Journal 3 - Alex Harris

 In chapter Nine of The Triggering Town, one part in particular that stood out to me was when, on page 101, Hugo talks about having a hard time writing after working all day stating “...there’s a tendency to feel you've fulfilled your obligation to the universe. Why go home and write?” This is something that really resonated with me because after a full day of work or school, I also have difficulty finding the motivation to write or do things that I like. I think that it’s really important to remember that if you’re passionate about writing, not to let yourself avoid it because you don’t feel like it. Sometimes you have to dredge up your writing, otherwise you’ll never write, or finish, anything meaningful.

Something that stood out to me and that I will take away from this book was the idea of not restricting yourself unnecessarily. Hugo said that you need rules for writing to not be aimless, but don’t cling to them. Chapter Five: Nuts and Bolts has the best example of this when on page 43 Hugo writes “That is the advantage of making up rules. If they are working they should lead you to better writing. If they don’t you’ve made up the wrong rules.” In the past I have tried to follow writing advice from others, even when I found that it made it harder to write. For example, one piece of advice I was given was to write at least 100 words a day. When I was following this rule I found that I never liked what I wrote because I was writing to fill space as opposed to because I had ideas. In the future I will endeavor to experiment with writing rules, but allow myself to let them go if I find they aren’t working for me.

Another thing that I took away was his advice that writers must make assumptions about everything. In Chapter Three: Assumptions on page 19 Hugo writes “It is important that a poet not question his or her assumptions, at least not in the middle of composition. Finish the poem first, then worry, if you have to, about being right or sane.” This stood out to me because in my writing, I often get caught up on minor details. Instead of just stating something and moving on, I find myself delving into research to make sure to get exactly correct details that have little bearing on the story, and end up never getting to my original point. For example, knowing how different types of forests are layed out is all well and good, but hardly necessary to know in order to walk through one.

Theodore Roethke, the man who inspired the philosophy of rules only existing to help with writing in Hugo.