Attic reportstrictly editorial
April 10, 2007
Class notes. They remind me of why I never took notes. This in turn reminds me of my GPA, which I would rather not remember. We do however remember our contribution to the Bethesda Writers Center (bother the apostrophe, it's on vacation), no? Every Tuesday at half past ten from last week until Memorial Day.
Two pages of notes in reasonably neat handwriting, an accomplishment in and of itself, though scarcely worth $300, but I digress before I begin. Not promising. Among the scribbles —scarcely the drunk Pakistani wandering across the street that Bill once described (note to self, must find alternate and elegant image)— several ideas, which tripped over themselves and each other as they occurred to me in rapid-fire sequence.
Mardi Gras portrait ...
That much is clear. I refer to Nin's of 1905, now being restored by the National Gallery conservator. The accompanying text is not clear. "Patchwork story — snap, snap, snap — begin with restoration?" What on earth, I wonder, was I getting at.
Tennis court brunch post-Mimi ... telephone call from nephew ...
This one is clear. Even now, perhaps thanks to this cold and windy April, the match played the day after Mimi's service is clear. Bloody Mary's for the onlookers, reasonably a propos.
The notes that follow are strictly transcriptions of her talk. She (her name doesn't come to mind) recommends Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street, Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, and Wally Lamb's This Much I Know Is True. Most of her references are about writing what I describe as journal essays, personal experiences rather than historic family experiences. This doesn't seem to matter. The idea, she explains, is that such stories are definitely our take on what has happened. Memoir, she continues, is character driven rather than plot driven. I think, oddly, of Barbara Vine and her handful of psychological mysteries, so unlike her Ruth Rendell detective mystery series.
Find the emotional background to the idea to write. Identify the driving emotion. Write through the truth for strength of the piece. Revise to soften, but only afterwards, not while writing. Do not bypass the truth of the story. Build scenes, even if they're tangents. Follow what pulls, there's a reason for the pull.
Odd lines on their own ... circular motion to quiet the left brain ... fight or flight ... expectation versus destination ... knowing what to do with your feelings, being able to put a cap on it ... if you hear voices (she quotes) take notes.
She mentions Rebecca McClanaghan (easy to spell as the Ingles and White Marsh come to mind) and The Riddle Song, writings based on place. When tackling unresolved questions or issues, when a person is dead, for example, list the topics to cover, then circle the most important one. Find out why it's the most important. I add question marks in the margin next to two notes to self.
...(weekends) Bill ... Mimi (xmas) .. Wesley & Theo ...