The focus of my blog will be on the writing process and the steps taken to complete a good piece of writing. I will be speaking to three very prominent writers, Don Murray, Mary Karr, and Anne Lamott. We will discuss how we as writers use certain skills and techniques we learned and developed through our experiences with writing
It was a bitter cold January night in Pennsylvania, I was making my way down the street and stumbled upon a small mom and pop cafe. I thought to myself this would be a great place to get some coffee, relax, and warm up for a little. As I approached the door I noticed a gentleman and two women sitting at a table together in the back. I sat down at the bar I took a sip of my piping hot coffee and spilled a bit on my shirt, I proceeded to the bathroom in the back of the cafe and overheard the three people speaking about writing. I then noticed who they were, three of my favorite writers! As I came back from the bathroom I approached their table both nervous yet excited to speak to them. I said “Hey, I am a huge fan and a writer myself I overheard your guys conversation. Do you mind if I join?”. All three of them were thrilled to run into a fellow writer and fan so they said “yes”. We began to talk about how to kick off a piece of writing the correct way so ideas keep flowing as you write, Don said to me “ 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.” I had an understanding for what he just said so I replied by saying “So what you mean is that you must have a full understanding of what it is you are going to use to write not only what it is you are specifically going to write?” They simultaneously nodded their heads to the fact that I was spot on with my interpretation. Mary then added, “Every writer I know who’s worth a damn spends way more time “losing” than “winning”.” I then said “That may be true for some but I think we may have to agree to disagree because I feel as if every small win in a piece of writing means a lot more than the seemingly never ending writer’s block or revision process hitches ever are”. Anne then said that “We all feel like we are pulling teeth”. I said “you’re exactly right because writing is not just about running to the final product, it is about slowly but surely going through the writing process to complete a meaningful piece of writing, yet you wish it was as easy as just running straight through.” We then began to talk about how you can correctly and beautifully include distinct and objective detail in your writing. Mary began by explaining her experiences that helped her as an aspiring writer by saying “Reading through history cultivates in a writer a standard of quality higher than the marketplace.” She meant that how writers explain history is some of the most detail oriented writing you can read. Don added that “Prewriting is everything that takes place before the first draft. Prewriting usually takes about 85 percent of the writer’s time.” I replied with “I always try to gather what detail I plan to add in my writing during that part of the process. This is exactly where you begin your brainstorming for what details you would like to add inside of your plot or dialogue.” Anne began to say that when she started writing she realized that “All I had to do was write a really shitty first draft, of, say the opening paragraph. And no one was going to see it”. She was explaining how you can develop new and better detail through trial and error, it is a full proof part of the process because you don’t have to stress about someone critiquing your writing because you’re the only one who can read it. As the cafe began to close, and our coffee cups ran dry we had a final discussion about the topic of what is the endgame of the writing process? How to correctly get there with an exemplary piece of writing. Anne said “What I do is to work over a piece until it feels just about right, and then I send it to one of these two friends”, two of her knowledgeable writer friends. I said to her “ I do the same thing, once I am comfortable enough with a piece of writing I will send it to a friend for proofreading and constructive criticism.” Don responded and said to Anne “You should have the opportunity to write all the drafts necessary for him to discover what he has to say on this particular subject.” He understood that I was a sponge soaking in every word they said, like I was a student of theirs just trying to learn writing from some of my favorite writers. Mary then finished the conversation talking about the relevance of revision “Revision is the secret to their troubles—and yours.” What she meant by this is that once you learn how to revise yourself then you can revise as you go, with less hassle at the end of your writing. The owner came by our table to tell us that it was closing time, I thanked Don, Marry, and Anne for their wise words of advice and for forging a camaraderie between us as if we all showed up to the cafe together pre planning our long and in depth conversation about the writing process.
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