Thursday, September 25, 2008

Writing is in the Smallest of Increments

Learning to write well is learning to think well, to notice well, and then to draw meaning out of what you notice. Learning to write well is learning that a ruler is used to measure inches and also eighths of inches and sixteenths of inches. It is learning to see subtleties and small changes, to find big meaning in the smallest of things, to measure large objects or ideas in small increments.

This is what I find people need to discover. Students come in with generalities, with things measured in inches or even feet, and they need to look closer and closer until they begin to see what only they can see.

1 comment:

Boro said...

Speaking of looking closer, when you wrote "subtlies" did you mean "subtleties"? :)