I read Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product by Don Murray, Against Vanity: In Praise of Revision by Mary Karr, and Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott for this next post. Below I found multiple quotes from each passage to create a writers’ roundtable discussion between the three writers and me.
It’s 2:47 pm on a Friday and me and my friend have been waiting in line for over an hour now. It’s hot, were hungry and my friend has to use the bathroom. Our favorite band is in town and being here this early will guarantee us front row. My friend still needs to use the bathroom and we begin asking around where the closest restroom is located. This group of people in front us inform her where the bathroom is, and she runs. I stay behind to make sure we don’t lose our spot. I overhear the conversation between the people in front of me and I immediately gain interest. I join in and I’m eager to learn something new. I become friendly with Mary, Don and Anne. They continue their conversation on the writing process. “Most of us are trained English teachers by studying a product: writing” Don begins I join in and ask, “how you do you guys go about your own writing?” Anne responds, “I let my mind wonder.” Mary says “In the beginning, when there are zero pages, you have to cheer yourself into cranking stuff out, even if its later lands on the cutting room floor. “We have to be patient and wait, and wait, and wait.” Don replies “So, try learning how to cut out the dull parts” Mary adds “So, with your students, how do you see their writing? I know with my own writing I find myself fitting unnecessary sentences in.” I ask “I find that beginners always try to fit their whole lives into ten pages, and they always write blatantly about themselves.” Anne replies I ask, “How do you guys go about explaining the writing process?” Don says “The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: pre-writing, writing, and rewriting” Mary explains “Every writer I know who’s worth a damn spends way more time “losing” than “winning”’ “Because I have been writing for so long, I would eventually let myself trust the process… sort of, more or less” Anne explains
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Inspiration"Step into a scene and let it drip from your fingertips"- MJ Bush Archives
December 2018
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