In this blog, I will pull three quotes from three authors (Don Murray, Mary Karr, and Anne Lamott), and use those quotes to form a round table discussion between the three authors about the writing process.
There I was, in a Texaco gas station in 1977, in the lone star state of Texas. As I waited for the mechanic to finish mending the front axle of my orange and midnight black '58 Ford Fairlane sedan, I decided to do some writing. I was but an aspiring writer at that time, hoping to make it into the big leagues but so far I'd been denied. But as I sat there, I was surprised to see the late Anne Lamott approaching me. "Mrs. Lamott" I said, "I'm a big fan of yours". Ole Anne grinned from ear to ear, and said "I couldn't help but notice you were bent over just now, staring rather intently at something. I hope you won't mind my asking just what exactly were you up to?" she said. "Ah, well, I'm an aspiring writer, Mrs. Lamott" I replied. "Please, call me Anne. And allow me to give you some advice, young man" Anne told me. "Ok" I nodded. "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way". "And I wish you good luck, young man, on your future endeavors" Anne went on. "Thank you very much, Anne Lamott. That was beautiful" I told her. Just then, the mechanic's daughter, one young Mary Karr, comes out of the gas station's garage. "I'm afraid that your Fairlane won't be ready until tomorrow morning, or at very least midnight" she says. "Are you kidding me?! I have to be in Florida for a family reunion at high noon tomorrow!" I exclaim. "Well, I suppose you could sit around in the back of the shop and sit up until your car's ready" Mary says, then she walks back over to my car. "You know, Anne, if you're not terribly busy, or have somewhere else to be, would you like to sit up waiting for my car with me?" I ask gently. "Why, of course, young man!" Anne says. Later on, Mary Kerr, the mechanic's daughter, joins Anne and I waiting for the car. "Well, Ms. Kerr-" I begin, but Mary politely cuts me off. "Please, call me Mary" she says. "Ok, Mary, I know giving advice to young writers might not exactly be your forte, but if you did have to give some advice to a young, aspiring writer, what would it be?" I ask her. "Well" Mary says, "Every writer I know who's worth a damn spends way more time "losing" than "winning"-if success means typing a polished page that lands in print as is" Mary tells me. "Oh, by the way" Mary adds, "writing is painful-its "fun" only for novices, the very young, hacks". "Thank you very much, Mary. I'll be sure to take that under advisement" I comment. "And there's just one more thing" Mary adds. "Reading through history cultivates in a writer a standard of quality higher than the marketplace" she concludes. Just then, Mary's overbearing father calls her out to the garage to help him put a part back on my car. In her absence, I ask Anne if she has any more good advice. "Well, when you're writing a chapter, or a paragraph, you don't have to see where you;re going, you don't have to see your destination, or everything you will pass along the way" Anne told me. "That's brilliant" I nodded. "And there's one last thing" Anne continues. "Also in relation to writing a certain paragraph or chapter, you must focus on that and just that only, and forget about the big picture for a moment, so your mind doesn't become cluttered. All I am going to do right now, for example, is write that one paragraph that sets the story in my hometown, in the late fifties, when the trains were still running" Anne said. "You've really given me some great advice, Anne. I'll be sure to take it all under advisement" I said. Not too long after that conversation ended, Anne Lamott left to go home. She wished me good luck on my hopes and dreams to become a famous writer, and I heartily thanked her for her advice. But about an hour after Anne left, I got bored and tired of waiting, so I wandered down the block to a little bar called Moe's. I had just barely taken a seat at the bar and ordered a tall, ice cold, refreshing glass of Coca Cola when a real celebrity walked in. I should've known the way all the regular bar patrons yelled out "Dom!" that it was Don Murray. I didn't figure it out right anyway, though, because I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Anyway, I'm way down at the other end of the bar, where's there a bunch of open seats, and where do you think he takes a seat? That's right, right next to me! I tried to control my excitement as I asked the opinion of yet another wonderful writer for advice. "Hi, Mr, Murray, it's wonderful to meet you. My name's Matt McShane, and I'm a big fan of your work, and I was just wondering if you had any advice for a young writer looking to get into the wonderful world that is creative writing" I said. Don took a sip from his tall glass of Bud light while thinking of how to form an answer. "Well, first, my dear boy, you should learn to teach writing as a process, not a product" Don told me. "I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Murray" I said. "And another thing, please call me Don" Murray went on. "Anyway, conscientious, doggedly responsible, repetitive autopsying doesn’t give birth to live writing" Murray went on. "Oh, that's beautiful, sir" I commented as I made a little note in my notebook. "And there's just one other thing. Writing is a demanding, intellectual process" Murray concluded. "Well, thank you, Mr, Murray, that's brilliant" I said. "Don't mention it, my boy. If you employ all three of those tactics in your writing, then you'll really make it" Murray concluded. So, what did I learn from all this? Well, for one thing, in relation to my lemon of a Fairlane, life's a beach, and then you learn to drive. Also, just because some old writer thinks he knows more about the writing process than your high school teacher doesn't mean that he's wrong in any way. The act of writing is a carefully formed process, not a cashcow for money. And don't anyone ever tell you any different. Sincerely, Matt McShane
1 Comment
Sabatino
9/11/2018 09:47:05 am
I appreciate the effort and thought put into this story. Thanks for sharing.
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Matt McShane
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