"Trigger" does not refer to the horse "Trigger" but the warning, though I am only talking about my own triggers, especially cigarettes. So this isn't exactly a warning, but more about writing, and you can probably read this essay without needing to be warned. When I first began teaching the essay, the concept of creative … Continue reading TRIGGER
WRITING
GOOD CRY
My mouth fell open the first time someone asked if my newborn was a "good baby." How do I answer that? Of course he was good, but people really weren't asking about goodness. On any scale of goodness, all babies are good. What they really wanted to know was whether my baby cried or slept. … Continue reading GOOD CRY
LOSS
Blue skies and pouring rain have alternated all day today so we did not get our walk. We were too busy yesterday and needed a break that not involve wind-driven rain. It was meant to be a peaceful day. Driving rain and sunshine pouring past my window at the same time. And then... the news. … Continue reading LOSS
#3 DEBRIEF
Yes, I am writing this part of my Monday post early so that by the time you read it I will be someplace else and doing something other than writing. There, see how I did that? Present tense and future in a single sentence? I ran two miles, only some of it uphill, on Friday … Continue reading #3 DEBRIEF
#2 EXERCISE: DEBRIEF
2. The monster sentence. Begin with a simple short sentence—“I baked bread”—subject verb object—and then turn it into a “monster sentence” of at least 100 words. This exercise is straight out of Stanley Fish's playbook. Use every trick you know to ensure that the sentence is grammatically correct and not a run-on, use long dashes … Continue reading #2 EXERCISE: DEBRIEF
#2 of TEN SENTENCE EXERCISES
Writing Good Nonfiction Sentences… one exercise each Friday. First the necessary introduction. NOTE: several of these exercises are inspired by How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One by Stanley Fish, Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin, and other sources. A good essay has a goal—to convince, delight, enlighten, instruct, warn, or to review and question. … Continue reading #2 of TEN SENTENCE EXERCISES
HOME TURF
Many years ago a famous author commented about the sloppy appearance of women in Washington State, where I went to public schools, Kindergarten through three undergrad degrees. She also talked about Puget Sound, using terminology appropriate to the East coast. Both comments irritated me, but non-locals talking about my corner of the natural world is … Continue reading HOME TURF
PLANNING ATTENTION
Attention is the beginning of devotion.—Mary Oliver Our son Alan and his daughter E.V. wearing the sweater I knit her for Christmas. I had to think hard about what happened in 2021. It was not a terrible year, not even a bad one. "Inconvenient", as a friend suggested in 2020, a year that felt much … Continue reading PLANNING ATTENTION
ALL GOOD THINGS
As I type this post on the morning of the last day of November, I have over 61k written for National Novel Writing Month. The official goal is 50k of a novel. In case you wonder, a typical novel is around 75-80k, but sixty thousand words is regarded by many as the absolute minimum length … Continue reading ALL GOOD THINGS
AT THE KITCHEN TABLE
Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy Harjo (1951- ) The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live. The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on. We chase chickens or dogs away from it. … Continue reading AT THE KITCHEN TABLE
IMPERFECT PATIENCE 