Taming the dragon in me

This semester I tamed a dragon. By doing so, I gained something that I had never had before. I gained confidence in myself and in my writing.

When the semester began, I was feeling both pessimistic and unsure of myself. I did not like the work that I was producing and at many points during the semester I felt strong links to the inchworm that Dillard speaks of in the first chapter of The Writing Life. Like the inchworm, I was spending my days in constant panic. I spent my time stressing, weighed down by what felt like a furious dragon pacing in my chest cavity. I worried how I was going to get all my work done, and filled the time that I should have spent working with anxiety instead.

Despite my myriad of personal doubts, I still feel the one hundred percent conviction that I love writing. I believe that I fall under author George Orwell’s Aesthetic Enthusiasm motive for writing. I don’t write to show my cleverness. I don’t write to find out or store up true facts. I most definitely do not write with a political purpose. I simply want to write about things that make me happy. For me, what makes me happy is literature. So ideally, I want to write about my passion for books. I have what Orwell describes as the desire to share an experience that I feel is valuable and ought not to be missed. When I love a book, I want other people to know about it, so that they can read it and share my feelings.

I am in complete agreement with writer Joan Didion when she says, “I am not in the least an intellectual, which is not to say that when I hear the word ‘intellectual’ I reach for my gun, but only to say that I do not think in abstracts.” I do not think of myself as a very academic person. I failed my way through high school maths and when I reached university, I very strategically picked subjects that were more creative and personally gratifying than they were specifically academic. I do not struggle with subjects that I enjoy, because I do not feel as intellectually inferior as I do in subjects that I cannot understand. Didion claimed that all she knew before she found writing was what she couldn’t do. I felt the same before I discovered writing and editing. The feeling of inadequacy followed me through high school and right through university until this semester. Until I realised that I had possibly found something that I could do for the rest of my life. Something that I was actually good at. Although I had to get through my personal insecurities first.

Writing a bad review!

If you type “badly written book review” into Google, one of the first things that comes up is Fifty Shade of Grey, simply because Google picked up key words. Such as ‘badly written book‘.

I feel that doing a review on a book that I strongly disliked would be a change of pace that might be good for me. Plus it is part of my ‘Reading Like A Writer‘ assignment to write about the work of others that I find ‘abysmal’ and this is definitely more relevant than what I mentioned in last week’s post.

When the Fifty Shades books first came out, I made it my mission in life to read them. My theory was that I couldn’t say terrible things about them unless I read them and could prove how terrible they were. And they really were awful. This may not be completely relevant to my copyediting career dreams, but I must say that if I were E.L. James’ copyeditor I would have done something to make these books less of a train smash.

I read the first book in the trilogy (which I borrowed from a friend because there was no way I was spending money on those books) while I was travelling overseas to London and New York in July of 2012. I soon found myself ashamed to take out the book on the plane or on any bus or train (or anywhere public at all really). This was not because I didn’t want people to judge me for reading a book that is so openly raunchy; it was because almost every second person at the airport, or on any public transport wherever I went, seemed to have the book open in front of them. The idea of conforming to what every other person across the world seemed to be doing horrified me. However, I convinced myself that I had to get through it or I couldn’t openly judge it, so I settled for reading it at the hotel, where no one could see me.

People actually write about copyediting?

During the course of this week, two incredibly relevant posts appeared on my Facebook newsfeed about copyediting. I had been wondering what to write about in this week’s blog post for ‘Reading Like A Writer‘ and I had made up my mind that I wanted to talk some more about my ideal future profession, which is to be a copy editor. The assignment brief said that it was necessary to have one post that talked about the ‘writing of others that you call abysmal’, and this is where I got stuck. Where was I going to find abysmal writing about copyediting?

Luckily, Buzzfeed gave me my answer. Don’t get me wrong, I love Buzzfeed. If I can’t get a job in the editing world, I am going to be knocking on the door of the BuzzFeed Books office. However, some of the posts that come out of Buzzfeed are not the most journalistic or accurate pieces of writing. The two posts that popped up on my wall this week were strikingly different from each other, so I thought it would be perfect to compare them.

The first piece that I read was written by Maris Kreizman, a blogger and ex book editor, and it is called Books, New York, And The Internet: A Love Story. The post was excerpted by Buzzfeed from Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York. I was drawn to the post immediately because the title mentioned three of my favourite things: books (duh), New York (the city I have dreamed of moving to for as long as I can remember), and the Internet (where I spend most of my time). As I read the post, I became more and more convinced that Kreizman and I are very similar people. Her love for books is clear and she has a vast knowledge of writers and their works (I’m not quite there yet, but I’m working on it). A few paragraphs into the piece, Kreizman speaks of the people that she blames for her passion for books. She says, “I especially blame Margaret Atwood and Lorrie Moore and Susan Sontag and Charles freaking Dickens. I blame Toni Morrison and Roald Dahl and all the uncelebrated ghostwriters known collectively as “Francine Pascal” for the Sweet Valley High series”. I found myself agreeing with her, especially about “Francine Pascal” because I basically grew up reading those books. Kreizman talks about wanting to become a book editor because it meant that she may get to meet and hang out with famous authors. Or even better, she might get to be the person who discovers and publishes the next big book. I feel the exact same way; it may seem like a big dream, but it’s possible!

There’s a story behind every photo

This is somewhat unrelated to my usual theme, but I feel like it is worth a mention. I have always know that, in addition to my passion for books, I also have a great love for photography.  A few months ago, I entered a few photos into a competition that was held by iPhoneography South Africa. The photos had to be taken and edited on an iPhone and all entrants had to be from South Africa.

I was ecstatic (and a little surprised) when they emailed me to say that one of my photos had been selected and was going to be displayed in the biggest iStore in Johannesburg as part of the iPhoneography exhibition. I was so excited to be included in this exhibition; although I was pretty disappointed that I would not be able to see the photo in person. I’m studying in Grahamstown until the end of November, so I completely missed the two week exhibition window (which was from 1-14 October). However, my parents (and brother) cheered me up by Skyping me from the opening of the exhibition and showing me my photo and everything that was going on at the event, which looked pretty snazzy.

My photo was taken in March of this year when I was on my Easter holidays in Johannesburg. I tagged along to one of my brother’s rugby games. He had just made the First Team; the excitement was palpable amongst the boys and pride was radiating from the parents (and me). We had all be sitting patiently through the matches of the younger grades and were on the edge of our seats (I was actually on the grass because there was no space left on the seats) when the First Team made their grand entrance. There was much cheering and yelled advice emanating from the side-lines as the game began and the boys sprang into action. When the final whistle blew, it was my brother’s team that had come out top. I could see the joy on the faces of these boys, many of whom were playing First Team for the first time, just like my brother.

In a moment of sisterly pride, I decided I’d take a photo of my brother’s first win as a First Team player. I pulled out my phone and snapped a pic right as the teams were giving each other the compulsory ‘well-played’ handshake. As it turns out, my brother is slap bang in the middle of the photo, just extending his hand towards the approaching player from the other team. I took the photo in black and white – which is otherwise known as the Noir setting on the iPhone – and did not do any other editing to it; I liked it the way it was. I love my photo for a number of reasons, partially the feeling of being proud of my brother because it gives me flashbacks to that day, and partially pride in myself. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at it, like I created something kind of beautiful, which is something I don’t often feel about myself, so it makes a good change.

The exhibition has now closed and the iPhoneography people have put all of the photos onto their website. They have opened a Community Choice option, which means that anyone can take a scroll through the photos and vote for their favourite. I have been looking through all of the photos that were included in the exhibition and I’m amazed at the level of talent in South Africa’s photography community. Never mind the fact that every photo was taken with an iPhone! It’s incredibly impressive.

Voting can be done from anywhere in the world. So if you’re reading this (yes you), I’d love it if you could give my photo a look and if you like it, maybe vote for me. It’s called Team Solidarity (on page 4) and my name is Sarah Beningfield.

The link to the page is here.

Thanks!

More Reviewing of Reviews

Last week, I went through a few reviews of Lena Dunham‘s Not That Kind of Girl and I talked about the different ways in which the book was reviewed and the different styles of the reviewers. This week, I will look at the last three reviews that I found.

The first review can be found on The Independent and was written by Alice Jones. The headline depicts the book as a ‘Roller-coaster’ from the ‘voice of a generation’, which gives a somewhat conflicted impression on what the reviewer’s opinions are going to be. Jones then goes on to describe some of what the book contains in two quick summaries, one from Dunham’s childhood and one from young adult Dunham. Both paragraphs end with a short quote from the book. This gives the reader an idea of what to expect in the book, and it indicates a number of things about it, such as how much of Dunham’s life it covers and what kind of a writer she is. This review is a relatively long one and it covers many aspects of Dunham’s book, from the style of writing, to the cover and the possible themes.  Jones seems to like the book for the most part, often using positive words like ‘ballsy’, ‘quirky’ and ‘fascinating’. She says that, “This is Dunham’s life, from childhood to now, wonky ovaries and all. It is honest to the point of making you squirm, often admiringly, but sometimes, just squirm. Dunham is not the kind of girl who worries about over-sharing”. She describes the book as being reminiscent of the show Girls, but that does not come as a surprise, seeing as the show is also based on Dunham’s experiences. Overall, her review made me want to buy the book as soon as possible. The little snippets from the book were tantalizing and showed the book to be clearly amusing and extremely personal. Definitely something that many women from Dunham’s generation and the ones following it will be interested to read.

Live Tweeting The Book Thief

Last night I decided to watch the movie of The Book Thief. The movie came out at the end of last year, based on the book by author Markus Zusak. The book is one of my all time favourites; it is written beautifully and the story line is captivating from beginning to end. To be honest, it is an absolutely heart-breaking book and I remember crying heavily towards the end. The movie manages to portray the tragic events in a tasteful and emotional way, but as I have said before, the book is always better than the movie.

I live tweeted throughout the movie, at first I intended to make constant comparisons, but in the end I mostly tweeted about the movie. I really enjoyed it and had very few comparisons to make.

My tweets can be found here. Enjoy!

Reviewing reviews?

I decided to write this week’s ‘Reading Like A Writer‘ post with a focus on other people’s writing, and more specifically on other people’s reviewing. There are too many books and too many reviews for me to be able to narrow it down to one reviewer that I enjoy the most. Instead, I took a different approach to the idea. I decided on a newly released book that I would like to read at some point and then I googled the reviews for it. I then singled out the ones that I liked the most. The book that I chose for this exercise is Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham.

Lena Dunham is a woman of many talents. She has risen to fame over the last few years when the show that she writes, produces and stars in, called Girls, became popular around the world. The show is known for it’s humour and is appreciated for the way that is represents women and their relationships in a realistic way. Dunham grew up in the spotlight, with both of her parents being New York City artists, and so has lived a life of privilege and self-obsession. Her book is made up of a collection of autobiographical essays and has been released as her memoir. Soon after it’s release, the Internet was swarming with reviews. I narrowed these reviews down to four. This post will cover the first two and next weeks post will cover the others.

The first is a review that was published on NPR, and it was written by Annalisa Quinn. The review is relatively short, but succeeds in covering everything important that the book is attempting to get across. Quinn’s writing is upbeat and easy to read. She quickly relates herself and the reader to Dunham, saying that there are many types of Lena’s, but that the one we relate to most is ‘Your Friend Lena’. This Lena is the one that is charming and friendly and just like us (the readers). She says that, “Indeed, YFL is so nonthreatening that, if it weren’t for occasional references to her “work,” a reader might be forgiven for thinking that YFL spends most of her time bopping around in patterned jumpsuits, eating vegan cheese and having bad sex. This is a comforting image: the hugely successful Lena Dunham is just like us — overfed, undersexed, not appropriately dressed for the occasion”. However, Quinn then goes on to describe the ways in which Dunham is not like us. Quinn describes the reasons that she is not like us (her popular TV show, her writing talent and her charm), and then goes on to describe the ways in which Dunham’s book still succeeds in making the reader, who would most likely be a woman, feel comforted and empowered. Quinn’s style of reviewing is personal and accessible. It can be understood and related to by the majority of readers, which makes it preferable as a review in many ways.

The (A)Maze(ing) Runner

I have noticed recently that there is a huge uproar about an upcoming movie, which is based on a book called The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I’m a big fan of Dylan O’Brien, the actor playing the main character, which meant that I would have no choice but to see the movie, which further meant that I had to read the book before doing so.

I feel that watching the movie before reading the book is cheating; it ruins the book because it gives you preconceived ideas of what things look like instead of letting your imagination do the work. Even just knowing who is playing the main characters in the movie affected the way that I read the book, which is always a downer for me. I prefer watching a movie when I have read the book beforehand – it gives me a strange sense of power, like I’m psychic because I know what is about to happen. It also always causes a lot of unexpected emotions; I tend to get a bit too upset if the movie deviates in any way from the book.

This weekend I didn’t have too many plans, so I took a break from my (thriving) social life and sat down to read the first book of the series. The Maze Runner was easy to get into right from the first page. It dumps you into the glade along with Thomas and gives you no more information than he himself knows, which is literally just his name. This kind of book both appeals to me and frustrates me. I love the intrigue of not knowing what is happening or why it is happening, but at the same time I am desperate for answers. Who put Thomas in the Glade? Why can’t he remember anything? Why are there no girls? It was question on top of question from the beginning to the end. However, it was also packed with excitement and adventure. There was a constant sense of danger and confusion as Thomas managed to end up in the middle of every perilous situation. It becomes clear pretty quickly that Thomas and Theresa, the girl who appears in the Glade soon after him (answering one of my questions, and then adding about a million more), are catalysts in the big picture and that they hold the key to escaping from the huge stone Maze that is holding them all prisoner.

The Key to Copyediting

So I was supposed to write this post last week, but I suddenly came down with a nasty case of Pharyngitis, which left me pretty much bedridden for about four days. I am finally feeling better today, so I decided to post the first of about five posts that are writing assignments on the topic of ‘Reading Like A Writer’.

I already know that I do not want to be a writer when I grow up, so I have chosen to focus this series more on editing. I would ideally like to become a copyeditor or book publisher when I have finished my university degree. While researching more on the topic, I came across a book called The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications by Amy Einsohn, which contains everything I would ever need to know about becoming a copyeditor.

It took me much too long to find this book in the library. It’s true that the library has four floors and contains thousands of books, but it also has a very efficient search system which I am, for some unknown reason, incapable of using. I was eventually guided to the correct book by a helpful library assistant and was soon lugging the almost 600 page book home in my backpack.