Terescia's thoughts and such.

I learned something last night. Several somethings, in fact.

I came home yesterday evening, and because I was tired, I ended up putzing around instead of doing anything productive. Before the night was over, I had watched three (yes, three) hours of Project Runway. It was the finale, and although I’ve only ever seen one other episode, I couldn’t seem to get away from the tv.

However, as I said, I did learn something….

It’s all about the style
Jay won, in case you’re wondering. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, then maybe this will. Jay won because the judges thought he had a style all his own–a style they could distinguish from the styles of all the other wannabe designers and the already-made-it designers. He offered something different in his collection, but each article of clothing within that collection was clearly his. It made me think about how important it is, whether you design clothes or write, to have a unique style. Kara Saun lost because her work was too much like Gucci, and Wendy (poor, benighted soul) lost because she seemed not to have fully developed her own style yet.

This applies to writing fiction so obviously that I’m not even going to bother to explain it.

A trip to Amazon, and this was what I found (and added to my shopping cart–only $13.11 more before I can bring it home (I’m too cheap to pay shipping…)): Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality in Your Writing by Les Edgerton.

Oh, and that’s not all. I learned something else from Project Runway, in a round about way.

I spend too much time composing and not enough time writing
And no, I’m not talking about music here. This morning, as I was traveling to Chattanooga to do some accounting (never let anyone convince you to make a career out of something just because you’re good at it, okay?) and started thinking about the show.

Before I’d even finishing writing the first sentence in my mind, I’d gone back and begun editing my composition. Then I realized what I was doing: I was fixing my words before I’d even finished writing them. I’ve wondered why I write so slow, and I think I’ve found my answer. :-)

So, what’s the cure?