Infinitely Purposeful

Tools, Tips, and Scholarship

[justyoureditor]

Writer's Block is a Good Thing

Writer's block is an essential part of the life of a developing writer and, further, anyone who writes. Writing communities, for years, have given writer's block a negative connotation when it's not fully deserved. It's frustrating to reach a point in writing where there is difficulty in finding the perfect words to express intention and this is a common sentiment. However, it's still important to, at some point, have those blocks. Having writer's block means that the writer is concerned about v

I’ve been joking to myself that the writers in my life are going to yell at me for this. I don’t actually think that’s true, but I do know that this has helped a lot. For one, I don’t want to get burned out by one subject on my blog, especially to the point that I forget other things exist. For two, I’m so glad that my stance on this subject has changed so drastically. I consider writer’s block to be a strength now and that’s a huge step for me. To just say that I feel better about writing this is an understatement. This is pure relief. 

[justyoureditor]

The Utility of Genre

Thank you to all of those who read and engaged with my interview with professional comedy writer and story narrator, MoonHorse (name has been censored to retain anonymity). If you've not read that piece, I highly encourage you to check it out! For all of those who are familiar with this blog and my editing style, you might get a sense of my fascination with genre, useful ways in which genre can be defined and how vast the field of genre studies is. If you've read "The Power of Genre," you might

I am so fascinated with genre studies and how genre impacts all aspects of communication. I learned a lot this time around combined with my post on activity theory and genre. There are a lot of great tools here that I hope to apply to my series on writer’s block. I want to develop new tools, something that I started to do in reframing writer’s block as navigation of abstract goals, but I want to do more with that. I want to expand on these ideas and close the gap between plan and product. 

[justyoureditor]

An Interview With a Professional Comedy Writer and Story Narrator - Part Two

This is the second and final part of my interview with MoonHorse. Names are censored to protect the privacy of the individual being interviewed. If you have not and would like to read the first part, click here. This section of the interview delves into writing pedagogy, agency in writing, and discourse surrounding both sensitivity reads and content warnings. As these topics are once again becoming relevant, I did want to discuss them here with someone who is well-versed in the workings of comed

A few days ago, I posted this, the second part of my interview with a close friend and someone who I highly credit with helping me to think through and develop the tools that I write about.  The interview was a phone call like any other, but more organized. For some of these questions, I knew in some capacity what he was going to say beforehand. For others, I didn’t, but I knew that the responses would be mindful. 

I sometimes hear views like this, but I don’t often read views like this. Overall, I’m grateful that he let me interview him. I am considering doing more interviews, all things depending, with different people on subjects related to writing that I know they could weigh in on very well. 

What I would like to do, since it’s helped, is to create some kind of schedule. In this schedule, I’d be planning what I post in my blog so that I can step back and ensure that I’m diversifying in my own writing enough. This way, I stay true to what I want this to be without diving in to some kind of rut. Since I’ve been trying to learn the discourse on post-process theory with some success, that’s what it’s felt like. Every scholar does bring something different, but it does sometimes seem like I’m talking about the same thing sometimes and not really adding. 

So, because of that, I found a very dated text with essays about writer’s block. There’s a funny story behind me trying to get a physical copy, but that’s for another time. 

Anyway, my feelings about moving forward.

I definitely feel more supported. I feel like what I’m doing is worthwhile. That’s very much what all of this is. I did it mostly for myself, but I also used this to compile tools and learn tools that I use in my professional life. 

I feel more affirmed in that having completed this interview. I feel better about what I’m doing. Overall, because I have this blog and because I am doing this work, I feel like I’m giving better quality material to people who want me to work on their books. It’s beyond what I thought the result would be. 

[justyoureditor]

The Power of Genre

A big thank you to all of those who read the first part of my interview last week. The rest of that interview will be posted next week. Some of the points that we cover in that interview reflect the subject matter of this post, especially when we get into writing pedagogy. Here, I will mostly cover the power that the concept of genre and genre studies assert in different forms of writing according to David Russel in "Activity Theory and Process Approaches: Writing (Power) in School and Society."

I think that I would like to alternate between subjects and that this kind of schedule will set a precedence for what my blog is going to look like moving forward. I now have a copy of a text full of essays on writer’s block which was very difficult to get. I can’t wait to start using it as source material. Lately, I’ve gotten a lot more support on this from friends who were initially supportive just because it makes me happy. Now, more and more, I feel like what I’ve been doing is good. 

[justyoureditor]

An Interview With A Professional Comedy Writer and Story Narrator - Part One

Instead of moving forward with post-process theory, something that will be picked up next week, I had the pleasure and honor of being able to have a semi-formal interview with someone who has been a big supporter of what I've been writing here and what I've been doing in this blog. I wanted to get some of his insight into the kinds of topics I've been learning about from his own perspective as a professional narrator and comedy writer. For the sake of this interview, we will only be using his on

Not long ago, I interviewed someone who inspired Purposeful Prose. I was in a very difficult place because I have my dream job, but at the time, it didn’t encompass everything I love and I wasn’t fully immersing myself in what I’d chosen to do. It’s because of this support that I was really able to branch out and this was a really wonderful and productive conversation. 

[justyoureditor]

Communication and Social Change

Communication theory and research provides an excellent complement to post-process theory as it is known. If you have been following this series on post-process theory thus far, you understand that writing is understood by multiple theorists to be largely communicative in nature: communicative with the self, with others, and with the world. Nancy Blyer's "Research in Professional Communication: A Post-Process Perspective," is a critique of the discourse surrounding professional communication as

I’m always excited when I have the opportunity to learn about and discuss communication theory insofar as it pertains to the act of writing. In addition, I had the chance to briefly discuss my favorite book in this.  I didn’t realize its significance when I first read it, but I knew it was meaningful. It’s The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. It was being sold in the romance section of a library book sale, but while there is romance within it, that’s not the subject. I won’t spoil it for anyone who would like to read it. 

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200951h.html - Here’s a copy of the full text and there’s a lovely audiobook available on YouTube.