The final post: Why I Write ...

OK, this will be your last post for the semester. You must post your comments by Sunday December 5 at 11:59.59 p.m..

You're going to post your Ars Poetica. Sure, an Ars Poetica is about poetry and the art of creating poetry, but I think we can make it applicable to Pers Expos. Just go with it. Think of it as the answer to the statement why I write. You read Orwell's answer. You read Didion's. Really give this some thought and tell us all why you write. Heck, you've spent all semester in this course writing, writing, and writing some more about you and your life. Why?

Here's my Ars Poetica from a 2005 writing class I took during my final summer of grad school. While some things have changed for me as a writer, much has stayed the same.

On February 5, 2001 my mother had a massive stroke that left her paralyzed on her left side. Lucky for her she is right-handed. Besides eating and using the bathroom, the only thing she has control of is her language – most specifically, her writing. She writes every day. She writes letters, brief cards, quick hellos – you name it and she writes it. She enjoys writing because it is her way of communicating with the outside world, her way of staying in touch with her friends, her way of staying in touch with herself. And, as she sometimes concludes, “Writing is all I have.” So in many of the same ways, writing is all I have and I write simply because I can.

Where can we find your review?

Cool review from WSJ: The Kinect and a stereo.

Now, please post a link or the product page/album page of what you've reviewed.

Week 13

What amazing sentence, phrase, moment pops out? Since you know the writer well — I hope — try to find something new. Wow us with your selection and tell us why you think your selection is wow inducing — good, bad or ugly.

Writing Reviews: the next assignment

Some places to get inspiration

10 Secrets to reviews

Book Reviews in general

Novel: Dew Breaker

Film: Social Network

Saucony 12: Running Shoes

San Fran Restaurant

Week 12: The writer is you!

You have been writing your own essays for quite some time. What patterns have emerged in your own work? Do you love the semi-colon? Secretly or not-so-secretly over-use the simple sentence? Think about what stylistic devices you rely on most often, what traps you fall into, what tricks you'd still like to use. Go ahead, give yourself a little praise.