October 1st, 2007

Thinking aloud

There is a sign up at my work, presumably leftover from a project wherein it would’ve made sense, that says, “Think aloud.” Which is a really useful strategy if you are trying to learn to solve algebraic equations involving who has more apples or when the train from Pittsburgh will crash into the one from Toledo, but probably the exact opposite of what I should be doing. I should *never* think aloud—I talk too much as it is, and though it seems impossible, I actually don’t say *quite* everything I think.

AMT, our lady of the great lack-of-internet-presence, coined the incredibly useful term “exterior monologue” to describe the series of loosely connected neural firings that purport to be “a story” but are in fact leading nowhere except to the point where the speaker runs out of breath. If you are as amusing as AMT, I think it is perfectly all right to tell “stories” that end “And then it was now.” But I studiously try (and thus far fail) to avoid it myself.

This is not some self-deprecating rant about how I think I’m uninteresting—gah, I’m fascinating, obviously. It just really really helps my interesting factor to have a point! A thesis, if you will—I’m wicked good at five-paragraph essays. This is probably part of the same internal mechanism that causes me to learn best in a classroom, work best in an office, perform best on a deadline. Excess freedom is a problem for me, I think.

Which is something of a challenge in blogging, wherein the inherent structure is nothing *but* freedom. Three pages of anti-transit ranting? One word obscenity posts? A list of the contents of your fridge? Sure, whatever. Whatever whatever.

Most of the better blogs impose some sort of structure on themselves, however loose—cultural criticism, reviews, chronicles of a given project, etc., etc. There are few bloggers that can remain fascinating on the “this is what I did today” topic with no larger theme at all. Which is something the team here at Rose-coloured is struggling with. Besides being a fun forum and a good way to let you know about the publications and performances of me and my friends, what is this blog *about*? Huh.

You know who *did* write a wonderful “what I did today” blog? Michael Winter. I won’t be adding this one to the links list, I guess, since it’s no longer being updated, but as it was completely non-topical, you could go read all the back-posts right now and it would be fine and fun. He was blogging in support of his last book, The Big Why, but the prose on the blog is always just the fine tiny details MW writes anywhere, lovely. His new novel, The Architects Are Here is launching this week, under what is one of the better titles I have ever heard, and I am excited. I have no idea what it’s about, though, so once again this post has rambled off. But yeah, Michael Winter=beautiful writer (also a nice human and shockingly tall; he was my teacher once and I was in awe.)

Strike a violent pose
RR