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I’ve read all three in years past but felt need of a refresher
course to realign me with the true purpose of my writing efforts. If
you’ve never opened the pages of any of these excellent resources, I definitely
urge you to do so.
Natalie Goldberg’s book is a call to practice your
writing. As she writes, “Being a writer
is a whole way of life, a way of seeing, thinking, being. Writers hand on what they know.” As we
practice our writing, our minds ricochet back into memory and dreams. Her half-page Try This catapults you into areas you’ve never considered writing
about previously.
As I applied myself to doing the ten-minute exercises
suggested by Sheila Bender, I had hopes they would provide an opening to deeper
truths I’d been reluctant to explore. Instead, I find myself dwelling on the
ordinary things of everyday life. I console myself by remembering the memoirs
published by May Sarton, Journal Of a Solitude. Her book consists of excerpts from daily journals over a year's period. She writes of plants
blooming, cards and letters received, friends coming to visit or that she visited. Nothing earth-shattering or mind-blowing.
Just a recounting of those little daily victories that deserve to be
celebrated.
I saved Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird for last. She so eloquently
and concisely deals with the nitty-gritty of writing, I can only absorb what
she writes in tiny doses. I nibble and I
digest—isn’t that the best way to absorb, to make something a part of yourself?
I hope so.
I saw the title of this and thought of chocolate. :-)
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