Word of the Day
Gauche (adj., GOHSH)
Laking social grace, awkward, and unsophisticated, which you will be when you mispronounce this word. It's quite the shibboleth.
Gif of the Day
Henry CavillEye raiseFiddling handsO rly?Undoubtedly a better movie than Justice LeagueSee, guys, this is how you do itIs your A.U.N.T.'s name Martha?
Link of the Day
What Flannery O'Connor's college journal reveals - Karen Swallow Prior
This week, we've focused a lot on the mechanics of writing and editing. This is intentional, because this is where the work happens. But there is another side of the work: the mental fight to express yourself as clearly as you want to.
Recently, Flannery O'Connor's early college journal was published. English and Literature professor Karen Swallow Prior read it and highlighted how it reveals a burgeoning writer, unsteadily stepping forth into a new realm. Prior is writing about O'Connor, but her comments should give hope to all developing writers:
O’Connor seems instinctively to have understood this virtuous cycle, writing in her journal of her literary aspirations, “I am afraid and yet I am eager, anxious to get into the middle of it—make a success of it—or become resigned to my failure.” And remarkably, despite the brief timespan covered, the journal displays an arc of development that takes O’Connor from paralyzing under-confidence to determination to action.
On December 31, 1943, she writes, “I must do do do and yet there is the brick wall that I must kick over stone by stone. It is I who have built the wall and I who must tear it down.” Ten days later, she is pushing herself more firmly, hoping her journal reflections will “spur me on to some sort of activity.” On February 2, 1944, she determines, “I must force my loose mind into its overalls and get going.”
O’Connor’s experience suggests that action is, in fact, crucial to overcoming lack of confidence. But the journal also illustrates the role that looking outward rather than inward has in spurring such action: It shows O’Connor moving from her internal anxiety and doubt toward honing her craft.
You can read the whole article at The Atlantic.
WritingFlannery O'ConnorJournalKaren Swallow PriorGetting strongerA good writer is hard to find?
Happy Friday
Ad for used 1996 Honda Accord
Max Lanman is a director in Los Angeles. His girlfriend needed to sell her car, a 1996 Honda Accord by the name of "Greenie," so Lanman made a terrific short ad for it (keep reading, there's more):
This blew up online. The ebay posting went over $150,000, causing ebay to shut down the auction...twice. Then, CarMax showed up with a video offer of $20,000, which netted them the car: