Thursday, November 11, 2010
Writing, writing, writing
What is the dang deal?! Writing for me feels like such a labor. I have really enjoyed reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. She is emotionally dramatic and deft at writing about it. It makes me laugh out loud! My own problem with writing is that I am not sure that what I have to write about is all that interesting and worth the time to put it to paper. Don't get me wrong. I love, love, love to learn. And I get very excited about many of the things I learn. I really enjoy the interconnectedness of all the things I learn; the metaphors, large and small, that play out in my mind across disciplines. It is the putting it to paper that feels like pulling teeth for me. I am just not sure that my meanderings are worth the time and effort. Once in a while I appreciate a well-turned phrase that falls onto the page from my mind, but overall it feels like so much digging, so few pearls. And all that work when there are so many other fabulous things to put my energies to. There. I wrote it. This is really hard for me. Now I need to get on to writing some other reflections for other assignments. Perhaps some more coffee, some feeding of the animals, a breath of fresh air, a snuggle and then some more writing . . .
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And it will. I went through about 150 anniversary cards simply trying to write "Happy Anniversay" to my wife this past year. That is down from over 400 back on the first anniversary!! Lamott said it herself, you have to write six pages before that one line sticks out to you on page three. The rest of the stuff makes no sense and can be washed away while you build off awesome page three line.
ReplyDeleteYou have said so many interesting things over the past 6 months that you could easily fill up two lines on a piece of loose leaf paper:). It is interesting that you think what you have to write is not interesting for others to read but yet you speak in the totally opposite manner:):):) Alright I owe you a coffee for that one, but it was soo worth it!!
For me, and you tell me it is always about me, I notice that once I grab onto a topic and really get into it, I could write for days. Every experience in my life dealing with said topic comes rushing out on paper. Writing is a way for all of us to put our lives on paper. Now whether you think your live is interesting is up to you. If it matters, I think the people you have surrounded yourself with in your life would make a great heart warming story someday. In fact, I would go stand in line tonight to buy a copy (granted the stand selling the book is inside a casino with a 24 hour buffett and free orange juice).
Bravo Juliebe
Thanks for your thoughts about the difficulty of writing, Ms. B. That's one of the things I love about Lamott - she makes it clear that writing the truth is hard work -- for all of us. For me, it is especially difficult to write things that I know will be read publicly like this (the infamous oppressor?), or by someone I care about, like TN's anniversary cards. Lucy Calkins (of writers workshop fame) once wrote that writers write to find the significance in their lives -- whether that be about cracks in the sidewalk or school lunches. (Can this also happen with school assignments?) I hope that you have found some significance in the the writing you have done this past quarter.
ReplyDeleteNancy