Arts, literature, writing.  ---  (1) Methods of writing.  (A) Paper methods.  Loose leaf.  Notebook.  Index cards.  (B) Computer methods.  Learn to touch type.  Get a computer.  Text file.  Spreadsheet.  Database.  (2) Regardless of what technology you use, every idea should get at topic, a date, and a rating.  (3) Similar to the oral tradition, the main problem in the written tradition is forgetting.  One forgets when one does not reread their writing.  Those who write and never reread end up forgetting.  ---  9/4/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Advice to authors:  Don't scare the children.  Don't disturb the old people.  Don't feed the pigeons.  Don't walk on the grass.  ---  9/1/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Arguments against writing.  (1) No time.  Counter-argument: You make time to work out, so make time to write, since both are healthy.  (2) Is difficult.  Its not easy.  Its not fun.  I don't feel like doing it.  The counter-argument is that education is when things go from difficult to easy, and from not-fun to fun.  Compare student reactions at beginning of semester, "impossible", to end of semester, "simple".  (3) Its not cool.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Compositional methods.  Scratch pad method.  Write (or type) words, phrases, sentences on paper (or screen).  Add to it everyday.  Add from within, not tacked onto the end.  Let it grow organically from within.  Add drawings, pictures and sounds.  Let the audience see it grow.  Most blogs don't do it that way; most blogs tack onto the end.  Save the version changes everyday, or date each days changes with a date tag, for example, <!-- date -->.  Show daily versions to the user.  Show your work.  ---  6/10/2004

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Discover yourself.  Discover the world.  Uncover yourself.  Uncover the world.  ---  7/1/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Do some thinking.  Get some ideas.  Save and organize your ideas by writing  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Editing.  (1) Splitting text, and combining text.  (2) Expanding text, and reducing text.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Emotion and writing.  Spot emotional appeals and tactics.  Spot emotion words.  Pleasure emotions like happiness and joy.  Pain emotions like sadness, anxiety and anger.  How does the author feel about the topic?  Does the author want us to feel like he feels?  Is the author trying to sway or manipulate our emotions?  ---  9/4/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Emotion and writing.  There should be an emotional connection to what your are writing.  You should care about it.  You should find it interesting.  You should think it important.  ---  9/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Emotion and writing.  When trying to write, when battling the blank sheet of paper, negative emotions may appear.  Anxiety or panic.  Depression or feeling overwhelmed.  Anger or frustration.  These emotions may appear in a form directed at the world, the self, or at writing.  Take a Zen approach by letting the negative thoughts and feelings arise and pass.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Everyday that I spend writing I have to justify by asking myself, "Would the day have been better spent doing volunteer work?"  ---  3/1/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Explore.  Delve.  Mull.  Expand.  Complexify.  Reach.  Extend.  ---  9/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Fear of writing.  Existentially, not writing is a way of avoiding controversy, problems, pain, thinking, self, others and world.  Refusing to write is an exercise in avoidance and repression.  Refusing to write is inauthentic.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Fear of writing.  Fear of embarrassment, humiliation, being mocked.  Do not let these fears shame you into silence.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Fears of writing.  Writing and the mind.  Overcoming resistance, fear, etc.  The subconscious can be lazy (avoiding hard work), stubborn (avoiding change on principle), and willful (avoiding any challenge to its independence).  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Forms of writing.  The use of computers as an information management tool has influenced the way people write.  The computer lends itself to particular forms of writing.  (1) Lists.  The list is an important form of writing.  Unordered lists.  Ordered lists.  (2) Outlines.  The outline is an important form of writing.  An outline is a type of ordered list.  Logical order.  (3) Table.  The table, matrix, database as an important form of writing.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Get some good ideas.  Recognize your good ideas.  Write down your good ideas to save them.  Combine good ideas to see how ideas fit together.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Good writing is anything you write that you read five years later and do not have to make a margin note that says "What?".  ---  2/25/1999

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Good writing is like good acting, in that the effort is not noticeable.  It looks easy, but it is difficult to do well.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Good writing is tight, together, like a good rock band.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Good writing is when the reader understands what you mean to say.  A problem occurs when readers invariably think you mean something else.  ---  8/4/2001

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  How would I write if everything I wrote could be read by anyone?  Would this lack of writing privacy make me a better or worse writer?  Would it make me a better or worse person?  Would I try to be more clear in my explanations?  Or would I try to rewrite history to make myself look good?  One could argue that people need some degree of writing privacy for psychological health.  On the other hand, one could argue that more openness would improve society.  ---  11/2/2001

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  How would you organize the contents of your brain?  How would you organize everything you know?  One way to organize everything you know is to divide it up into the following: (1) Stuff you figured out.  (2) Stuff you found out, from papers, television, classes, etc.  (3) Stuff you did and stuff that happened to you (diary).  (4) Stuff you want to do (goals).  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  If one uses voice recognition software to record one's thoughts is one a writer or a speaker?  I am a thinker.  ---  2/10/2002

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Information management.  The problem with ideas is the sheer volume of ideas.  After ten years or so of writing, it becomes an information management issue.  Some people write in journals, usually one a year, but then how does one search the data or sort the data?  The computer helps with this problem.  Specifically, the database helps manage enormous amount of information.  The database allows easy searching and sorting.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Initially I wrote the Notes for myself only.  The result was a condensed shorthand style which is perhaps the opposite of the longwinded style of professional writers who are paid by the word.  In between these two extremes, when one writes for both oneself and others, not being paid by the word, rather paying for each word with time and energy, one reaches a better style.  ---  11/2/2001

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  It is not necessary to smoke, drink or take drugs to write well.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  It may seem difficult at first, but with practice one begins thinking and writing more easily, faster, more accurately, with fewer mistakes, more creatively, and better organized.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Methods for writing.  Write more and better.  (1) More time.  More energy.  More hours.  (2) More focus.  More clarity.  More vision.  (A) Motivated by a vision.  Motivated by an ideal.  Motivated to pursue the good.  (B) Motivated by problems.  Motivated to solve problems.  Motivated to get rid of the bad.  (3) More motivation.  More intellectual reasons.  More emotional feeling.  More urgency.  (4) More stimulation.  More new experiences.  (5) More ideas.  More work produced.  (6) More open.  Less repressed.  More wide-ranging.  More expansive.  (7) More happy.  More relaxed.  (8) I am healthy.  I can think.  I can do.  That is positive.  (9) Big world.  Lots going on.  Lots to write about.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Methods of the writing process.  Loose writing.  Tight writing.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Methods of writing.  (1) Write daily.  Set aside a few hours a day to write.  Carry paper and pen everywhere to record ideas.  (2) Writing is a skill that one must practice to stay in shape.  (3) Reverie.  Trance.  Flow.  Writing is a state of mind.  (4) Make a list of things to write about, writing projects.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Much like talking is an aid to thinking or a form of thinking, so too is writing is also an aid to thinking or a form of thinking.  Talking is thinking.  Writing is thinking.  ---  12/17/2005

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Perhaps the most common writing advice one hears nowadays is to "write about what you know".  Writing about what you know is an approach that is good for didactically inculcating a supposedly apparent truth in other people.  Writing about what you know is a decidedly inter-personal approach to writing.  (2) On the other hand, I think it is also useful to write about what you don't know, because doing so has the effect of raising questions that eventually expand your own pool of knowledge.  Writing about what you don't know is a personal approach to writing.  (3) Write about what you know if you want to lecture others.  Write about what you don't know if you have a sense of curiosity and want to find some new ideas in order to grow as a person.  (4) The Notes is a style of writing that is somewhere in-between the above two styles.  The Notes is both personal writing and inter-personal writing.  ---  12/1/2001

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Politics and writing.  Writing is a political act.  Speaking is a political act.  Thinking is a political act.  Thinking, speaking and writing can empower people.  ---  11/18/2005

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Recent changes in human conceptions of writing and the results of these changes.  (1) Writing text was once conceived of as being akin to writing music.  In fact, we once used the same word, "composition", to refer to both the act of writing text and the act of writing music.  (2) Today, writing text is increasingly conceived of as being akin to writing software code.  The vocabulary used to talk about writing text is changing from one filled with musical terms to one equally filled with computer terms.  (3) What is the result of this change in the conception of writing?  The result is an increase in the diversity and communicative power of all things written.  ---  11/21/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Sometimes one feels one would be happy if only 50% of what one wrote was true, if only 5% of what one wrote was new, and if only 1% of what one wrote was important.  ---  6/8/2001

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Structure and order vs. flexibility and creativity.  In writing there is a balance between structure and flexibility.  Too much structure makes one feel stifled.  Too little structure and the reader cannot understand.  Too little flexibility and freedom causes a lack of exploration and growth.  Too much flexibility?  There is an optimal balance of structure and flexibility for both the writer and the reader, and that level changes with time and place, from author to author and reader to reader.  In the Notes, structure and organization is provided by the keyword phrases which are categories.  Flexibility is provided by the fact that the categories are changing and growing.  ---  1/2/2004

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Techniques for nonfiction writers.  (1) Write every day for several hours.  (2) Carry around pen and paper to jot down ideas at any time.  (3) Keep a brainstorming list to jot down words and phrases.  (4) Don't worry if you don't sell your writing.  Write for personal growth.  Write for health.  Write for truth and justice.  ---  9/2/2005

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Technology and writing.  Writing, language and computers are all information technologies.  The goals of the technology of writing are to write faster and easier with voice recognition software, organize faster and easier with sortable databases, and retrieve faster and easier with searchable databases.  ---  11/18/2005

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  The bio-chemo-physics of writing.  There is a time, after I've spent the morning trying to wake and yet before the drowsy evening, and after I've been energized by breakfast and yet before I'm hungry for dinner, when I can write.  ---  11/23/2004

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  The business person's goal: make a million dollars before one is 30 years old.  The writers goal: write a million words before one is 30 years old.  The equivalent of 10 novels.  ---  6/26/2002

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  The reason some people write a lot is the same reason some people talk a lot: To keep the giant yawning void at bay.  ---  6/26/2002

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  The writing urge (energy?) can come at anytime during the day.  ---  11/1/2003

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  There are many types of writing.  There are many reasons why people write.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Thinking and writing.  To write is to organize one's thoughts.  To write is to store one's thoughts.  To write is to generate new thoughts.  ---  11/15/2005

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Thinking skills for use in writing.  (1) Creativity skills.  Generate ideas.  Use lists to help.  Gather materials.  (2) Evaluation skills.  Determine the worth of ideas.  Pick out strengths and weaknesses of arguments.  Determine what is the author saying, his thesis and arguments.  Determine what is your view.  On which points do you agree and disagree with the author.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  This is a writing class.  We can write.  We can talk about writing.  Or we can read what others have written.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  To some extent writing is about getting into a "zone" or mental state of creativity where good ideas "flow" or form easily.  Entering the "zone" is similar to entering a meditative state, a biofeedback state, a trance state, or many of the other various mental states that humans are able to bring about in themselves.  To some degree a person can train themselves to enter this "zone" state relatively quickly and stay in the "zone" state for relatively long periods of time.  One trains oneself to do so through daily practice.  A person can teach another person to enter the zone by explanation, such as the above, and by mentioning, "looks like you are in the zone", when the person seems to be writing in the zone.  ---  11/10/2001

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Types of writing.  (1) Personal writing.  Writing lets you talk to yourself.  (2) Public writing.  Writing provides a voice.  Writing is an entry to empowerment and equality in a society.  People begin to gain equality through writing.  ---  9/4/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Types of writing.  (1) Writing to celebrate the good things in life, because people often forget the good things.  (2) Writing to bemoan and improve the bad things in life, because people often forget the bad things in life.  (3) Writing to imagine what could be.  Writing to imagine the good we can achieve.  Writing to imagine the bad to avoid.  Writing as a steering mechanism.  ---  4/30/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Types of writing.  Writing for self versus writing for others.  Not everything you write has to be for public consumption.  You deserve a private space.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Types of writing.  Writing from memory.  Writing from imagination.  Writing from emotion.  Writing from reason.  ---  5/1/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Various reasons why people write.  Personal reasons.  Interpersonal reasons.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Various styles of written works.  Diary.  Fiction.  Non-fiction.  Poetry.  Prose.  (4) Various tools for writing.  Pen and paper.  Typewriter.  Computer.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Various writing projects:  Problems approach.  Write about most pressing problems.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Various writing projects: The news.  What's new.  Current events.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Various writing projects.  (1) People.  People I like.  People I dislike.  (2) Places.  Places I like.  Places I dislike.  (3) Things (Objects, Events, Ideas).  Things I like.  Things I dislike.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  We all start from nothing.  We are all inarticulate at first.  Don't feel embarrassed.  Don't give up.  Hang in there, baby.  ---  7/5/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  What is writing?  Writing involves a group of related concepts.  (1) Thinking.  (2) Speaking and Listening.  (3) Writing and Reading.  (2) Information management.  (3) Communication.  Semiotics.  Language.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  What to write about today?  Write about the good and the bad.  Argue for the good.  Argue against the bad.  ---  3/19/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  What's the difference between being a writer and being a bum?  ---  3/1/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  (1) Find your voice.  (2) Take a position, a stand, a stance.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  (1) Thinking more and better.  (2) Communicating more and better.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  A lot of people in the "real world" write for fun.  Writing is enjoyable.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  A person gets better at writing with practice.  A person gets better at thinking, writing, speaking, reading and listening.  Those are very important skills to have.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  Information management.  To create ideas.  To save ideas.  To organize ideas.  To retrieve ideas.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  One of the ways people think is by using words and language.  Other ways of thinking include thinking with music, images, numbers, etc.  People write to develop their ability to think with words and language.  Developing skills with words and language is important.  ---  9/10/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  PART ONE.  Arguments against writing and reading can occur at several levels.  (1) Arguments against writing and reading in general.  (A) An argument against reading in general is that no one reads anymore.  (B) A counter-argument for reading is that overall sales of books are better than ever.  The Internet lets people read more than ever.  People may be reading less, but people are watching more movies, and movies are made from scripts which are written.  Words handle abstract ideas well.  (2) Arguments against art in general.  (3) Arguments against literature, a type of art.  (4) Arguments against poetry, a type of literature.  Defense of poetry.  People may be reading less poetry, but people are listening to more song lyrics.  For example, Bob Dylan's song lyrics are poetry.  ---  9/4/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  People often just do things intuitively or automatically.  It pays to examine our thoughts and actions.  Thinking about what we think.  Thinking about what we do.  Thinking about the arena in which we act.  Philosophical writing.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  People write when they want to sort out their thoughts or communicate their thoughts to others.  ---  9/10/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  Pragmatic approach.  Develop useful tools.  (1) Thinking is a tool.  (2) Ideas, the product of thought, are tools.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  Reasons to write.  To gather a bunch of ideas.  In addition to having a bunch of friends, a bunch of money, a bunch of material objects, think about having a bunch of ideas.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  To solve problems.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  What are arguments against writing.  (1) Its difficult.  Its not fun.  Don't enjoy it.  No kick.  (2) Its a waste of time.  (3) It doesn't make money.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  Words can do things that pictures and music cannot not do.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  Writing can save your life.  You mind produces ideas.  Some ideas are better than others.  "Better" meaning more useful and more truthful.  Recognize and save the good ideas.  Recognize and critique the bad ideas.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  Writing is a way of thinking.  Thinking with words.  Other ways of thinking include the following: (1) Thinking with numbers using math.  Accountants.  Engineers.  (2) Thinking with sound or music.  (3) Thinking with pictures in the visual arts.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Why write?  Writing is psychotherapeutic.  Writing can save your life.  Writing can save money on psychotherapy bills.  Writing can help prevent a nervous breakdown.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Write about something you like.  Write about something you care about.  Write about something you think is important.  Write about something you feel strongly about.  Put some heart into it.  Put some feeling into it.  Put some emotion into it.  Thought and emotion.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Write!  You are able to write.  Writing is good for you and others.  Writing is fun.  You like to write.  Write!  ---  4/7/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing as brain building.  Your mind is like a pile of rubble in an overgrown field.  You write a little each day.  Slowly the brain emerges.  Slowly you emerge.  Writing is self creation.  ---  7/1/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing as psychotherapy.  The subconscious offers an ceaseless stream of ideas.  Mental health involves having access to the subconscious.  Mental health involves reduced barriers between the subconscious and conscious mind.  Mental health involves a rapport between the subconscious and conscious mind.  Mental health involves a conversation between the subconscious and conscious mind.  Writing has a psychotherapeutic effect, produced by giving access to the subconscious.  ---  7/1/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing as psychotherapy.  What do you think?  How do you feel?  What are your attitudes about the events in your life and your world?  ---  7/1/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing as psychotherapy.  Writing is unloading the eighteen-wheeler of your subconscious mind, so that it can go make another run.  ---  7/1/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing as thinking.  Wake up your brain.  Activate your brain.  (1) Writers are list makers.  Make a list of things from past.  Make a list of things to do.  Make lists of words, and then describe the words.  (2) Writing saves ideas.  Writing organizes ideas.  ---  7/1/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing as transmission of mind.  Writing as transmission of dharma.  ---  12/06/1988

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing exercises and projects.  (1) Re-visit ideas.  Re-read what you have written, yearly.  (2) Think about everything, everyday, all topics.  (3) Do all types, formats, styles of writing: poem, dialogue, short length, long length.  (4) Save ideas.  Three ideas per day, 1000 a year, 10,000 in ten years.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing exercises and projects.  (1) Write a history of your life, and a daily diary from this day forward.  (2) Visit a new place, experience it, and write about your experience.  (3) Try something new you never did before, experience it, and write about your experience.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing exercises.  (1) Write one word, one sentence, one paragraph, one essay.  (2) Categories exercise: write down all the categories you can think of.  (3) Essay topic: What do I think is important.  (4) Essay topic: Past and future.  ---  11/7/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing is a political act when it empowers people.  ---  12/12/2005

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing is a technology that helps us survive better.  It helps us get things done.  ---  12/30/1992

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing is about criticism.  Specifically self-criticism.  Think critically.  Be a critic.  You want to tell me about your day?  Everyday?  Day after day?  If that's what you want to do, okay.  If not, you might want to try two things: Freedom (to create) and Criticism (to be finicky).  ---  9/1/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing is an art not a science.  Writing is often not instant gratification.  It can take hours, days, years.  Patience and perseverance are required.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing is an outlet for coffee.  ---  8/25/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing is like climbing.  The blank paper is like a featureless stone wall.  Slowly holds emerge and you choose your route.  ---  2/29/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing is like exercise and eating, in that it takes time and energy, and it is sometimes a pain in the neck, yet other times it is fun, and you do it because it helps.  Writing is worth it.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing is something you learn by doing.  Writing is something you learn through practice.  Write a lot.  ---  11/10/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing reveals not only your level of knowledge, but also your level of ignorance.  ---  12/10/1988

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing styles.  Tight vs. loose.  (1) Tight:  Tight structure.  Tight meanings.  Tight arguments.  (2) Loose:  Loose structure.  Loose meanings.  Loosing arguments.  ---  5/15/2005

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing tips.  (1) Practical applications.  Write about ways how to make the world a better place today.  (2) Theoretical questions.  Write about hypothetical problems.  Write about the relationships of ideas.  ---  5/1/2007

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing tips.  (1) Summaries, abstract, introduction.  (2) Most important ideas.  (3) Problems and solutions, techniques.  (4) Ideals.  ---  5/1/2007

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing tips.  Get emotional.  A strength of artists and also young people is that they have strong emotions.  Write from emotion, especially anger at injustice.  ---  5/1/2007

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing tips.  The subconscious.  Acknowledge your subconscious.  Listen to your subconscious.  Learn to work with your subconscious.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing tips.  Write about something new everyday.  The perpetual search for the new, the novel.  ---  5/29/2007

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing well involves two kinds of thinking: (1) Creative thinking: to generate ideas.  (2) Critical thinking: to evaluate ideas.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing workshop.  The "materials" are the categories, topics, subjects that we write about.  The "tools" are the ways of thinking that we have.  Then we use the tools on the materials to make a "product", for example, an essay.  ---  12/28/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing, knowledge and power.  Knowledge is power.  Writing lets you store knowledge.  Compare the outcomes of societies that have a written tradition versus societies that do not.  Compare the outcomes of individuals who have a written tradition versus individuals who do not.  ---  8/16/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing, knowledge, and power.  (1) Thinking yields knowledge, which yields empowerment.  Writing saves knowledge.  (2) Not thinking yields ignorance, which yields disempowerment, oppression and exploitation.  Not writing leads to forgetting knowledge.  ---  8/20/2006

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing, two views of.  (1) Writing as talking to yourself.  Writing as your current self talking to your current self.  Writing as your past self talking to future self.  (2) Writing as talking to other people who are not currently present.  ---  10/30/2005

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Writing: the thoughts just pile up.  ---  12/30/1992

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  You are not learning to write.  You are learning to think and feel.  That is, you are learning to cop an attitude.  ---  8/25/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  You should write like you (or the reader) are about to die.  You should not write like you (or the reader) have a three hour lunch to kill.  ---  9/28/2000

Arts, literature, writing.  ---  Your writing should be rich and fertile, like a debutante.  ---  7/12/2002