Hey, welcome back to the blog! For this assignment we had to read these three pieces:
I walked into the library to start on the first draft of a writing assignment during the winter. I read the assignment as many times as I could but I was still stuck on what to write. This was a new experience for me. I normally don’t have trouble starting to write something, but the idea behind the prompt bothered me in some way. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to write and I didn’t even know what I wanted to even start with. After a little while a man came down to the same table as me as I was struggling. He eventually asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was struggling to start writing this assignment, I just didn’t know where to start. He said his favorite quote from any writer was “Writing is the act of making a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and is the most frightening”. I asked who had said that and he responded it was said by Don Murray. I then asked if there was another was something he said to help write if you have no idea what to even start with. The man simply responded saying that I should first start with prewriting. I simply asked what prewriting was, to which the man responded with “[it is] research and daydreaming, note-making and outlining, title-writing and lead-writing”. I asked who had said that then since he knew it off the top of his head and he said Don Murray again. I finally asked what tips he had on why I was having this sort of writer’s block. He simply responded with “This is not a question of correct or incorrect, of etiquette or custom. This is a matter of far higher importance. The writer, as he writes, is making ethical decisions. He doesn’t test his words by a rule book, but by life”. I finally asked how he knew so much on the writing process and he said that he should know of course, his name is Don Murray. Don Murray then left the table and I finally felt like I could start writing the piece because I didn’t have to make it perfect in the first place but just writing was the more important part of the process. After a little while another person sat down at the table and asked what I was writing. I told them what I was writing and how a man had helped me get past my writer's block, but I felt like there were still things I was missing. The women said to me “In the beginning, when there are zero pages, you have to cheer yourself into cranking stuff out, even if it later lands on the cutting room floor”. She said it was her favorite quote. I said I never really thought of writing when I was at zero words or pages. The idea of not having anything written down was always frightening to me. I asked how she knew so much about writing and she said her name was Mary Karr. I was excited because I knew who she was and I asked what was the most difficult part for her as a writer. Mary Karr said “For me, the last 20 percent of a book’s improvement takes 95 percent of the effort—all in the editing”. I found this interesting because to me, the hardest part of writing was always writing, I never gave much thought to the editing. I finally asked Mary what exactly I should do with my piece right now in the early stages of writing the piece. She said “ A writer can always go back to an earlier draft. The point is to have more curiosity about possible forms the work could take than sense of self-protection for your ego”. I thanked her for her help because I finally felt comfortable enough to start writing without anything inhibatting me. I decided that I would return tomorrow and keep writing my piece. The next day I went to same library since not only had I just met 2 famous writers but their help was amazing. I sat at the same table that I did the day before and began to write. After a little while a woman came up to me and asked what I was writing. I told her and then jokingly told her she must be a famous writer since I had already met 2 the previous day. She exclaimed that in fact she was! She was Anne Lamott. I said that I had never heard of her before but I was open to any advice that she could give me. She said “So I’d start writing without reining myself in. It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible.” I said that was weird, I never thought about writing just to write even if it was terrible writing. She then said, “ But because by then I had been writing for so long, I would eventually let myself trust the process—sort of, more or less. I’d write a first draft that was maybe twice as long as it should be, with a self-indulgent and boring beginning”. I responded with “So you were writing just to write and not to deal have anything that had the same resemblance of the actual piece you were trying to write?” She laughed, then said, “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something— anything—down on paper”. She then said that was all she had time for unfortunately and that she had to leave the library. I thanked her again for her advice with the paper I was doing and she wished me the best of luck. I then went on to us all their advice to complete my assignment.
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Daniel Kamowski
This blog will be used to explore the messy processes of writing and to make meaning. ArchivesCategories |