Write Like Your Heart Speaks

The first day I began writing last week, May 2nd - I mean really writing, I've been talking about writing a book since I was seven or nine - Ruby said, "What time are you starting?"

"Today?"

"What time are you starting?"

"Alright, 2:00."

I then commenced to begin the Great American Memoir. It was creaking under weight of expectations, of audience with capital A. Ughhh.

So I started journaling my frustration, scribbling:

"I marvel at how Adya can speak about Truth in public, it feels so intimate. So intimate."

I pause.

"Write this like a letter in story form I am leaving a friend. Make love to the page, says Jack [um, he's like my mentor Kerouac is], so to speak, since sex is on your mind."

In Sri Lanka there is this tradition, a carry over from colonial days, of bed tea (like serving it wee hours of morning before the tea plantation owners got rolling out in field, imagine the servant knocking on your door with the tea service on a tray) and tea at around 4 p.m. when the sun slinks low above the beach. That's the times I've set aside to write. Anything else is extra, icing on the cake.

I've been writing every day. Nonstop. Ruby doesn't have to goad me anymore. I just needed to begin. It's pouring out. A done deal, this book. A done deal.

Morals of this tale:

1. Find mutual inspiration partners whom are in tune with you, you with them, and each with the universal wavelength. You cannot do this alone because it's bigger than you. You are dying for excuses to not start. And starting is everything. From my Edgy is Hot post: "Po Bronson in his bestselling What Should I Do With My Life? talks about the establishment of the Writers Grotto, a workspace where the creators encouraged each other to take creative risks. In isolation, Bronson confesses, he might be tempted to chuck it and take that editing job after all."
2. Ask for help when you're stuck, or when it sucks. I find journaling stream-of-conscious style suits me in getting in touch with an inner wellspring that allows one to know what we know.
3. A very close friend, actually another mutual inspiration partner, is pitching Business Week on his story. I read his first draft. "Write exactly like you speak," I email back. He's such a passionate, articulate speaker who paints a picture of the village in Africa or the non-profit in Ecuador vividly in person. I'm there. I'm ready to sign up when he talks. Don't write to impress or to be lauded in the academic journal. Facts should come alive through specific examples and stories. Read it aloud. If you can't imagine talking like that, get thee back to the writing desk.
4. Not passionate? Heck, that's another problem altogether. Ask yourself why not? Why hold back?
5. Find a time that works for you. So what if it's just borrowed time between the kid's dentist appointment and soccer game. An hour a day will do. Can be to do your art or to work on that new innovative (meaning you haven't got a clue yet) marketing campaign you've put off.
6. No excuses. I'm using the opportunity of not having a reliable working car right this minute to write furiously on public transport.

Comments

[Colleen Wainwright]

Alright, Evelyn! And your writing is so clear and strong as you do this!

Sometimes, just making yourself write makes your writing even better.

And I'm all for vomiting on the page when necessary. Do you ever do that Natalie Goldberg exercise where it's like 'sprints' on the page--just nonsense sentences of whatever comes up? Those are pretty fun, and great to come back and marvel over, too!

[Yvonne DiVita]

To me, writing and reading are synonymous with talking. The problem with talking, though, is that sometimes the words come out wrong and you can't take them back. Or, you blurt stuff out without pausing to think, then have to explain yourself. When you write, you have an opportunity to go back later on and edit appropriately. Not censor or hold back, just make sure the words you chose are the right words.

I'm so glad you've started this at last, Evelyn. I imagine you to be one of the great writers of our day. Truly.