With precisely two weeks until NaNoWriMo is over there is not a minute to waste in finishing what I hope to be my Magnum P.I, "The Day I Euthanized My Footwear: Trials and Tribulations of Justin Kahn, That Quiet Voice of Reason in a World Gone Insane"
This is the stage of the creative process where every move I make must be absolutely perfect. To make sure my approach was perfect, I reviewed classic theories of novelistic technique. The one principle that absolutely every major novelist agrees on is that the author must 'Show Not Tell.' Many of these authors agree that the only way the author can do this is to prepare to see.
If seeing is important to being a great author then I wanted to know as much about seeing as possible. For that reason, I have spent the last couple of days reading up on the field of opthamology, reviewing tapes of lasik surgey and walking around with my infrared/x-ray vision glasses.
I have distilled my research into two ideas:
1) The Justin Kahn Principle of Seeing:Draw to See. Marshall McLuhan said that people who become absorbed in the world of texts can reconnect with the spatial world of physical objects by drawing.
2) Another Justin Kahn Princple About Seeing:Keep Drawing. Flannery O'Connor* said, "Yawl want t' be more perceptive. Drawing forces yo' eye to be active."
Want to be a great writer? Then see! But how to see? Draw. So I have decided to devote myself to drawing.
Except drawing is real hard. But coloring is fun! That's why I spent almost four hours yesterday (after a full day of work!) working on my ability to see. And soon, you will see with panic inducing clarity the world as I see it.
*Before Audrey there was Flannery.
18 comments:
*Steals Justin’s prosthetic leg
*Cackling laughter follows
I dont get it. How could she be so cruel and yet laugh so cacklingly?
Also, you should enroll in my art school. We can finger paint together and tell everyone its avant garde post modernism.
I love the title Justin.
See don't tell is a classic. I always tell cos I'm bossy.
I seldom see cos I don't look.
Luckily the quiet voice of reason sees more than I do.
I think it is interesting and telling that you only colored the head gear in the coloring book.
If I was to analyze this, I'd say you spend too much time in your head.
2_lively,
My leg is robotic not prosthetic. It may seem like a minor clarification but if it were prosthetic I wouldn't be able to jump over valleys. J.
taihae,
After I master the realm of Blogging, I have plans to try my hand at finger painting.
Hand. Finger Painting. Get it?
Llke I said after I master Blogging.
j.
jenn, The title of the book or of the post? Because I definitely stole the former from you. Can't recall if I stole that later also. But probably. j.
goldennib,
Another school of psychoanalysis might point out that actually I was watching X-files while coloring so I couldn't devote to much attention to the whole project. j.
I notice the man in the picture appears to be missing his shoe... coincidence or providence?
Both, both....
I don't understand. Flannery O'Connor is a street thug from Atlanta?
pepper,
I have only reproduced the well known speech pattern characteristic of all Iowa Grads.
Perhaps you are accusing me of dating Thugs, to which I can only say do you have someone in mind?
j
pepper, or maybe you think 2_lively's comment is what Flannery would do. But no. You'd have to be a bible salesman to act that way. Wow, I miss flannery. j
Comrade K, As indeed The Good Soldier Svejk is missing much more than his shoe, one cannot seriously believe that it mere coincidence.
j.
Are you blaming your inability to stay between the lines on The X-files, also?
yay i am a creepy acquaintance.
Ah! Pribeh Dobreho soldata Svejka. Have you read it, Justin? I started reading it several years ago, when I was living in Slovakia. Poor Svejk! I could never identify with his wanderings--willing, but unable to find his unit. So I quit reading it. Please understand the import of this... FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, I PUT ASIDE A BOOK WITHOUT FINISHING IT! I was in my mid-20s. I always finished books--every Dickens, Dostoevsky, Tolstoi, etc. I spent several years wandering around in my own guilt for not finishing the book. I saw a copy in an airport book store a few years ago en route to Prague. I bought it, thinking I may identify with the hero more. But alas, it lies unfinished, with the complimentary alcoholic beverage voucher from the plane safely marking the spot so that when I find myself lost, I can pick back up where I left off. I'm not sure I'll ever be so lost.
Sorry to be long-winded, but the picture you colored so poignantly of Svejk and his footwear aroused a latent memory that needed airing in one of your blogs. -MBT
mbt,
Sorry, to report ma'am, I read the whole thing and pretty rapidly. I really really liked it.
I also think booger jokes are funny. J.
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