When the body’s weary
and words won’t come
take a nap
take a walk
snap some pictures
and chew on words
that nourish your writer’s heart.
The line of words fingers your own heart. It invades arteries, and enters the heart on a flood of breath; it presses the moving rims of thick valves; it palpates the dark muscle strong as horses, feeling for something, it knows not what. A queer picture beds in the muscle like a worm encysted–some film of feeling, some song forgotten, a scene in a dark bedroom, a corner of the woodlot, a terrible dining room, that exalting sidewalk; these fragments are heavy with meaning. The line of words peels them back, dissects them out. Will the bared tissue burn? Do you want to expose these scenes to the light? You may locate them and leave them, or poke the spot hard till the sore bleeds on your finger, and write with that blood. If the sore spot is not fatal, if it does not grow and block something, you can use its power for many years, until the heart resorbs it. ~Annie Dillard in The Writing Life.
Thanks, Carol Garvin, for this wonderful little book. I may be one of the few writers who have not read it. Yet.
“… and chew on words that nourish your writer’s heart.” Love this, Sandy, and the accompanying photo. It’s SO important to read nourishing words! I’m glad you’re enjoying The Writing Life. 🙂
Loving it, Carol. Thanks again!
Love the opening advice. I think I’ll take a nap and go for a walk.
Absolutely works for me. 🙂 As long as I don’t actually lie down. My husband came home the other night and wondered what the red spot on my forehead was–the indent from head on keyboard.
This is just such a great post … as usual!
Really like what you are seeing through your lens …
Thanks, Susan. These pictures were taken from way far away. Love how close I can get with 35X.
pretty horse…
I want to comb the burrs out of the one’s mane.
I love when words grab my attention, wrestle me to the ground, and demand I write them.
LOL! I love that description, Susan!
Thank you for the inspiration. There are times I struggle with the right words….
I guess sometimes we have to just let go and not struggle so hard.