writing: blogging – Moon Under Water

Workshop of Pot*ntial Blogging – Avoiding using “E”

It is sad to think on how long ago MUW last had a post, but it is 2014 now, and activity will start again. Writing sank down a priority list in 2013, but is now kicking off with inspiration from a Franco-artistic group of authors, known as Oulipo. For this post, I will avoid all utilisation of that most common of all symbols in our vocabulary, “E” (apart from just now!). In illustrations using a book, film or author’s call-sign, a * will stand in for that infuriating symbol.

A graphic of the word lipogram surrounded by the letters E — A lipogram is a block of writing avoiding a particular symbol

From its foundation on 24 Nov 1960, Oulipo was a group that brought works of writing to our world with strict canons Continue reading “Workshop of Pot*ntial Blogging – Avoiding using “E””

Why I Write – Celebrating MUW’s 50th post

“[W]riting is the destruction of every voice, of every point of origin. Writing is that neutral, composite, oblique space where our subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting with the very idea of the body writing.” – Barthes, Image Music Text, p 142

Last year I took the time to read Why I Write by George Orwell. This book is a gem in the Orwell bibliography, mainly due to its often brutal honesty and informal tone. It reads like a diary, or like a blog. Orwell’s conclusion (in my own far too shallow words) was that he wrote to help people think differently about politics and society. Orwell’s goal was for people to understand how competition and greed make us worse as a species, and wanted people to see how working together is working toward a more utopic common goal.

Blogging is a relatively new phenomenon, developed in the 1980s by and for computer programmers and users Continue reading “Why I Write – Celebrating MUW’s 50th post”

One Down! – A birthday on doomsday

Moon Under Water is one year old! And on the same day that the world is due to end! Great!

Twelve months ago to this day the blog started with no real direction. It began as a series of meandering posts on various topics, with each post designed to respond to the last in some way. It has been a busy year, both in blog-world and real-world, and I just wanted to set aside a post to say thank you to all readers both regular and irregular (or “odd”).

To any who aren’t already aware, all past posts can be found in the archive things in the menu bar at the top of the page, and all new posts are released through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and e-mail (if you follow the blog). I’d just like to round everything up with a quick top-three blog moments of 2012. Continue reading “One Down! – A birthday on doomsday”