May 08, 2005
shake it off, that's how you play it off
Sportswriting. I think it is one of the most difficult genres--2 parts fact, 1 part dream. I've done very little of it, my best friend Ed has done a lot of it. I think it is something you are born with, the ability to write the result of a game or match in a way that is beautiful to read.
Anthony Castrovince is the beat writer for MLB.com covering the Cincinnati Reds. You can see his stuff here. He's the inspiration for this first writing-specific post.
Mr. Castrovince has to write every single day about the same thing, the Cincinnati Reds. Most days there is a game to cover, but he also publishes the Reds Notes and features articles. How do you keep things from getting boring? That's the 1 part dream.
If you read his articles, they aren't boring. They are injected with personality and pizazz, penache and a penchant for particularly good prose. How's that for a lot of Ps in a sentence? Anyway, Mr. Castrovince does a lot with what could be a little; that is, with such a specific topic, keeping it interesting for so long could be difficult.
Obviously, he's writing for a specific audience. There are genre-specific modes and operations. But a truly good sportswriter takes those and expands them into experiences.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Castrovince.
Posted by ashersky at 07:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 06, 2005
come original you've got to come original
For those of you that remember the old ashersky.org, this will be a bit of a change. For anyone that's new, welcome.
Ashersky.org is no longer a blog in the traditional sense. Instead, it is a site dedicated to the creative arts of writing, photography and graphics, all of which I hope to post here in the manner made popular by Sardonic, run by a friend of mine. So, if you want to be published on here, send me your writing, photos or graphic art to submit@ashersky.org. I haven't really decided on a quality policy, but I'll keep you updated.
As it is, there is nothing to read on the site yet. It's (re)new(ed). I couldn't stay away forever, so I decided to do something I could. Write about writing. So that's all you'll find in these pages. They'll look like blog entries, feel like blog entries, but they won't be blog entries. At least, not in the now-made-popular way.
Who, what, why to read. And not to read. The agony that is good writing. And the agony that isn't. These are my themes. These are the new ashersky.org.
Posted by ashersky at 01:41 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack