Quote of the day--oh, so that's how you do it edition
You type enough sentences, you’re bound to get a good run of paragraphs eventually.-Zack Handlen, "'Second Chances'/'Timescape'
The A/V Club, August 25th, 2011
Okay, so Handlen is talking about how he writes reviews of old episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but still: I like that. I like that a lot. I really need to try to make that my motto.
Except, of course, it ain't that easy. I mean, yes, you write enough sentences, you're bound to have something good arise spontaneously from the chaos. Maybe. I hope. Oh dear, that might not be how it works at all. Now I'm worried. But, no, seriously: it ain't that easy. The words have to be pried out of the cracks in your brain and then assembled in the right order so as to constitute a sentence in English (or whatever language you're writing in). If assembling words randomly sufficient was, Yodaese you would speak.
But I think, yes, I'm going to try to make Handlen's quip sort of a motto, especially over the next few days as I try to get back to a short story that I was puttering with and back to the awful train wreck that has been running over my leg for the past several years with nothing to show for it unless you count restarts. I will try to type enough sentences. Maybe some of them will love each other and have little paragraphs to take care of them in their old age. That would make me happy. Happier. Close enough.
Except, of course, it ain't that easy. I mean, yes, you write enough sentences, you're bound to have something good arise spontaneously from the chaos. Maybe. I hope. Oh dear, that might not be how it works at all. Now I'm worried. But, no, seriously: it ain't that easy. The words have to be pried out of the cracks in your brain and then assembled in the right order so as to constitute a sentence in English (or whatever language you're writing in). If assembling words randomly sufficient was, Yodaese you would speak.
But I think, yes, I'm going to try to make Handlen's quip sort of a motto, especially over the next few days as I try to get back to a short story that I was puttering with and back to the awful train wreck that has been running over my leg for the past several years with nothing to show for it unless you count restarts. I will try to type enough sentences. Maybe some of them will love each other and have little paragraphs to take care of them in their old age. That would make me happy. Happier. Close enough.
Comments
This has been tried http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem
In summary the monkey urinated on the keyboard.
"Just one more monkey and one more typewriter and we'll have it."
Since you're editing yourself, Eric, be sure to produce enough non-monkey-crap to keep your editor on the job.