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For class this week we were asked to read My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou) and Hills Like White Elephants and write a scene with dialogue and symbolism that connects to the themes of these readings. These stories expressed strong emotions and I feel that the scene that I’ve written is emotional. It certainly made me emotional while writing.
It was October 2014 and the weather was surprisingly warm. I was living in Queens and working at a Polish bakery owned by my boyfriend’s family in Brooklyn. I lucked out and found a parking spot close to work. Cars were passing, slowing down and craning their necks trying to see if I was coming or going. Horns were honking all around me. I was parked in a spot half a block from the bakery and watched the light changed from green to yellow to red. Sipping on my double latte from my favorite café up the street and feeling conflicted when I called one of my best friends, Drew. “I think I need to break up with Matt,” I said sadly. “Oh no, love. What’s wrong?” Drew asked. I think for a minute on how to explain what I was thinking and feeling. I put my latte down and felt a drop in my stomach. Matt and I have been friends since 2009 when we met in our freshman dorm. He was there for me through my grandmother dying, a bad breakup, and a few very drunken nights. How can I hurt one of my best friends? How can I stay in a relationship when I’m not happy? “I’m not happy anymore and I’m not really sure why. I think I need a fresh start,” I realize as I am saying the words. “I have to do it,” I say. “Move here to Nashville, I have a room opening in my house in the end of December. It’s yours if you want it,” Drew says immediately. I don’t hesitate, I don’t second guess myself. “That sounds perfect,” I say, feeling the weight in my stomach lift a little. I realize that I feel like I can breathe again for the first time in a long time. “Thank you, Drew. You’re always there for me when I need you. I’ll see you in a couple of months.” Knowing that I need to figure out how to break this to Matt, I go to the pool. Swimming helps me clear my mind and work through problems. I change into my swimsuit, stretch, put on my goggles, and dive in.
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Welcome back! For this blog post we were asked to create a scenario where we have the opportunity to talk to these 3 authors about the writing process. The three texts that we had to read are Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product (Don Murray) -- introduction is not required reading, Against Vanity: In Praise of Revision (Mary Karr) , Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life | pp. 28 -34 | Short Assignments & Shitty First Drafts (Anne Lamott). I will use quotes from these reading to create the conversation and atmosphere.
Let me tell you a story about the day that changed my life as a writer. I was browsing the stacks at the Trinity College Old Library in Dublin, Ireland. I spent most of the day wondering past books older than your grandparents, past the Book of Kells. Eventually, after losing myself in the splendor I ended up in a small pub tucked away in a corridor right behind the library. Around a table, filled with empty beer mugs, are Don Murray, Mary Karr, and Anne Lamott. I head up to the bar and ask the bartender for 4 more of whatever they are drinking, muster up my courage, and head over to the table. “Mind if I join y’all for a round? I’m Petunia and I have an assignment for my English Composition I class due soon and could really use some advice!” At first, they looked unsure until I explained to them about our digital portfolio project that we would be working on all semester. They whispered amongst themselves and turned to me with a curious look and a wave as if to say go on… “What advice would you have for someone who is new to writing?” I ask tentatively. Mary is the first to speak, “(1) Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks; (2) other than a few instances of luck, good work only comes through revision; (3) the best revisers often have reading habits that stretch back before the current age, which lends them a sense of history and raises their standards for quality.” Don follows up with, “[the writer] uses language to reveal the truth to himself so that he can tell it to others. It is an exciting, eventful, evolving process.” “Wow you make it sound so intimidating and time consuming. How do stop from feeling overwhelmed with writing what needs to be written and with all of your other responsibilities in life?” Anne replies with something I will never forget, “I go back to trying to breathe, slowly and calmly, and I finally notice the one-inch picture frame that I put on my desk to remind me of short assignments.” I stop and think for a minute before asking, “what if I can’t get over the initial hump of writer’s block? What if you don’t know where to start or where you want to go?” Anne quickly said, “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it…the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts. The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place.” Mary adds her two cents on this, “The idea is to get some scenes down. Let your mind roam down some alleys that may land in dead ends—that’s the nature of the process.” Anne counters with, “There may be something in the very last line of the very last paragraph on page six that you just love, that is so beautiful or wild that you now know what you’re supposed to be writing about, more or less, or in what direction you might go—but there was no way to get to this without first getting through the first five and a half pages.” I turn to Don, who I know teaches writing to ask my next question, “I went through school taught that the end product is all that mattered, from the little bit of reading I’ve done on you, I noticed you teach writing in an unconventional manner. How would you describe your belief in one sentence. ” Don sits pensively for 30 seconds before answering, ““Instead of teaching finished writing, we should teach unfinished writing, and glory in its unfinishedness.” “Would you elaborate on this process?” I ask. Don had this answer ready to go, “What is the process we should teach? It is the process of discovery through language. It is the process of exploration of what we should know and what we feel about what we know through language. It is the process of using language to learn about our world, to evaluate what we learn about our world, to communicate what we learn about our world.” I check my watch and note that my assignment is due in just a few short hours! I thank them profusely and give them my website URL and email address. Just last night I received a selfie from the 3 of them in our little pub! |
LISA CLAIRE WILEY
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