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“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”
-Jodi Picoult
-Jodi Picoult
This post contains information about our take on the writing process discussed by Anne Lammot, Don Murray, Mary Karr and I. How theirs really no right or wrongs, just a process in which you trust enough that gets you to start to finish. (ALARM goes off at 7:30) It’s time to get up already? After I just closed my eyes, it feels less than 10 minutes ago. I lay in bed for another 20 minutes with comfort smothering me. I finally stop procrastinating and get up, it is now 8:00 class starts in an hour and I still don’t have my Wawa smoothie in my hand. I throw my clothes on, brush my teeth, attend to my daily routine then head out for school. On my way their I quickly stop at Wawa not caring how late I will be waiting for this smoothie but it's always worth it. I hop out the car and head inside to order then I wait. But as I stand there and wait I began getting pulled in by the impulse candy i'm standing over. I bend down to start grabbing things that I don’t need like Skittles, M&M's, Lollipops, and Snickers. As I come back up I see a lady in front me, she lends her hand out for me to shake and introduces herself as Mary Karr. She looks down at my hands full of junk food and chuckles.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Naim.” -I reply and introduce myself with my hand. and I begin to walk away, but before I could even get a step in she opens her mouth to speak and invites me over to her table outside. I begin to tell her how I have class in 30 minutes and my smoothie still isn’t ready. She refuses to take no for an answer and continues to persuade. I dislike my first class anyway so after standing there for about 5 minutes I give in but the second I open my mouth to say “Yes.” “Order number #135, Chocolate Cookie Cheesecake?!"- My order is ready. I walk over to pay for it then Mary and I, head to the table outside. As we approach the table I see two people already sitting there bickering they begin to turn around and you would not believe who I see. Anne Lammot, and Don Murray in the flesh. I quickly introduce myself, as do they after me then Anne offers me a seat. “Thank you, so what were you guys talking about?” -I ask. “We were discussion the writing process and I wanted to know your take on it.” Mary replied. “Well…. I do a couple things to get started, but it’s nowhere near easy.” “Oh I completely agree we never said it was, writing is painful—it’s ‘fun’ only for novices, the very young, and hacks.” “Interesting, I do think it's fun but not because i'm young, I’m nowhere near a novice and I’m pretty sure I´m not hacking. This is what I WANT to do. They say you should love what you do and I very much do. When I write music it has taken me to some very, very dark places, which I don’t mind being because I feel like the darker the memory the brighter the outcome and that goes for writing in general.” “Elaborate more on that.” -Don inputs “You know, the secret things you wish nobody find out because you think it's embarrassing, or nobody will understand, you’re thinking about everything else but the positive. Which is... You want people to talk about these things. You want people talking about you because once they start it's hard to get them too stop. If you enjoy publicity of course, sorry I have no words for those who don’t. Me personally I think the world will just expand on technology so its 80% better to jump on now before the government finds another way to ruin something. Whether it's good or bad, it affects someone in the world and gives them comfort knowing their not alone. & or…” “Can I stop you right there.?” -Don interrupts. “This is not a question of correct or incorrect, of etiquette or custom. This is a matter of far higher importance. The writer, as he writes, is making ethical decisions. He doesn’t test his words by a rule book, but by life. He uses language to reveal the truth to himself…” -He looks over at the Mary and Anne… “Or herself, so that they can tell it to others. It is an exciting, eventful, evolving process. “I’m glad you mentioned that Don,” -Mary interrupts. “For me, the last 20 percent of a book’s improvement takes 95 percent of the effort, all in the editing” “You know what my old pal Mark Twain use to say the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.´ What were simply asking here is your process, were not asking for your secret. See the difference?¨ -Mary says. As I listen to all three of them speak on their takes of the writing process I begin to evaluate what I just said. ¨I feel like I answered your question did I not?"- I ask with confusion, ¨What gets me going is the thought of knowing whatever I write has a meaning to me before anything else. One of my favorite rappers J.Cole said. Rhyme patterns are nothing without meanings to the words. A lot of rappers can do those flows, but the raps aren't really about anything - which is cool sometimes, but to have the flow and the message is one of my favorite things.' Now to piggy-back off that for a minute and say its only cool when you already have the meaningful art behind it to back yourself up. That´s how I view all aspects of writing and that´s how I go about it. I don´t care who you are until you inspire me in someway.¨ ¨Don you were on the right track earlier explain on if we was to teach the process to Naim?¨ -Anne interrupts. ¨What is the process we should teach? It is the process of discovery through language. It is the process of exploration of what we should know and what we feel about what we know through language. It is the process of using language to learn about our world, to evaluate what we learn about our world, to communicate what we learn about our world. Naim´s brain might be frozen from all those smoothies.¨ Anne laughs- “You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way, even if it was frozen.¨ I´m confused on if I´m being ´Punk´d´ or something. I begin to look around for the cameras and then remember ¨I´m supposed to be in school right now. I mention to them that I have to get to school before my second class starts.¨ Anne and Don was not aware Mary kidnapped me, or maybe it´s because they didnt know I was in school. They reacted as if I just told them a secret. ¨Alright lets wrap this up."-Anne implied. ¨We were just teasing earlier, like Don said there´s no right or wrong answer here. Its your process. You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way¨ As I sit here and listen to all of them speaking but I begin blocking them out because seeing the purpose in this entire chat can actually help me become a better writer. I started seeing me on stage, getting awards, thanking everybody, screaming GOODNIGHT and then crowd surfing, but only this time the crowd moved out the way and I go face first to the ground. -BOOM ¨Naim, NAim.... NAIM! Since you want to sleep in class you can answer number 22 on the board.¨ -My eyes slowly opening, I looked up and theirs my teacher. ¨Oh my god...¨ -I look around the room only to see my classmates staring at me. ¨I was sleep?¨
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Naim BlizzardThis blog is a mirror of my mind, expressing my thoughts, thoughts turn into emotions, emotions turn into actions. ArchivesCategories |