Thursday, August 13, 2009

Writing Tip #15: Listen to Leonard Cohen's Advice

Spend a full day writing, painstakingly layering in word after word, only to discover that it all needs to go into the trash at the end of the day. The process is agonizing and depressing and…essential.

How do you keep doing it day after day? By accepting the fact that you have to write in order to write. (I'm still working on this.) The great songwriter Leonard Cohen, captured in a documentary by Lian Lunson, said it this way: “You have to write down what you have to abandon. You’ve got to see how it works with the whole thing and then throw it away.”

Monday, August 3, 2009

Question about Writing in School


Why don't our schools embrace creative writing more consistently?

Last week, at the suggestion of a mom, I offered a three-day creative writing workshop for middle schoolers. The seven kids who came to my studio with notebooks and pencils were on fire. The quality of the writing and critiquing was thrilling.

After the class, a mom told me what I feared: During her daughter’s sixth gradeyear there was only one opportunity to write a short story. Why? Is it because it's hard to "grade" creative writing? Is it because making people laugh or cry through your writing isn't on a standardized test? What do you think? And what kind of support can I, as a writer, offer to teachers out there who want to do more? Any ideas?