While digging through an old notebook, I found a yellow index card. It's a list that I copied out of my journal, from an entry dated January 23, 2003. The entry says:
"Reading Beyond the Words by Bonni Goldberg---she has lots of good ideas/different perspectives on the writing life. Yesterday, I read her section on 'Reasons to Write.' I haven't felt much reason to write lately, mostly because I've been discouraged about the lack of an audience. Why speak if no one is listening?"
Here's the list that followed, which I tucked into my novel notebook, so I could look at it when I was faltering:
To save your eyes, I'll retype my scrawled writing.
Why I Want to Write
1) To ask questions
2) To find connections
3) To respond to beauty/mystery
4) To enjoy the thrill of paradox, of struggling to contain two ideas at once
5) To be intimate with the world/with other readers and writers
6) To remember my life
P.S. Bonni Goldberg is involved in some very interesting projects.
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By: Sara Lewis Holmes,
on 4/30/2008
Blog: Read Write Believe (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Rebecca,
on 10/24/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Sara Lewis Holmes,
on 4/30/2008
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2 Comments on Still true, five years later, last added: 4/30/2008
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By: Rebecca,
on 10/24/2007
Blog: OUPblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Poetry, Art, bible, John, A-Featured, A-Editor's Picks, oup, oupblog, craziness, rage, prophecies, meek, stapled, shakes, unforeseeable, Brehm, Add a tag
One of the best things about working at Oxford is all the brilliant coworkers I have. A while ago I found out that our copywriter, John Brehm is also a wonderful poet. Naturally, I harassed him until he agreed to share a poem with you! Today we are honored to publish “Prophecies: Right Here, Right Now.” John Brehm is also the author of Sea of Faith, which won the 2004 Brittingham Prize from the University of Wisconsin Press. Recent poems have appeared in Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Boulevard, The Missouri Review, and elsewhere. John is a freelance copywriter who works part-time for OUP. (more…)
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I like your six things,#4 especially. My own list would include self-obsessed stuff like "validation," "because I'd rather write than speak," etc.
Wow to #6. I feel that sometimes, which is just frustrating when you have little writing talent (like I do -- it's true, not self-deprecation. This is why I'm the spectator in the gallery instead).
I'd love to write a post one day about why I blog and would love to hear others' thoughts on it. I ask myself that all the time, since if I didn't stop to blog about books I read, I'd have twice as much time to read even more books. The most honest answer is kind of in line with what Jama mentioned: validation. Or maybe even a sort of arrogance. "I think there are lots of bad books for children out there. Here are the ones I think are good. Read them."
Hey, at least I'm being honest about it, huh?
Jules, 7-Imp (who also likes your #3 -- sometimes I ask myself: Why read any other kind of book?)
What a wonderful find. Thanks for sharing. It's so encouraging for audience-less people like myself.
Thank you for sharing this.