“Scars mark the places where life and sanity were threatened, ordeals endured, wounds opened and closed. They evoke a queasy awe in the best of us. We stare and look away, want to ask what happened but don’t dare broach the subject, as if these patches of mended flesh identified experience beyond the realm of human discourse. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the word ‘scar’ is one letter away from ‘scare.’” --Kat Duff, My Skin, My Sanity
Things I Can’t Write About
“When we are told that something is not to be spoken about, we understand that to mean that this something should not exist—should not, cannot, must not, does not exist. In that moment, our reality and, consequently, our lives are distorted; they become shameful and diminished. In some way, we understand this to mean that we should not exist. To protect ourselves, we, too, begin to speak only of the flat world where everything is safe, commonplace, and agreeable, the very small world about which we can all have consensus. Soon we don’t see the other worlds we once saw, for it is difficult to see what we are forbidden to name.” --Deena Metzger, Writing for Your Life
Now try this exercise from Deena Metzger’s book, Writing for Your Life:
Make a list ... [Continue Reading]
Questions That Have Informed My Life
"The important thing is not to stop questioning." --Albert Einstein
It's the last day of your life. From the vantage point of your deathbed, what five questions have informed your life?
... [Continue Reading]What I Really Know
"Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you're conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader. He or she will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say, in the pictures you have painted, and this decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of." — Anne Lamott
