rainydae’s Reviews > Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life > Status Update

“Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her. (Although when I mentioned this to my priest friend Tom, he said you can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.)”

“writing can give you what having a baby can give you: it can get you to start paying attention, can help you soften, can wake you up.”

Write down all the stuff you swore you'd never tell another soul. What can you recall about your birthday parties the disasters, the days of grace, your relatives faces lit up by birthday candles? Scratch around for details: what people ate, listened to, wore-those terrible petaled swim caps, the men's awful trunks, the cocktail dress your voluptuous aunt wore that was so slinky

start w ur childhood:
Who were your teachers, your classmates? What did you wear? Who and what were you jealous of? Now branch out a little. Did your family take vacations during those years? Get these down on paper. Do you remember how much more presentable everybody else's family looked?
Do you remember how when you'd be floating around in an inner tube in the river… you’d scratch new welts? And how…”

“I devoured books like a person taking vitamins, afraid that otherwise I would remain this gelatinous narcissist, with no possibility of ever becoming thoughtful, or ever being taken seriously. I became a socialist, for five weeks. Then the bus ride to my socialist meetings wore me out.”