On the homepage of this blog, you can find the official press release from Northern Ohio Live, which has ceased publication. My thanks to the publishers and editors that ran my freelance column and features for the past five years. I wish them all the best.
Scott Lax Blog
Northern Ohio Live Magazine Update
May 28, 2009
I'll be posting the updated status of Northern Ohio Live magazine tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Writing Perspectives & Wicked Curveballs
May 27, 2009
In an interview in "The Paris Review," Truman Capote said, "Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself."
In other words: Creativity without an underlying discipline and order tends to read as chaos. When you've learned the basics of grammar, usage and style -by all means, break the rules if you want, or bend them; use wild, original colorings and shadings in your writing, if that's what suits you and your work.
Think of a baseball pitcher with a screaming fastball and wicked curveball. If he or she can't get it over the plate, though, he or she will be off the team and throwing his or her pitches against an old barn somewhere.
First, get it over the plate.
In other words: Creativity without an underlying discipline and order tends to read as chaos. When you've learned the basics of grammar, usage and style -by all means, break the rules if you want, or bend them; use wild, original colorings and shadings in your writing, if that's what suits you and your work.
Think of a baseball pitcher with a screaming fastball and wicked curveball. If he or she can't get it over the plate, though, he or she will be off the team and throwing his or her pitches against an old barn somewhere.
First, get it over the plate.