Quotable: Eula Biss
In going through my backlog of newspapers, I came across an article in the Trib from 9-6-20. It was written by Christopher Borrelli about Eula Biss, an essayist who lives in Evanston. He quotes her early in the article and what she says speaks to me as a writer.
"I have written and erased a hundred sentences here, trying and failing to articulate something that I can sense but not yet speak," she says in 'White Debt."
Oh gosh, yes. So many times I have sat here sitting, thinking, gesticulating, knowing I want or need to say something but I'm not quite sure how to phrase it. Words come to mind but they're not quite right; they don't capture exactly what to say and how to say it. It can be very frustrating.
I'm definitely a "words mean things" sort of person. I want people to speak as clearly and concisely about certain things and ideas as possible, in order to get their point across correctly. When that doesn't happen, misunderstandings do. And when the subject matter is important, that goes double, yet at times it seems we relay the information half as well.
"I have written and erased a hundred sentences here, trying and failing to articulate something that I can sense but not yet speak," she says in 'White Debt."
Oh gosh, yes. So many times I have sat here sitting, thinking, gesticulating, knowing I want or need to say something but I'm not quite sure how to phrase it. Words come to mind but they're not quite right; they don't capture exactly what to say and how to say it. It can be very frustrating.
I'm definitely a "words mean things" sort of person. I want people to speak as clearly and concisely about certain things and ideas as possible, in order to get their point across correctly. When that doesn't happen, misunderstandings do. And when the subject matter is important, that goes double, yet at times it seems we relay the information half as well.