A Posting

It was my intention to post weekly.  And here it is Monday and I am posting.  I had an essay ready to post, one I wrote on my heart attack that occurred nearly two years ago.  I liked it.  I gave it to Suzette to read.  Suzette  has a degree in English Literature from UC Berkeley or Cal as they call it up here and an MFA from the New School in San Francisco.  Like a musician who can read and write music, she knows what makes good literature and when she performs herself, she writes poems, it is beautiful.  And she’s willing to read what I write and say positive things about it. 

She read my piece; she said she liked it but that it’s too factual, not enough narrative, it doesn’t feel like I’m telling a story.  I have a degree in English Literature from UCLA.  But my degree unlike Suzette’s  was the last step to a course that started when I was in the first reading group in primary school.  For me it was less a degree in Literature than it was a degree in Reading.  I never quite understood threads, arcs, themes, leitmotifs and all that stuff.  I just like reading and I wish I could write. 

My writing doesn’t satisfy me.  It’s not the story telling I enjoy reading, it doesn’t have the artistry I admire. But I think of myself as being good at taking direction.  I’m willing to try something new and see if it works.  I’ve learned a lot of things I didn’t expect to be able to do with that attitude.  So if Suzette is willing to suggest I’m willing to listen though I'm feeling stumped on how to add that sense of narrative to my writing.    

I was trained to write police reports: I saw, he said, this happened, this time, this place, only the facts, no opinion, no conclusions.  I have to admit it didn’t take a lot of effort to train me to be pedestrian, calm, and factual.  It suits me.  It seems like it ought to be good writing, but it isn’t.  Too dry.  What did you think?  How did it feel?  What was going on with you?  Explain this. 

So I’m trying to incorporate these suggestions into my essays.  I’m trying something different, learning a new step, a new skill.   I have the phrase in my head, “ Writers write, good writers revise.”  So I’m revising my essay. 

In the meantime I’ll share something I heard on the radio last Friday.  Garrison Keillor on his radio program Writers Alamanac talked about E.L. Doctorow and said, “E.L. Doctorow once asked about his writing routine, said here’s how it goes.  I’m up at the stroke of 10 or 10:30.  I have breakfast and read the papers and then it’s lunch time.  Then maybe a little nap after lunch, and out to the gym, and before I know it it’s time to have a drink.”