Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Beginning of The Beginning - Writing in Layers

What's this about layers? Is this the beginning or not? Herein lie the answers - and the method to my madness:

For those who are familiar with my writing, you'll know that I am in the habit of writing essays which probably cover more than enough material to satisfy most readers.
` That, however, tends to be rather time-consuming because of the large amount of research that necessarily goes into it.

However, even when writing small 'chunks' of the essay/article, I would still probably need to do a sizeable amount of research. So; why not just do one source at a time, adding on new insights, details, and corrections, with each pass?

Crucially, I must first start out with a subject I've already done a lot of reading on beforehand, so that I can have a good feel for what I'm getting myself into - not to mention the key facts and points I should expect to cover.

Then, I must select only one or two sources and construct an incomplete article which builds upon what I already know (or think that I know), and then expand upon that with each new source.

This is much like a wiki, except that the references consist of my own college courses and several hundred reputable books, periodicals, etc. and is in fact updated only by myself.
` My materials contain a wealth of information about such things as language, muscles, hoaxes, time, space, dinosaurs, atoms, developmental biology, geology, philosophy, genetics, stars, planets, and most prominently of all, critical thinking skills and virtually anything one could ever care to know about brains - human and otherwise.

As I read new sources, and re-read older sources, I will add onto what I've already written, somewhat like adding layers upon layers onto a very tall cake (of some delicious sort, I hope); thus, I shall call each draft a 'layer'.
` When I've posted at least three layers of an article on this blog, I will add it as a new article on the Corrigendopedia site.
` Before any of these go up, however, I ought to wait until I have racked up five different articles before I even publish any part of the site at all. (Otherwise, it wouldn't be a very grand opening, would it?)

Additionally, each layer shall be annotated so as to reveal my way of asking questions and progressing onto the next step.
` Therefore, this blog ought to be much like watching me write a large essay in a series of steps so that one can see how I plan my next move, including some of the questions that I ask.
` When these blog articles become sizeable enough, I shall thereafter only mention the new parts added and link to the website article, rather than to reiterate the entire article here.

If I do a reasonable enough job at this, I expect that others might find this instructive for building up their own essays. First and foremost, however, they can probably be considered as more of a learning experience for me.

Okay, enough with the talk - where's these layers I'm talking about? Wasn't I about to start on one last time I came by?

Just as I'd planned, I did begin that first article, as well as prepare the Corrigendopedia website's main page. The following morning, however, I woke up with a double-whammy of illnesses and had to sleep a large part of the day; I was too tired and in too much pain to really think about writing or doing anything else.
` Since then, I've been recovering nicely, though am forbidden to write much in the way of blogs or screenplays or any other career-related activities until just before bedtime, when my day's work is done.
` As usual, there's been a lot of work to be done during the day; rearranging furniture and storage in the still-being-remodeled house; cleaning up plaster dust and debris; occasional basement flood relief; doing laundry and other housework; spending quality time with my housemates (including my wily cats); learning to sew properly; not to mention my 70-minute daily aerobic workouts and continuation of hunting for a third job in the present (and suffering) local economy.

Thankfully, everyone here - especially Lucas - has taught me some valuable things about time management, and I expect to have even more spare time in the near future.
` With my extra spare time so far, I've collected the articles from a former (now deleted) science blog of mine for use here, and, as you have already seen, I've decided on the fundamental 'layer' formula necessary for beginning this project (as opposed to the 'bricks' idea from before).
` In fact, assuming that I am not about to be once again called away from this computer or else interrupted by someone who needs to use the computer desk as a writing desk, I shall begin typing that first layer onto this blog right now.

When will I finish? Hopefully, by the time you are reading this article, it will already be up.

8 comments:

Kingcover said...

"When will I finish? Hopefully, by the time you are reading this article, it will already be up." ..... umm how will we know that the new finished item is part of this post or not as you are doing it in layers? Hehehe ;-)

Is your new home more than half way completed do you think?

Spoony Quine said...

If it were finished, Gareth, it would be above that post! O_o
` However, since I was interrupted just minutes after I began on that layer, I did not get anywhere near finished.
` This morning, I headed straight out the door to do my production assistant thing on set with 'Director Nate' and the gang. This is the first time I've sat down all day.
` At present, he is in the process of getting footage from the digital movie camera (not a camcorder!) and into the work computer.
` As for me, my computer is still stowed away - I'm actually using Nate's laptop.
` Tomorrow, we work more on my future bedroom some more: So far, most of the walls, most of the paint, and decidedly not most of the flooring, have been completed.
` I estimate that we have about two or three more months until the whole house is finally done.

From all this, I reckon that I'm not going to get reliable computer access around here, so I've come up with an even newer, even faster plan....

Kingcover said...

Which would be? ...

Spoony Quine said...

You'll see. Oh... you'll see! Mua ha ha ha ha!

Kingcover said...

Ut ohhhh, you're not going to *gulp* place a little hamster on a wheel beside your computer and tell it to run around really fast so it produces electricity to run the computer. Should I be informing PETA?! :-P

Spoony Quine said...

No, electricity is not the issue. It's actually the big bloody thing in the plastic garbage bag that's the problem.
` No, not really. Actually, the big bloody bag is merely the star of our newest project.

The real issue, of course, is time constraints. For example, I'm on the computer right now while I'm supposed to be working.
` Of course, this is the only thing I'm doing right now, so if I stop right here, nobody will notice I was gone.
` So I will.

Oh, but... you'll see!

Kingcover said...

"It's actually the big bloody thing in the plastic garbage bag that's the problem" ----- umm please please pleaseeeee tell me that you didn't bump Lou off and throw him in a plastic bag! Geesh! :-P

Spoony Quine said...

No, he's not in the bag, though it makes him go crazy and throw it in the discarded fridge on the back porch.