifestation of the ideals of free speech in recent history.

Filed at 1:27 pm under Links, Writing
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Yesterday was my first class. It’s a six-week workshop/seminar-style class called “Freelancing for the Novice Writer” at NYU. There are about ten students, and the teacher seems really great. She’s had a lot of experience on both sides of the freelancing world - as a writer, and as an editor. We talked about publishing terms and will be working on ideas, learning how to pitch a piece, etc. Happily, it’s exactly what I was hoping the class would be, and hopefully will help me to gain the confidence to push out into new territory. Because, as you all know, I will know I’ve “made it” when I someday get published in the New Yorker.

I gloriously went to bed at 10:00 pm because I was so tired. The mono is mostly gone, but it does wear me out by the end of the day.

I got up at 7:00 am this morning, showered, answered emails, and went to Joe to meet Apryl. There was a screw-up with her shower and she couldn’t make it, but Tom was there! Had a cup of the best chai in the whole world (or at least, much better than anything in New York City) and caught the subway to work.

And the sight on the subway that just made my day:
A huge black guy with waist-length dreads, dressed for all the world like a gangsta, reading Pride and Prejudice.

Ladies and gentleman, you cannot top this city.

Filed at 10:14 am under New York City, Daily Goings-On, Writing
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Now that he’s blogged about it, I can too:

Our very own Ken Walker, on Relevant.

Filed at 4:39 pm under Friends, Writing
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So Dr. Paul Dean read my last article at Relevant and responded to it on his Christian radio show (which, in poking around the internet, appears to be heard in an awful lot of parts of the country). So here’s his response.

Filed at 11:11 pm under Writing
3 Comments

As noted below, I am sick. (I don’t think I have a cold, but my throat is sore, my head feels the teeniest bit woozy, and my back hurts, strangely.)

Ironically, my first article got printed today at Radiant. Hurrah! But ironic.

I’m taking my own advice and getting lots of sleep and drinking down buckets of Emergen-C.

Filed at 3:18 pm under Life, Writing
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I think I’m sick.

Edit: The irony in all this is that I have an article to be put up at Radiant Magazine sometime today about beating the cold season. I guess I will take some of my own advice.

::scampers off to drink water and vitamin C::

Filed at 1:42 pm under Daily Goings-On, Writing
4 Comments

I just wrote a review of The Virgin Suicides over at Writers Read. Check it out.

And if you haven’t seen Writers Read yet, you should poke around. I think this has great potential for the future.

Filed at 4:07 pm under Writing, Books
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This was quite a busy weekend, filled with lots of conversations and thinking. Lots of thoughts swirling in the brain right now…

• • My own spiritual journey in the semirecent past and the changes I’ve seen in me that I didn’t recognize until I thought about it.

• • Why did God change me? What does He want me to do with it? How am I meant to be an encouragement?

• • Lots of pickup in the writing arena suddenly, and how to balance that with work/life. I can quickly become a workaholic. And where am I supposed to be going with this? Who should I be learning from? And how?

• • Fascinating discussion on the church’s role in helping college students recognize their vocation, and how campus Christian groups such as Intervarsity have succeeded & failed in supporting the local church. Lots of diverse experiences out there. I seem to have had one of the good ones.

• • A few discussions and meditations on the proper balance between adopting others’ opinions as one’s own, and actually taking the time to study an issue. And as a relatively young person, how reasonable is it for me to expect to already have logically formed opinions on everything? (Had I not been homeschooled, I’d be a total failure in this area right now, but instead I spent six years reading great classics and studying logic and Latin and church history and political theory and worldviews and figuring out why people believe what they believe. Thanks, Mom and Dad.)

• • Swirling thoughts related to the “honey on the ground” discussion at IAM last Wednesday, and its implications for legalism, culture, and such. More to come there.

Filed at 5:00 pm under Life, Writing, Faith
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I’ve just joined Writers Read as a contributing blogger. It’s a new blog with book/literature/etc. reviews by writers.

Add it to your RSS reader and enjoy!

Filed at 11:49 am under Links, Writing
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I was at IAM this morning in Tribeca, and Jon Stewart (of the Daily Show) came to our table because we had an empty high chair (for his small son, who he was holding).

Last night Katie and I saw Swan Lake at Lincoln Center. Good stuff, that.

My latest at Relevant went up last night.

My laptop is being delivered today! Hurrah!

Filed at 11:09 am under New York City, Daily Goings-On, Writing, Art
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As is my tradition: behold my weekend.

On Friday night, we had dinner at a fabulous wine bar place right across from my building in Rockefeller Center. I had this duck risotto thing and it was splendid. We came downtown and went to Garage, on 7th Avenue, and sat and listened to the jazz for a while. It was lovely and laid-back, a good place to take a friend from out-of-town, with no cover.

I slept in quite late on Saturday, which I desperately needed. I got up and showered and went to Starbucks to meet Tom. We were both on the phone when I got there, so we finished our conversations - I with my infinitely cool father (hi Dad!) and he with a friend from college.

I have recently become enamored of the new Cinnamon Dolce lattes at Starbucks. I’m usually a hazelnut latte girl (used to be Irish creme, but they discontinued that flavor!) but this is better. So I got one of those. Unfortunately in the course of a conversation, the latte ended up upside down in my lap (won’t tell you which one of us did that) and I had to go home and change.

Gotten in to dry, non-milk-besotten clothes, we headed uptown and went to MoMA. I get in free (with up to four guests!) because I work for the Bank That Sponsors Everything. We saw the Pixar exhibit, which was terribly interesting and fun, and a few other exhibits - photography, and some of the Picassos and Pollacks and Van Goghs upstairs. We’ll have to go back. They screen movies there on a regular basis (Citizen Kane is on the docket for this month) and I get in free, so it’s certainly cheaper than going to the “real” movie theater!

MoMA closes at 5:30 pm, so we stopped in the MoMA Design Store across the street and headed back “home”. Scrounged through my refrigerator and ended up making hummus with vegetables and pitas and mozarella cheese, enough for an army (still a lot in the fridge). We had a lovely evening of sitting around talking about everything and nothing in particular.

I got up at a reasonable hour yesterday, headed to church and handled bagels and et ceteras with Scott and some of the fantastic kids who go to my church, and then went to the service, which was particularly good yesterday - but I’ll post about that later when I gather my thoughts more and there’s a lull in the workday.

We went to a burger place in the east village with four others, none of whom have blogs yet (though we’re working on that ;)) and then to Village Life at the Bowery Poetry Club, where there was fun folksy southern rock kinda music going on. And then last night Tom and I went to the apartment and watched Gilmore Girls, and had the most unhealthy dinner ever: half a bag of chocolate chips, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, a jar of salsa, and a bag of tortilla chips. Hey, we’re trying to emulate Lorelai and Rory!

I got up quite early this morning - for me anyhow - and went to the gym for the first time since October. ::blush:: I went to a yoga class, which at Equinox means none of the mumbo-jumbo and a lot of stretching. Hurrah. Hopefully I can keep going, and maybe even overcome my phobia of mornings before 7:00 am.

Tomorrow night Katie and I are going to Lincoln Center for NYC Ballet’s production of Swan Lake. I’ve actually seen this production a couple years ago in Saratoga, but it is great fun and the music is, of course, sublime. Tchaikovsky could write ballets! We have waaaay far back tickets in the fourth ring, because I joined the Fourth Ring Society, allowing me to get two $15 tickets in the fourth ring for each performance in this year’s winter and spring seasons. They won’t be great, but they’re certainly worth the price (the prices double from there on).

Public service announcement from your friendly Relevant editor:
If you’re at all interested in writing an article for Relevant Online’s career and finance section, please let me know. I will almost certainly say yes. I’m looking for articles on your profession, how God relates to your profession, most aspects of personal finance and investment, and practically anything else you can think of. A new article goes in every week, so definitely contact me! Email me at career@relevantmagazine.com.

Adieu, till later.

Filed at 11:44 am under New York City, Daily Goings-On, Writing, Film, Church, Art
5 Comments