Ellen Gilchrist's Writing Advice

Here is some writing advice/help from the writer, Ellen Gilchrist. It is from her excellent book, The Writing Life (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi; 2005):

--"The way you start writing is by writing. Over an over again I have proven this to myself but I always forget it the next time. I always believe I will never write again." (p. 65)

--"This is exactly what my students tell themselves that blocks them from writing. They tell themselves I DON'T KNOW IF IT WILL BE ANY GOOD OR NOT because it's true. They don't know and the only way they can find out is to do it." (pp. 66-67)

--"I believe young writers should be careful about what they read. I have read great poetry all my life." (p. 69)

--"Writing is rewriting. Write what you know. The reward has to be within yourself. Tell the truth about what you know and what you feel. Find out things. Read great literature. Then write." (p.79)

Better Days Ahead, Part 2

I had recently met with some friends and I was delightfully surprised at what some of them said. They said that having a new president has bettered their moods and they feel more optimistic. In a number of ways I can relate.

I do sense much better days ahead in the U.S.

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Better Days Ahead

It is cautiously hoped that better days are in view for America. I've read where the incoming president has made an ambitious attempt to better our national economy, and more importantly, to help needy families.

The president we have now, and only for a few more days, seemed less worried about suffering families than feathering his family's nest. Yet, that may be all for naught. The number of investigations into Trump has been growing and when he leaves office, I think, he will get his just deserts.

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Missing Trump

I think people will be suffering from PTSD--Post-Trump Stress Disorder--once President Trump leaves off. By that I mean that the daily frivolities and daily dents to Democracy will go by the wayside. As much as he hurt our country, a small part of us will still miss him (I have a feeling Freud, Jung, and Fromm would concur).

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Lisa Montgomery

I wrote about Lisa Montgomery a while back. She is the first woman up for federal execution in almost 70 years. They have a new date set for her. The date is before Joe Biden takes office in 2021 (who is against the death penalty). 

I still find it amazing that our government would execute a woman who is possibly developmentally disabled and had horrific abuse heaped upon her as she was growing up. 

It seems like there has to be a better way. It makes me think of what the movie critic Roger Ebert  once said. He was talking about a woman who was a serial killer who suffered many types of abuse when she was a child. His remark, in effect, was: what we do to children in secret, they will do openly to society.

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