Shitty First Drafts
(Actually, this is from Joan Didion's "Why I Write," but I like Anne Lamott's title better.)
"All I knew then was what I couldn't do. All I knew then was what I wasn't, and it took me some years to discover who I was.
Which was a writer.
By which I mean not a "good" writer or a "bad" writer but simply a writer, a person whose most absorbed and passionate hours are spent arranging words on pieces of paper. Had my credentials been in order I would never have become a writer. had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write. I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear... What is going on in these pictures in my mind?"
I know that I'll be frustrated again when I can't find a way to say what I'm feeling, when I have something to big to express, but can't find a way to get it out... but, I still think I'll feel a little better about it after finding that. I guess I don't need unlimited access to my own mind, as long as I have a journal and a few extra hours...
Damn.
I never have a few extra hours.
"All I knew then was what I couldn't do. All I knew then was what I wasn't, and it took me some years to discover who I was.
Which was a writer.
By which I mean not a "good" writer or a "bad" writer but simply a writer, a person whose most absorbed and passionate hours are spent arranging words on pieces of paper. Had my credentials been in order I would never have become a writer. had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write. I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear... What is going on in these pictures in my mind?"
I know that I'll be frustrated again when I can't find a way to say what I'm feeling, when I have something to big to express, but can't find a way to get it out... but, I still think I'll feel a little better about it after finding that. I guess I don't need unlimited access to my own mind, as long as I have a journal and a few extra hours...
Damn.
I never have a few extra hours.