Friday, June 13, 2008
I'm guessing there's a time
...to read books on writing and that time is not right after you print off your manuscript. I started reading The Writing Life by Annie Dillard yesterday right after I finished printing, and finished it this morning. It was enjoyable enough, but it will be a while before I know how much of it stuck or what might prove useful or inspiring. As I read I kept trying to push away the usual questions I have when faced with a fresh draft, but they wouldn't leave my head. Questions like so now what? How long should I sit on it? Is it time to find some readers and get some feedback? Knowing me, it will likely be a good year or so before I can come up with any answers.
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"There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea." T.S.Eliot
Or in my case a cupcake and tea. :)
Dillard starts out her book with a quote from Goethe that I quite like: "Do not hurry; do not rest."
I found the Dillard book useful in another way, and I wrote 2 poems. One based on a line in her book, and another poem that bounced off the first one.
I find her interesting, but strangely enigmatic. I guess in a good way.
Nice! I like when that happens. Unfortunately no poems came to me. At least not so far. I really think I didn't pick the best time to read it. I'll revisit it sometime down the road.
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