occasional posts by risa aratyr
thoughts, news, and items of writerly interest
In a post a while back, I lauded the advent of the word-processor as a boon to the literary arts. It was certainly a boon to my personal literary endeavors. For me, writing and typing go hand-in-glove; having developed my composition skills in the digital realm, writing sans WP gets me nowhere. Except when I’m … Read more No soy poeta
My last blog-post, Digitize Me, was a passionate defence of digital communications. It was also a bit of a red herring. I wanted to be on-record as someone who embraces social networking and virtual community before going on-record with a bitter complaint against the same. It started with an email from a long-time friend. Tracy … Read more Keeping It Real
There are many valid reasons to decry the pervasive influence of digital communications on modern society. Devices are produced with slave and sweat-shop labor. Production creates tons of waste and pollution. Using digital devices over the long-term has dubious effects on our health, from damaging our posture to increasing our risk of brain cancer. The … Read more Digitize Me
I’ve checked all the big-name dictionaries, cross-referenced the definitions, sifted through myriad permutations and fine distinctions. Here’s the upshot. A joke (noun) is: something said or done to provoke laughter or cause amusement, as a witticism, brief oral anecdote, or prank. First the doctor told me the good news; I was going to have a … Read more Heard Any Good Ones Lately?
I get it, I really do. I get how hard it is to cross out a cunning word. To draw a line through a finely-wrought phrase. To sever a sumptuous sentence. To amputate a paragraph, to delete great dialogue, to chop a chapter, to cut. I’ve been doing a lot of cutting lately; I know … Read more The Most Kindest Cut of All