Went to a speech by Anne Lamott tonight. It was magical.
That’s saying a lot coming from me, because Anne is extremely political, and I’m extremely political, and we are on opposite sides of the fence.
But it didn’t matter tonight.
She was sharing her life, her craft, and her ideas (even the political ones), and she related it all in a down to earth manner – as if, like she said, we were all sharing a cup of tea around her kitchen table.
She talked about grace. Not the religious kind of grace, but the grace people receive or find when they’re willing to give up control and take a step back from their pre-conceived ideas – those little life-moments when you can just enjoy “what is” even when “what is” isn’t what you were planning on. (Talk about a wonky sentence.)
According to Anne Lamott, you need a lot of that kind of grace when you write – especially if you write fiction. And I’d have to agree. You can’t always see where you’re going in a story. You can’t know that anyone else will like it. And you give up large chunks of your life to write it. So you have to find peace in the process. You have to give yourself permission to enjoy the mundane and everyday life of it.
If you ever get a chance to hear Anne Lamott, I hope you will get a ticket and go. In the mean time, I hope you’ll enjoy her books. Bird by Bird should be on every writer’s shelf. It includes excellent advice on writing and some great observations on life – all written with Anne Lamott’s humble attitude and funny sense of humor.
Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be posting a writing exercise on Saturday or Sunday. And I promise that next week I will post about music and writing.
All the best,
Mary
