Gorgeous prose. I gulped this one down. Some highlights:
"These handwritten words in the pages of my journal confirm that from an early age I have expeGorgeous prose. I gulped this one down. Some highlights:
"These handwritten words in the pages of my journal confirm that from an early age I have experienced each encounter in my life twice: once in the world, and once again on the page."
"She was a Coyote, a trickster, a woman deflecting an interest in her to an interest in others. In my mother's presence, you were heard. And she always left knowing a lot more about you than you knew about her. She preferred it that way. She was warm and gracious in public, but she was a master at maintaining her privacy. Intimacy was on her terms."
"Ravens are standing on a pile of bones–black typeface on white paper picking an idea clean. It's what I do each time I sit down to write. What else are we to do with our obsessions? Do they feed us? Or are we simply scavenging our memories for one gleaming image to tell the truth of what is hunting us?"
"How do you contain within a domestic relationship a howling respect for the wild in each other?"...more
**spoiler alert** I don't think she'll ever be the writer for me, but Elizabeth Gilbert has a great attitude. **spoiler alert** I don't think she'll ever be the writer for me, but Elizabeth Gilbert has a great attitude. ...more
This is probably one of five books that ever made me laugh out loud a lot (others are Bossypants and The Code of the Woosters). Some illustrative bitsThis is probably one of five books that ever made me laugh out loud a lot (others are Bossypants and The Code of the Woosters). Some illustrative bits: "Luckily I was still drinking at the time." "But be careful: if your intuition says that your story sucks, make sure it really is your intuition and not your mother." "I worry that Jesus drinks himself to sleep when he hears me talk like this." The best part is on how to make sure you don't get sued for libel, but I won't deny you the pleasure of coming across it yourself. But amidst her irreverence, Lamott's words are moving and life-affirming in a great way. Like when she explains why it's so important to find your own voice and tell the truth: "The redemption in Beckett is so small: in the second act of Waiting for Godot, the barren dying twig of a tree has put out a leaf. Just one leaf. It's not much; still Beckett didn't commit suicide. He wrote."
Some of the best writing advice ever, all of which translates into living advice. I wish Anne Lamott was my life coach, but this book suffices....more
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