After reading the section on "cooking", I am more convinced than ever that Elbow is writing about the process of creative writing, even though he doesn't explicitly say so.

The reason I'm convinced of this is that Elbow identified a problem I've had with my creative writing, but not with other types of writing. This problem is that my creative writing can be static and johnny-one-note ish. In two instances that come to mind, my writing has taken one particular perspective and beaten it to death. Elbow suggests trying different modes and perspectives on the same material. I think this would be an important step toward enriching my writing -- and perhaps anybody's writing.

Several years ago, I tried to write a story about my co-worker Carla. Carla had dated a very good-looking, rich, high-profile businessman -- until he broke off the relationship after a year. Not too surprisingly, Carla got depressed -- and my writing described various manifestations of her depression that I observed at the office. What a snoozer I wrote! I now see a few different tacks I could have taken:

1.Instead of just having me describe Carla, I could have written about Carla's state of mind in her words.

2. I could have written dialogues with Carla telling someone about the break-up. One dialogue could be with a sympathetic friend, another with an unsympathetic friend.

3. I could have portrayed a different side of Carla. For example, in real life, she hired me and was helpful and encouraging about my office work. If I'd described this experience, Carla would have come across as empathetic and capable -- and this would have provided a more multi-dimensional picture of her.

Earlier in this class (ENGL 470), we had a writing exercise and I chose to write about my beloved mother's increasing senility and how sad it makes me. As with the Carla story, I found myself writing the same idea over and over again -- to no great effect. Here's what I might do now:

1. I would try writing about my mother from my sister Betsy's point of view. While I live 3 hours away from my parents, Betsy lives close by and took the responsibility of arranging for full-time household help for my parents. So her experience is very different from mine.

2. I would write about my mother as she was in the past. I could try remembering her from my point of view as a little kid, or as a teenager. Or maybe I could focus on a few of the funny remarks she made, or the helpful things she did for me.