Scribbler's Debris - A New Blog.
A couple of years ago a few friends and I had a writing group. Each week we would meet at one of our houses and share whatever work we had accomplished in the time between sessions. We decided to pick a topic to focus ourselves. It was an effective way to structure writing as a regular activity into our lives. We would drink coffee and read each other's work out loud. Each person would have a chance to respond to what they heard. Some memorable discussions resulted. I was disappointed when the group fell away. I missed the pressure of a deadline that made me write regardless of my feelings or circumstances. It was somehow comforting to live within that commitment, and I knew that I would have something to do weekly that I would feel good about.
Over time we had just lost momentum. Personal feelings began to impinge on the comfort folks had while sharing the sort of deep thoughts and emotions embedded in their work. Eventually the work itself became a medium of communication, and the entire experience became self-referential. Still... when it was over, I missed it.
Well... a form of this activity is now back. And it's with some of the original participants of the previous writing group, that I bring you... Scribbler's Debris.
How did this start? Don't I already have enough commitments in my life?
A few weeks ago I ran into L., my friend from the defunct writer's group. As we caught up on each other's lives, the subject of blogs came up. I discovered that L. has also been working on her own personal blog. We exchanged thoughts on the medium and our own approaches. Since then we've kept up better, and have seen each other out more often. Two weeks ago she sent me an e-mail that proposed the formation of a new collaborative blog. The concept is that each of the contributers will draw topics at random from a list constructed by L. With this (somewhat nebulous) directive in hand, we will write for less than twenty minutes. There are no other parameters. The time limitation is intended to inspire a free flow of ideas, unencumbered by too much reflection or meticulous artifice. Hell... the grammar might suck. But I find something liberating in the whole idea.
Yesterday, I completed my first submission... I drew the topic of "kickball"... it can be found HERE...
For you cut-and-pasters:
http://scribblersdebris.blogspot.com/2006/07/topic-kickball-david-grim.html
If you have any thoughts... come back here and tell me, or leave them on the comment page on that board. I do plan on posting new entries semi-regularly, and I'll probably let you know about them on this blog. Please check out the pieces that the other contributors have posted as well.
Over time we had just lost momentum. Personal feelings began to impinge on the comfort folks had while sharing the sort of deep thoughts and emotions embedded in their work. Eventually the work itself became a medium of communication, and the entire experience became self-referential. Still... when it was over, I missed it.
Well... a form of this activity is now back. And it's with some of the original participants of the previous writing group, that I bring you... Scribbler's Debris.
How did this start? Don't I already have enough commitments in my life?
A few weeks ago I ran into L., my friend from the defunct writer's group. As we caught up on each other's lives, the subject of blogs came up. I discovered that L. has also been working on her own personal blog. We exchanged thoughts on the medium and our own approaches. Since then we've kept up better, and have seen each other out more often. Two weeks ago she sent me an e-mail that proposed the formation of a new collaborative blog. The concept is that each of the contributers will draw topics at random from a list constructed by L. With this (somewhat nebulous) directive in hand, we will write for less than twenty minutes. There are no other parameters. The time limitation is intended to inspire a free flow of ideas, unencumbered by too much reflection or meticulous artifice. Hell... the grammar might suck. But I find something liberating in the whole idea.
Yesterday, I completed my first submission... I drew the topic of "kickball"... it can be found HERE...
For you cut-and-pasters:
http://scribblersdebris.blogspot.com/2006/07/topic-kickball-david-grim.html
If you have any thoughts... come back here and tell me, or leave them on the comment page on that board. I do plan on posting new entries semi-regularly, and I'll probably let you know about them on this blog. Please check out the pieces that the other contributors have posted as well.
posted by Merge Divide at 10:40 AM
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