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| The old axiom, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” is certainly a worn out warning. Or maybe it is just too ignored. Our opinions are our own but that does not necessarily lend itself to being broadcast for all to see. Some opinions are better left unsaid at times. |
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Something happened in the last two weeks that caught my attention in the world of political blogging. I’m neither articulate enough nor have the time to obsess over minutia to run a serious blog. I’ve tried it off and on and found it too consuming. So, I dabble on a few sites where columnists post their weekly op-ed pieces and spar with the ideological opposites over opinion and fact. Even this can eat up my valuable time for little result and I’m swearing it off again (after having done so several other times before!).
So, what happened? Two weeks ago the Edwards Campaign hired two bloggers to serve both as blogger and web master for his campaign. Since the 2000 election the blogsphere has played an important “new media” role in getting a candidates message across. Every presidential hopeful has a blogger. This wasn’t a volunteer gig and though I don’t know what it paid I’m sure it wasn’t a small amount. Aside from the jump in prestige a blogger might gain if the candidate did well in the primaries, the role wasn’t one to sneeze at. Writing is what bloggers do and to a great extent those that rise to prominence in the blogsphere are articulate, witty, intelligent, and influential.
Ok, so what? The “what” is that the two newly minted Edwards bloggers resigned amid much controversy, perhaps not a bad thing leading to a big jump in hits for their personal blogs, but ending a very short career in campaign blogging.
If you know the story, depending on your ideological persuasion, you might be riled up with righteous indignation. But, that is neither here nor there with my own interest in this episode. What is my interest is the phenomenon of what we say, how we say it, and who is listening.
Who has not had their own words turned against them? Who has not experienced the taste of crow from something said or written in haste or jest? What befell the two bloggers were words posted in crude and at times antagonistic jest about people whom they seemed to harbor excessive ill will towards. We all harbor some loathing about someone or a group. The problem is when we express that ill will in sarcastic, belittling, or vitriolic opinions. We are free to express them, but our words can lead to negative consequences.
Our words are forever if they are preserved. Google does a pretty good job of preserving even our posts to news groups. Google any topic and you’ll find hits from message threads floating around out there. The OJ Simpson trial taught us that even our spoken words can have negative consequences. Our memories can be faulty but an ill word can cut like a dagger and cause more harm and lasting scars than any physical weapon.
As writers we need to be aware of the power of our words. In the book of James we are told: James 3:5-6 “Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”
Now, the lesson is obviously to tame the tongue lest it create more heartache and trouble than we are expecting or want. I do not doubt the opinions expressed by these two bloggers regarding Catholics in particular and Christians in general are their own. Yet, I wonder how much over the top they were but for the collective effect of an audience. I have done and said things in my time that I would not have but for the audience cheering and egging me on. A crowd develops a psyche of its own; it becomes an individual with the sum total of each member to elevate and amplify a common thread or thought. This is why mobs can be dangerous. One no longer acts as a separate person but as a willing appendage of the mentality.
We fall into them easily enough and feel validated by them. We no longer see the many parts, or ourselves, but we see the one vision of a thing that carries out its own will. I’ve allowed myself on more than one occasion to fall prey to this and it’s the natural performer in me that wants the validation of the audience. I’ve written things that shocked me later.
But for a few words careers that might have gone somewhere or made something were aborted before they even really began. I doubt the two would admit publicly but their potty mouthed opinions proved to be too controversial for the role they were offered. Whether you agree or not on the outcome it is clear that what we say and write has a lasting quality. Do you want to be known for youthful indiscretions or for more important things? It is hard to tame the tongue and hard to avoid the mob mentality at times but they very well could mean that next job.
Google is a nice tool, but perhaps it has captured more than we would like to own up to.
Take your words seriously and craft them for affect. A callous word stirs up wrath but a gentle word soothes.
How have your own words come back to haunt?
How have they come back to comfort?
phil1861
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Since I wrote about blogging and some short falls for unexpurgated blogging I combed the site for a few articles on blogging.
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What editing strategies do you employ?
Jimmie 
Submitted Comment:
Haha, I have trouble with a couple of words. I haven't figured out any clues for vacuum or for inconvenient, but I did figure out one for Australia. It came about when I was helping my niece with a spelling test and she did the same thing I used to do. Austrailia. Well together we decided to start calling it Aus tra lia so we don't put the trail in there anymore.
janellecharon
Submitted Comment:
I like to think I'm a very good speller, and I think it's mostly due to the massive amounts of books I read as a kid. I always go by what "looks" right, which always seems to work because if I know the word at all, chances are I've run across it somewhere along the line in a book. There are some of those odd exceptions, of course, but for the most part, reading has helped me tremendously.
Cheers,
Janelle
werden 
Submitted Comment:
I can completely relate to your hassles in editing. I to have a difficult time editing. With me I usually find something that can be changed or embellished and I end up rewriting the whole piece.
I try and edit after I finish each chapter just to go back and look for all the pieces I missed. I also do it so I can hand out my work chapter by chapter to those who are interested.
But I don't know if I have a specific technique.
I am still learning as I go
Submitted Comment:
Wow pookie nice insights. I have not finidhed a novel yet. But even in the few pages of stories I write I go through similar process, and it's niec to know it's like that for others, too.
weeowl flying free!
Submitted Comment:
HI pookie! I just wanted to say that I too am editting my novel now and when I reread it after putting it down for a long while, I was disappointed with chapters one and two. Chapters 3 through 7 were awesome! I beat myself up like you did and like it's human nature to do. Then I stopped and said, "Why did you write this in the first place?" To have fun! Writing is my passion and my purpose for breathing. I decided to have fun with writing and enjoy the process! I offer the same to you! Weeowl
windac
Submitted Comment:
ahem.... ... didn't expect to find my own words staring back at me... ... you really do express yourself really well!
jitsufreek
Submitted Comment:
I like your last line. It was very ispiring, as I keep trying to rewrite to perfection, a story that refuses to leave my conciousness.
Thanks!
Anna_jf
appolloslady
Submitted Comment:
I really do feel your pain when it comes to editing. As I write in Microsoft Word, I have noticed that I have quit a bit underlined in green. When I go back most of the time it tells me that it's 'Passive Voice' and no matter how I try to fix it, I can't seem to get it right.
I also have lots of run-on sentences, or so people tell me, but I can't ever seem to find them. In short, my sentence structure is none existant, or rather it's my own invention. Maybe someday I'll get it figured out. I just get so caught up in what I'm trying to say, the story that I'm trying to tell, that most of the time I don't care. Sad, I know, but if I don't keep moving forward, if I stop at every green highlight, I'd never get anywhere, or I'd get discouraged and just give up.
In short, don't let it get you down. It'll all come out in the wash...
kelso
Submitted Comment:
woop woop woop woop
dbarryfan
Submitted Comment:
Hi,
Personally, I try not to edit too much before submitting - at least if it's just a query at first - because then I get locked in a self-defeeating loop and think the entire piece isn't any good and should be sent to the recycle bin.
I've found that surprisingly, a lot of writing that I've judged not very good, winds up getting compliments like, "How did you come up with this - it's great!" Bizarre, but I guess writers aren't the best judges of their writing sometimes.
I like getting feedback from the Internet, too because with people you know and love there's always a suspicion that they're sugarcoating things a bit.
Good luck with your novel.
{suser:billwilcox) (ID #0)
Submitted Comment:
Editing always begins with reading my story aloud. It took a while for me to learn this simple trick, but it never fails to reveal mistakes and stumbling blocks to the flow of the story. Great newsletter Pookster!
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For Authors: February 21, 2007 Issue [#1563]
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