Blog # 8 by Brittany Leazer: Its in the Details

This course has challenged me in my own writing in so many ways. I have learned so much about my writing that I would have never learned without these books. First of all, I would have never even picked up most of these books without being told to. I would have looked at the back cover of most of them and then returned them to the shelf. For instance, Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange did not sound appealing to me, but I could not but it down. I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of the writing and incredible descriptions. I learned that I need to be very aware of the details in my writing. All of the books we have read have been so precise in the details. In the Prince of Tides, the setting was so vivid, because of the details surrounding it. In Olive Kitteridge, the characters came alive because of the details. In A Movable Feast, Hemingway always pays careful attention to the details of language. He chooses each word so carefully.

In my own writing I have been careless with details. I have been hoping that the reader will just get it. I have learned in this course that to truly write something worth reading, I must take great care with the details.