The Commitment to Write

By Laurie Epps

Dear Readers,

I am so sorry that I didn't get my Monday Morning Book Club column up. I've had a lot of family issues come up that demanded my attention, so please continue to come back every week for my column. If you follow my blog, Facebook, or Twitter accounts, you'll find that I'm changing directions a bit professionally. I'm encouraged and enthusiastic for these changes to unfold. Stay tuned to my Keeping Up with Laurie column on Sundays to follow all of that.

However, I will continue to work on the craft of writing both educationally in college and on my writing book column on Mondays. We are still reading along with Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones. I hope if you are new, you'll just pick up the book and follow along with us. I'd love to hear your comments and ideas regarding writing along with your own experiences.

Blessings,
Laurie

Why Do I Write?
pp. 122-125

Response: The hardest paper I wrote in college thus far was an why I am a writer. So I spent five pages of grueling soul searching and little research to say essentially, "because I am."

Goldberg suggests that we take a personal inventory periodically to answer this question. The answers will vary, but yet all be correct and true. This will help  us stay routed in our craft. 

So why are you a writer? Ask yourself today, and share your answer in the comments section below.

Every Monday
pp. 126-127

Every Monday, Goldberg remembers making an appointment with her friend Kate at a little cafe to write. They would change up the location and even once met in a different city an hour away. What's the key here is that they are making the commitment to write.

How fortunate for them to have each other for accountability purposes. They would meet and catch up. This would then lead to a topic to write about like today we will write about nature or whatever. But I think what is important is the commitment to yourself, your friendship, and to your writing.

Do you have an accountability partner? How did you go about getting one? Please share this with me because I need to get one myself.

More About Mondays
pp. 128-129

On a particular Monday, Goldberg and Kate sat in Kate's house huddled in her kitchen while pretending to smoke. As they butted out cigarette after cigarette, the pair talk about how we write about characters: our heroes and heroines are strong and courageous, yet as people we are wimps.

Think of Hemingway, he wrote about his character Santiago and the sea. Santiago had the patience of a saint, yet Hemingway himself was abusive and drank too much alcohol. Goldberg suggests that maybe we should bring some of our characters traits into our personal lives to become admirable and unique.

Spontaneous Writing Booths
pp. 130-132

While living in Minnesota, Goldberg used to have a writing booth at a bazaar. She had her own "Poems on Demand" booth and would write about any topic within reason. Goldberg claims it was good practice.

Fabled poets in Japan would write beautiful haiku's, place them in a bottle and let them sail downstream into the world. As writer's we need to do that too. Write about it, and then unleash it onto an unsuspecting world.

Laurie Epps is a senior at Anderson University majoring in Creative Writing. Already Laurie is most published as a feature article writer, essayist, and poet. A seeker of beauty and world traveler, Laurie hopes to grow into a career in travel writing illuminating the many stories that make us human despite our differences. Currently, Laurie also has a Thoughtful Thursday column dedicated to the fine art of poetry and a column called Fiction to Film that is an accompaniment to English 365 at Anderson University.