Saturday, September 7, 2013

Writing About an Ordinary Life



We need to know about ordinary childhoods.  We want to know about your cough and that your mother/father was there to administer the syrup.  What kind of a bottle did it come in?  What did it taste like?  Did you want to spit it out or did the experience give your fragile life a foundation?

The important thing is to go below the cliches to touch the texture of your experience.  Your mind is hungry to be alive.  You give us that gift by laying down your true mind on the page.  We read it and you open up fields of our own imagination.

Life passes.  Thank you for telling us about your time.

Paraphrased from Old Friend from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg, p.121

catherine@catherinealexander.net
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1 comment:

  1. Jan BowmanSeptember 25, 2013 at 11:55 AM

    Yes. Thanks for the reminder. This is a wonderful book and the quote goes nicely with something I tell my writing class.

    ReplyDelete

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