Bird by Bird
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
so much of writing is about sitting down and doing it every day, and so much of it is about getting into the custom of taking in everything that comes along. Seeing it all is grist for the mill. This could be a very comforting habit, like biting your nails instead of being scared all the time. You detach, watch what goes on and consider it creatively. Instead of feeling panicked by those low lifes on the subway, you notice all the details of their clothes and bearing and speech. Maybe you never quite get to the point where you think. Ah, so that's what a gun looks like from the Seine. But you take in all you can as a child would without the atmospheric smog of most grown up vision. And all the while you're writing away editing, revising, trying new leads, new endings until finally, at some point, you want some feedback. You want other people to read it. You want to know what they think. We're social animals, and we're trying to communicate with others of our species. And up to now you have been alone in the hole getting your work done. You have no idea whether it sings to anyone but you. You wouldn't spend a month on an oil painting and then mummify it. You would hang it where people could see it. So the thought of a writing class or a writing conference may cross your mind. Blooming writers really do not know what to expect when they sign up for a workshop for a creative writing class, someone toe, learn to write or to write better. Others have been writing a great deal for a long time and want some feedback. These are realistic goals. A certain kind of person finds writing classes and workshops to be like camp and just wants to hang out with all the other people, maybe with a writer he or she respects to get and give response and encouragement and to hear how other people tell their stories. Some people want other people with whom to share the disappointments and rejection letters and doldrums. Ah, lot of people like to work on other people's writing because it helps them figure out what they themselves love in a written word as well as what doesn't work for them. And others want feedback from people who aren't quite friends or editors, but who will be realistic and honest and helpful. But a lot of people come to my workshops or classes secretly hoping that I will have read their submission and absolutely flipped. I will take them aside after class and tell them that all the story needs for them is to put a little spin on the ending, Maybe short in the scene with Cam E and the Ducks and that, and then we'll send it off to my agent or The New Yorker. Or maybe we'll just send it straight to Sonny Mata. We'll fax it to Sonny. He would want it that way. But I tell them that this is probably not going to happen every so often at a rating conference, people get taken aside by wonderful writers who love their story and help them in some pivotal way. Every so often, during one of my workshops, I'll take someone aside and say, You're very good work on this another six months and then give me a call and we'll take it from there. But this is rare. Mostly, what I do is listen and encourage and tell people will. Writing is like for me on a daily basis and what helps me and what doesn't I tell people all the things I like about their peace, how wonderful the atmosphere is, for instance, and the language and also point out where they got all tangled up in their own process. We, the other students and I can be like a doctor to whom you take your work for a general check up. We can give you a place to show up on a little benevolent pressure, which we hope will help you finish stories and sections. We can give you some respect because we know what it takes.