Juli
Kendall's
2004-05
READING/WRITING
WORKSHOP JOURNAL
Entry #21
Down Drafts and Up Drafts: How I Write
I want to write like Anne Lamott did in her book, bird by bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. According to the Los Angeles Times, she is "A warm, generous and hilarious guide through the writer's world and its treacherous swamps." The New York Times Book Review says she gives, "Superb writing advice...hilarious, helpful and provocative." But leave it to the Seattle Times to really get it right: "A gift to all of us mortals who write or ever wanted to write...sidesplittingly funny, patiently wise and alternately cranky and kind — a reveille to get off our duffs and start writing now, while we still can." Even though I haven't spent much of my life writing, mostly just the last four years, I always wanted to write. In my early years, it seemed like people either loved what I wrote or hated it, and I let that keep me from sitting down and delving in. My style is very loose and talky which just drives some people crazy. But I don't think it would bother Anne Lamott at all. While there is some profanity and a few graphic comments in her book, her friendly, "no holds barred" style has really helped me as a writer. I've taken some of her advice to heart. What she says about writing drafts gives me a strategy for getting started on my own writing.Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. (It) was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."
- Anne Lamott writing in bird by bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
My kids have enjoyed giving me feedback on my writing. The consensus seems to be that they enjoy reading stories about my childhood and growing up. It turns out that Anne's advice on topic selection is right on. Toward the end of the book, she speaks directly to the reader who's trying to write — that's me — urging us to get real.
I went to take my driver's test when I was sixteen years old. I wanted to get my license, and I had been practicing a lot driving around with my father. When I got to the DMV, Dad was with me. He needed to get back to work, so he left me there to take my written test and my driving test on my own. That meant that I had to drive the car home. But what if I didn't pass my test?
I stood in the line for several minutes to get to the exam window. I'll never forget the expression on the examiner's face as she pointedly asked, "So did you drive yourself down here? Where's the adult?"
"Now what do I do?" I thought to myself as panic closed in.
So, bird by bird, I'm trying to become a better writer and so are the kids. We work together to help each other, and as we do, we come to know each other better as fellow travelers on the writing path.
If something inside you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don't worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about being absent or fraudulent. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you're a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act — truth is always subversive.
Juli Kendall is co-author of a new book from Stenhouse Publishers, Making Sense: Small-Group Comprehension Lessons for English Language Learners.
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