These four pages were, again, just a little more movement towards our end goal of becoming better writers. I had hoped to gain a bit more from this section of the reading than I did. Essentially Boice just reinforced the tenants he had already written in the previous pages. He did, however, bring in another source which seemed much more my style. He started talking about the sessions he had with other writers and he said that when they read the work of Donald Murray that they all agreed the way he wrote about writing was pretty damn good.
I particularly like the slice of Murray's writing that Boice decided to pick out and show us. Of course it reinforced the ideas Boice had been talking about already, but (to be completely honest) I like them better when Murray said them. I'm not saying that I don't like what Boice is doing, but I do think that he should become a little more concise and a lot less repetitive. He can write the same thing a billion different ways and that can be a little annoying.
I do agree that Boice can be very repetitive, and that he can "say the same thing a billion different ways," but I think this takes a real talent to be repetitive yet not exact. I do agree that some people learn through repetition, and I am one of those students. Although I need repetition, I do find Boice's repetitive ideas a bit aggravating, but more so when I am confused or sense a contradiction of ideas.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have a firm grasp or at least foundation for meditation and mindful writing, so I can understand how Boice may be extra repetitive to you in particular. I think it is important to have a firm stance and opinion on the ideas Boice presents to us. This might mean that you completely disagree with something, but at least you can explore Boice's rules, for example, and see what applies best to your particular style of writing.